Louis Jamon was the first palmist in the world to gain deafening fame from a mysterious craft. The soothsayer needed only one glance at the palm of a person to paint a picture of his death. He foresaw Jamon and his inglorious death, but he could not deceive fate.
The real name of the great palmist is William John Warner. He was born on November 1, 1866 in a small village near Dublin, Ireland. His father was English, and his mother was French with a significant admixture of gypsy blood. From her ancestors, she inherited the ability to magic, knew how to read cards and by hand.
It was the mother who first considered a special sign in the palm of her son, promising his owner extraordinary abilities and a bright life. Bedridden with an incurable disease, she asked William immediately after her death to go to London and find a teacher who would instruct him in the basics of astrology, numerology and palmistry. The son exactly fulfilled her last will.
BOOK OF MYSTERIES
In London, William John studied for almost two years with the astrologer Greg Dawson, famous throughout Britain. But at some point, he realized that he had surpassed his mentor in the occult sciences and was ready to move on. Having handed over to the pawnshop the silverware stolen from Dawson's sideboard, William bribed the sailors from the merchant ship and "like a hare" reached the shores of India - the land of wisdom and enlightenment.
The young man's new teacher was an Indian Brahmin, a bookstore owner in Bombay. He was known as a master of palmistry and a connoisseur of manuscripts. Once, interrupting routine readings and meditations, the old Hindu decided to go with a student to the mountains - to the place where ancient temples were hidden in caves. An amazing book was kept in the sanctuary of one of them, the age of which was more than one millennium.
Its sheets were made of human skin, the pages were covered with golden Sanskrit script and illustrated with drawings of palms. After conferring, the ministers of the temple allowed the novice to touch the shrine. After all, not often were guests whose hands were marked with the sign of a prophetic gift.
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FIRST WARNING
After spending several years in India, William decided to return to Europe. “You will be a great soothsayer, but your gift will be lost if you start taking big money for it,” his teacher admonished. Like a beloved son, he presented the student with a handful of precious stones - sapphires, rubies, emeralds. The money received was enough to return to London, pay for the rental housing a year in advance and even get a new passport.
The aspiring fortuneteller decided to change his rustic name to the exotic "Louis Jamon", adding to it the title of count. The resounding pseudonym began to appear with enviable regularity among the ads in local newspapers in the category "Unusual Services". There were not many clients who wanted to draw up a horoscope or read fortunes by hand. But one day the palmist had the opportunity to demonstrate his art in public.
ON THE WAVE OF SUCCESS
It was 1890. A terrible crime thundered all over London: a wealthy businessman was killed in his own restaurant in the East End. The only piece of evidence left by the intruder was a bloody palm mark on the door. Jamon, who arrived at the crime scene, examined the lines on the print and stated that the killer was a relative of the victim, a young blond with blue eyes, possibly suffering from a stutter. In this description, many immediately recognized the adopted son of the rich man. At the first interrogation, he fully admitted his guilt.
Jamon refused the fee offered by the police. The best rewards for him were the headlines of newspaper articles with his name and the loud glory of the clairvoyant. The higher ranks now favored the palmist, and soon he became a regular at the best London salons, where he met the most famous people of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, from the great dancer and spy Mata Hari to the Prince of Wales. The audience was in amazement: the count accurately guessed the details of their life along the lines of his palms!
But the most frightening was how inevitably his predictions of death came true. So, he predicted to the King of Italy Umberto I a quick death at the hands of a terrorist. His Majesty did not take the prophecy seriously, and paid dearly. Three months later, he was shot and killed by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci. After this incident, the newspapermen gave the palmist the ominous nickname "Count Death".
BEGINNING OF THE END
Once at a party, Louis Hamon was introduced to Oscar Wilde. The writer was at the zenith of fame, and jokingly asked to read his hand. “The left palm speaks of triumphant successes, but the right one portends shame, prison, exile, death. A happy life will end in two years,”said the palmist. "Charlatan!" Wilde laughed in his face.
But in 1895, on charges of molesting young children, the writer was sentenced to two years in prison. When he was released, he moved to Paris, where he died of meningitis, abandoned and forgotten by everyone. Among the small procession, Jamon was present at the funeral. “The same fate awaits me,” he said then at the Père Lachaise cemetery, without addressing anyone in particular. The fear of leaving this world in disgrace and loneliness determined his entire future fate.
TWO PROPHETS
Bearing in mind the covenant of the Indian guru, Louis Hamon did not ask for money for his services, but lived off the generous donations of his clients. At the same time he worked: he published horoscopes in London and Paris newspapers, gave lectures on the occult and Eastern philosophy. He traveled a lot and found rich patrons everywhere.
In the winter of 1905, at the invitation of Countess Ignatieva, he arrived in St. Petersburg. The Countess brought Hamon to another star of her salon, Grigory Rasputin. The English palmist was asked to "read" the fate of the Russian soothsayer. Examining his palms, Louis said sympathetically: “Within the walls of the palace, I see your violent death. Poison and bullet - that's what will threaten you. And after … the waters of the Neva will close over you. " The old man smiled wryly: "I will die from everything at once ?!"
But after 11 years, everything happened. The conspirators invited Rasputin to visit, where they treated him to wine poisoned with cyanide. He lost consciousness, but then woke up, and the killers were forced to use a pistol. The bullet pierced through the liver, but the old man was still breathing. They tied him up, took him to a bridge not far from Kamenny Island and threw him into a hole.
REVELATIONS FROM ABOVE
In St. Petersburg, Louis Jamon predicted a sad fate for the Russian tsar. They did not manage to arrange an audience with him, however, the close associates of Nicholas II handed the palm prints to the palmist. He replied with a short note: "In 1918, Nikolai will lose his family and life."
He foresaw the Count Death and the whirlwind of the revolution that soon captured Russia, and the devastating World War II, which plunged Europe into chaos, and the subsequent foundation of the State of Israel. In his autobiography “Confession. Memoirs of a Modern Seer he admitted that he considers himself more of a psychic than just a palmist. The lines on his hands, like horoscopes, are just a tool with which he could, at will, look into the future. In his books, written under the pseudonym Kyro, the great palmist has repeatedly emphasized that he makes predictions based more on intuition.
Escape from fate
Weighed down by the knowledge of his own fate, in the mid-20s, Hamon decided to leave for America. The peak of his fame in Europe has passed, thoughts of poverty and oblivion led to despair. Therefore, overseas, contrary to the instructions of the teacher, he intended to open a business and start making predictions. New York journalists who met the overseas prophet invited him to demonstrate his abilities. Jamon was brought a folder with misprints from different hands and asked to tell about the fate of their anonymous owners.
“I accepted the test without false modesty, and we got down to work,” the palmist recalled. - I have already described the character and career of about a dozen people when very strange prints were laid in front of me. After studying the lines with concentration, I turned to the reporters: “Judging by these palms, their owner was a religious person, in his youth, he may have taught Sunday school. Later he became interested in science or medicine. But because of his self-interest, he will inevitably turn into a murderer. Upon reaching the age of 44, he will be exposed, arrested, convicted and executed."
Hearing this, those present opened their mouths. The description completely matched, as the owner of the palm print was Dr. Mayer from Chicago. Recently he was arrested on suspicion of poisoning wealthy patients. Later, the court sentenced him to death by electric chair.
CHIROMANT'S OUTCOME
Louis Jamon settled in Hollywood. He wrote screenplays for films, and also hosted numerous clients who are eager to open the veil of the future, no matter what the cost. The prices of the palmist, popular among the bohemians, were very high. The business was profitable, which allowed Hamon to believe that he had outsmarted fate. But the idyll ended abruptly in 1929 with a visit to the fortuneteller of the American industrialist Henry Ford.
He, like other clients, hoped to find out what awaited him on the path of life. However, bending over the arms of the tycoon, Hamon felt as if the earth was slipping from under his feet. The lines on the palm merged into one, "erasing" the rest of the signs … "There are scammers around!" - shouted Ford and left, slamming the door. Not understanding anything, the palmist looked at his palms … and saw nothing. The gift has disappeared!
In 1936, the self-styled Count Louis Jamon died in the Red Cross's hospital for the poor. Losing his ability, he lost his fortune and ran into large debts. A few of his things were burned, including tons of papers - drafts of scripts, articles, books. On the night when the palmist's heart stopped, according to the nurse's recollections, the clock in his room struck three times instead of once.
Alexandra MALTSEVA