January 26, 1781

Ludwig Achim von Arnim (January 26, 1781 to January 21,  1831) was a German writer in the tradition of the romantics. His stories contain supernatural elements, and one in particular, translated in a book  titled Ludwig Achim von Arnim's novellas of 1812, (1997) mentions the mandrake, a plant with hallucinogenic properties. The mandrake was associated with magic in European history. The plant actually bears some resemblance to a person (the roots do) and von Arnim wrote a story spinning out this fancy. The plant is uprooted, and the resulting person nursed by a cat. Here is how the translation goes:

After much thought she finally remembered the cat...had just had kittens...The cat now willingly fed...[the mandrake/homunculus] along with the others, and the little, still-blind kittens put up with...the stranger...

Von Arnim himself died at a relatively young age, of a heart attack, in his family castle.