Gustaf Björnram (1746-1804) was a Swedish mystic and

Spiritualist Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

.Rein, Gabriel (1936). Mystikern Björnram. Commentationes humanarum litterarum, 0069-6587 ; 9:1. Helsingfors. Libris 2378126 He was born in Savolax as the son of the lieutenant Per Björnram (1700–1766) and Anna Margareta Amnorin. He was a student of the

Åbo Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city and former Capital city, capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura (Archipelago Sea), Aura River, in the region of Southwest Finland, Finland Proper ...

University and moved to Stockholm where he became a private teacher and a secretary. Through his work as a writer for the

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

s he came in to contact with

Elis Schröderheim Elis Schröderheim (26 March 1747, Stockholm – 30 August 1795), was a Swedish official, politician and a member of the Swedish Academy 1786-1795 (chair nr 12) as well as member nr 233 of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was an influentia ...

, who introduced him to King

Gustav III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

. Gustaf Björnram claimed to be able to communicate with the spirits of the dead and arranged well-attended

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spe ...

s frequented by the king and

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

, during which he allegedly forwarded predictions about the future from the dead. For a couple of years around 1780, he was an immensely fashionable medium in Stockholm, was inducted into the Freemasons and given a

Sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval chu ...

by the monarch. He once performed a séance in the church of Lovö, where he called upon the spirit of

Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden Adolf Frederick, or Adolph Frederick ( sv, Adolf Fredrik, german: Adolf Friedrich; 14 May 171012 February 1771) was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and Albertina ...

in the presence of the king and a circle of his favorites, among them

Adolf Fredrik Munck Adolf Fredrik, Count Munck (Mikkeli, Finland, 28 April 1749 – Massa, Italy, 18 July 1831), was a Swedish and Finnish noble during the Gustavian era. His family name is sometimes inaccurately given as "Munck af Fulkila" because his father usurp ...

, where the father of the king appeared as a mask behind a curtain of smoke in the dark church. However, when his prediction about the death of the king's mother, which was eagerly awaited by the king, did not materialize, and the royal physician Sven Anders Hedin (1750-1821) exposed him as a fraud by describing how he had witnessed his preparations for the so-called seance in the Lovö church, he lost his favor with the king, who gave him a pension and dismissed him from court. He was replaced by

Henrik Gustaf Ulfvenklou Henrik Gustaf Ulfvenklou (1756–28 September 1819), was a Swedish mystic and medium who gained a great influence in the circles of Charles XIII of Sweden by claiming to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Lieutenant Ulfenklou arrived in St ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Björnram, Gustaf 1746 births 1804 deaths 18th-century Swedish people Swedish spiritual mediums 18th-century occultists Gustavian era people Swedish royal favourites Finnish Freemasons Swedish occultists Court of Gustav III