Free Valley Talk – The Wizard of the Wissahickon: The Life and Legacy of Johannes Kelpius

In person at the Valley Green Inn or online on Zoom

Register here; https://fow.org/event/valley-talk-the-wizard-of-the-wissahickon-the-life-and-legacy-of-johannes-kelpius/

If you’ve spent any time in Wissahickon Valley Park, you’ve probably walked past the Cave of Kelpius and taken a moment to read the paragraph written on the weird obelisk next to it. Maybe you’ve even googled the name “Kelpius” and learned that he was the leader of the first American “doomsday cult.” Unfortunately, most of that information is wrong.

This talk is going to present research from my new book, American Aurora: Environment and Apocalypse in the Life of Johannes Kelpius, where I dig into the history of Johannes Kelpius, a tremendously influential but comprehensively misunderstood radical Protestant theologian from Transylvania who settled in what is now Wissahickon Valley Park in 1694. Far from being the leader of a “doomsday cult,” Kelpius was a Christian hermit who remained socially engaged with his neighbors in Philadelphia and cultivated a unique religious interpretation of the Wissahickon Valley and the natural world.

You may also like the following events from Friends of the Wissahickon:

• This Wednesday, 20th August, 03:00 pm, Friends of the Wissahickon Free Ice Cream Social in Miquon
• Next month, 6th September, 10:00 am, All Trails Challenge Launch Party and Hike in Miquon
• This October, 15th October, 06:00 pm, Free Valley Talk – Exploring the Trees that Shape Wissahickon Valley Park with Andrew Conboy in Miquon