Clever Hans / Elberfeld Horses

Referenced in 1 episode

Definition

Horses in Elberfeld, Germany, trained in the early 1900s by Wilhelm von Osten and later Karl Krall, which appeared to do arithmetic and spell words by stamping their hooves. Skeptics attributed Hans's answers to unconscious cues from people, while supporters claimed telepathy.

Related episodes

36.09 - MU Podcast - The Strange World of Genius Animals

Mysterious UniverseSep 4, 2026

Mysterious Universe explores the strange history of so-called genius animals, drawing on Vincent and Margaret Gaddis's 1970 book The Strange World of Animals and Pets. The hosts recount dogs and horses said to do advanced math, spell out sentences, read minds, predict the future, and even help locate missing children. They weigh the idea that these animals were not reasoning but tapping into a telepathic 'mind at large,' comparing them to savant calculators and the nonverbal children in The Telepathy Tapes.

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