34. At Least He Was Self Aware
Another of Blucher’s lunatic episodes occurred when the house was roused by the sounds of a ferocious struggle coming from the general’s bedroom. When servants and aides rushed in, they discovered that Blucher was fighting thin air. He claimed that he was in a life and death struggle with the vindictive ghost of a dead officer, whom Blucher had dismissed from the Prussian Army.
To his credit, Blucher realized during his stretches of lucidity that there was something wrong with his head. However, the problem according to him was that his head was made of stone. He did not mean that as a figure of speech: he literally thought his noggin was made of stone, and routinely asked people to smite him in the head with a hammer.