In 1936, local historian Hans Christoph Schöll of Heidelberg developed a theory that the three saints were derived from a Germanic or Indo-European Triple Goddess. Schöll admitted his treatise was not a scientific study based on linguistic evidence, but was formulated around phonetic similarities. He planned a second book with scientific evidence for his theory, but it was never published. Due to Schöll's lack of scientific methodology, his theory was rejected (H. Hepding 1936; E. Krieck 1936) by the scientific world. It has nevertheless spread in esoteric circles, almost exclusively in German-speaking countries.