Chopper was an alleged

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

living in a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

's office in the city of

Neutraubling Neutraubling is a town in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany, in the district of Regensburg. The town has only existed since 1951. After the second world war, displaced ethnic Germans from Sudetenland (Czech Lands) or former eastern territo ...

near

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

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. The story was later discovered by the criminal police to be a fraud.

History

In the summer of 1981, Chopper started appearing in phone calls made by the dentist. He spewed insults with a distorted voice and only appeared to be nice to the then 16-year-old

dental assistant Dental assistants are members of the dental team. They support a dental operator (such as a dentist or other treating dental auxiliary) in providing more efficient dental treatment. ''Dental assistants'' are distinguished from other groups of d ...

Claudia. At some point, the dentist called the police to find the source of the supposed person terrorizing him during phone calls. The German

Bundespost The Deutsche Bundespost (German federal post office) was a German state-run postal service and telecommunications business founded in 1947. It was initially the second largest federal employer during its time. After staff reductions in the 19 ...

replaced the entire telephone wiring and installed technical traps to find the source of the voices. The police checked the vicinity for possible illegal radio broadcasts. Later, the voices started to come from sinks, toilets, and sockets in the dentist's office as well. Despite spending DM 60,000 to uncover the source of the voices, neither the police nor the Bundespost were successful in finding the source. As such, the police handed responsibility over to the criminal police who founded the special unit "Soko Geist". The criminal police hoped to solve the case quickly, but by then the story of the ghost spread all over the world; journalists from the US, Japan, and even New Zealand appeared to let Claudia showcase the ghost. Several newspapers offered exclusive contracts to Claudia, the magazine

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

offered her DM 120,000. Even parapsychologists came to visit the dentist's office and speculate about the nature of Chopper. The criminal police searched 55 neighboring apartments, made ultravoice measurements in the sewers and even high-frequency physicists built up their measurement devices. However, they all could only record the voice, but not discover its source.

Discovery of the fraud

The policemen noticed how Claudia always turned her back towards the people when Chopper spoke. On March 3, 1982, they noticed Claudia's lips moving in accordance with Chopper's words in the mirror. Claudia, the dentist and his wife were brought to the police station and admitted that they made everything up. The two used the special acoustics of the tiled room and some voice training to create the voices. In a press release the next day, the criminal police showcased how Chopper never existed and how the voices can easily be recreated. The judge determined the

motive Motive(s) or The Motive(s) may refer to: * Motive (law) Film and television * ''Motives'' (film), a 2004 thriller * ''The Motive'' (film), 2017 * ''Motive'' (TV series), a 2013 Canadian TV series * ''The Motive'' (TV series), a 2020 Israeli T ...

to be Claudia's need to be admired. She was fined DM 1500, while the dentist and his wife were fined a five-digit amount of money and had to pay DM 35,000 to the German Bundespost as damage compensation. The dentist and his wife couldn't stand the pressure after the court decision and voluntarily admitted themselves to a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

. Claudia was fired, completely retreated from the public and assumed a new identity.

References

{{Coord, 48.990328, N, 12.194843, E, type:landmark_region:DE-BY, display=title German ghosts