The Queen Who Spoke to Herself: The Real Evil Behind Snow White
She didn’t envy beauty — she was haunted by it.
Countess Katarina von Klee, stepmother to Maria von Erthal (the real Snow White), suffered from a rare mental condition known today as Capgras delusion — believing her reflection had been replaced by an imposter.
Her “magic mirror” was in fact an early psychological tool: a concave mirror designed to distort the face for self-recognition studies. The more she stared, the less she recognized herself.
Her servants recorded her final breakdown in 1723: she began addressing the reflection as “My better self,” and one night, she shattered the mirror and bled to death beside it.
When the glass was recovered, a strange note was found beneath it:
“She told me to do it before I disappeared again.”
The mirror still hangs in the Lohr Museum — and some claim the reflection sometimes moves first.
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