Baron Münchhausen Hieronymus Carl Friedrich von Münchhausen ( ; 11 May 1720 – 22 February 1797 ) was a German nobleman and a famous recounter of tall tale s . He joined the Russian military and took part in two campaigns against the Ottoman Turks . Upon returning home , Münchhausen is said to have told a number of outrageously farfetched stories about his adventures . Münchhausen ' s reputation as a storyteller has been exaggerated by writers , giving birth to a fully fictionalized literary character usually called simply Baron Munchausen . Münchausen syndrome and the Münchhausen trilemma are named after him . Life . The Baron ( in German : " Freiherr " ) was born in Bodenwerder , Electorate of Brunswick - Lüneburg , into an aristocratic family of the Hanover region . His father ' s second cousin , Gerlach Adolph von Münchhausen was prime minister under George III . Münchhausen started as a page to Anthony Ulrich II of Brunswick - Wolfenbüttel , and followed his employer to the Russian Empire during the Russo - Turkish War ( 1735 – 1739 ) . In 1739 , he was appointed a cornet in the Russian cavalry regiment , the " Brunswick - Cuirassier s " . The following year , he was promoted to lieutenant . He was stationed in Riga , but participated in two campaigns against the Turks in 1740 and 1741 . In 1744 he married Jacobine von Dunten and in 1750 he was promoted to Rittmeister , a cavalry captain . In 1760 Münchhausen retired to his manor and estates in Bodenwerder , where he lived with his wife until her death in 1790 . It was there , especially at dinner parties and similar aristocratic social gatherings , that he acquired a reputation as a storyteller , developing witty and highly exaggerated accounts of his adventures in Russia . At the same time , Münchhausen was considered an honest man in business affairs . As one contemporary put it , Münchhausen ' s unbelievable narratives were designed not to deceive , but " to ridicule the disposition for the marvellous which he observed in some of his acquaintances " . Münchhausen married a second time , to Bernardine von Brunn , in 1794 , which ended in divorce . He did not have any children . Adaptations . Literature . The fictionalization of Münchhausen began in 1781 – 1783 , when seventeen tall tales attributed to him appeared in the eighth and ninth volumes of the " Vademecum fur lustige Leute " . An English version was published in London in 1785 , by Rudolf Erich Raspe , as " Baron Munchausen ' s Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia " , also called " The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen " . It remains unclear how much of Raspe ' s story material derives from the Baron himself , but it is known that the majority of the stories are based on folktales that have been in circulation for many centuries before Münchhausen ' s birth . In 1786 , Gottfried August Bürger translated Raspe ' s stories back into German , and extended them . He published them under the title of " Wunderbare Reisen zu Wasser und zu Lande : Feldzüge und lustige Abenteuer des Freiherrn von Münchhausen " ( " Marvellous Travels on Water and Land : Campaigns and Comical Adventures of the Baron of Münchhausen " ) . The real - life Baron Münchhausen was said to be deeply annoyed that his name had been dragged into public consciousness as the " Lügenbaron " ( German : " Baron of Lies " ) through the publication of stories under his name . In the 19th century , the story had been expanded and translated into numerous languages , totaling over 100 various editions . " Mr . Munchausen " , a new collection of Munchausen adventures , was written in 1901 by the American humorist John Kendrick Bangs , and combines the traditional fictional Baron with the literary genre now known as Bangsian fantasy . Stage and radio . Comedian Jack Pearl played a character called Baron Munchausen . The punchline to most of these jokes came when the astonished listener finally had enough and expressed disbelief , and the Baron uttered the catchphrase , " Vas you dere , Sharlie ? " . In 2011 the National Black Light Theatre of Prague mounted a production of " The Adventures of Baron Munchausen " . Film . In 1943 , Bürger ' s book was adapted into a German feature film , " Münchhausen " , with Hans Albers in the title role . This was Germany ' s fourth full - color motion picture . The 1958 German film " Münchhausen in Afrika " was directed by Werner Jacobs . In 1961 , the Czech director Karel Zeman directed " Baron Prášil " ( Baron Munchausen ) , using animation and live actors . In 1974 and 1975 , four short cartoons were made in the Soviet Union ( a fifth was made in 1995 ) , called " " . In 1979 Mark Zakharov made a Russian film , based on a play by Grigori Gorin , " The Very Same Munchhausen " , relaying the story of the Baron ' s life after the adventures portrayed in the book . In 1983 a French cartoon version was made , called " Le Secret des sélénites " ( English : " Moon Madness " ) . Terry Gilliam adapted the stories into the 1988 film " The Adventures of Baron Munchausen " , with John Neville as the Baron and nine - year - old Sarah Polley as Sally Salt . Various shorts are also known to have been made about the Baron ' s life , including the silent films " Les Aventures de baron de Munchhausen " ( 1911 ) by the French pioneer Georges Méliès and " The New Adventures of Baron Munchausen " ( 1915 ) by the British director Floyd Martin Thornton . Comics . In 1962 , the stories were adapted to comic form for " Classics Illustrated " # 146 ( British series ) , with cover illustration by Denis Gifford . Games . In 1998 , James Wallis produced a multi - player storytelling / role - playing game titled " The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen " . In 2012 JoyBits released a puzzle / hidden - object game called " The Surprising Adventures of Munchausen " . Legacy . Medical nomenclature . In 1951 , the British physician Richard Asher published an article describing three cases of patients whose factitious disorders led them to lie about their own states of health . Asher proposed to call the disorder " Munchausen Syndrome " , commenting : " Like the famous Baron von Munchausen , the persons affected have always travelled widely ; and their stories , like those attributed to him , are both dramatic and untruthful . Accordingly , the syndrome is respectfully dedicated to the baron , and named after him " . Asher ' s nomenclature sparked some controversy . While Asher was praised for bringing cases of factitious disorder to light , some critics objected variously that a literary allusion was inappropriate given the seriousness of the disease ; that its use of the Anglicized form " Munchausen " showed poor form ; that the name linked the disease with Münchhausen himself , who did not have it ; and that the name ' s connection to works of humor and fantasy , and to the essentially ridiculous character of the fictionalized Baron , was disrespectful to patients suffering from the disorder . The name has spawned two additional coinages : Münchausen syndrome by proxy , in which illness - feigning is done by caretakers rather than patients , and Münchausen by Internet , in which illness - feigning occurs in online venues . Memorials . There is a club " Münchhausen ' s Grandchildren " ( Внучата Мюнхаузена ) in Kaliningrad ( formerly Königsberg ) , Russia , which contains a number of " historical proofs " of presence of the Baron in Königsberg , including the skeleton of the whale in whose belly the Baron was entrapped . On 18 June 2005 , to celebrate the 750th anniversary of Kaliningrad , a monument to the Baron was unveiled as a gift from Bodenwerder , portraying the Baron ' s cannonball ride . A similar monument of the Baron is also installed in his city of birth , as well as a fountain of Münchhausen sitting on the front half of his horse . An international tour of the places visited by Baron Münchhausen was established as a joint venture of Germany , Lithuania , Latvia , and Kaliningrad . At Duntes Muiža , Latvia ( German name : " Dunteshof " ) , home of Münchhausen ' s first wife Jacobine von Dunten , a Münchhausen Museum was opened up in 2005 . The couple had lived there between 1744 and 1750 , before moving back to Bodenwerder . The Latvian central bank produced a commemorative coin on this occasion . In 1994 , a main belt asteroid was named 14014 Münchhausen in honor of the Baron .