The witch trials in Europe spread throughout the continent, and some of the most tragic are the most famous. So, let us visit one of the most famous cases in the 300 years of witch trials!

The Overall View Of The Salzburg Witch Trials

The most known witch trials occurred from 1675 to 1690 in Salzburg. The trial had many names, including the Zauberjackl trials, the Salzburg witch trials, and the Witch Jackls process.

The process of the witch trials led to the death of a hundred and thirty-nine people. Austria wasn’t a kind place for witches, but rather nightmarish, and it is one of the reasons for this case to be so famous. Another reason is that most of the victims were males.

A Little History of the Witch Trials Of Austria

Austria was a strict country in medieval times and the Renaissance. Religiously focused, Austria showed no pity to witches. There was no difference when, in the year 1675, a woman named Barbara Kollerin was arrested for theft and witchcraft.

In the city of Salzburg, Barbara Kollerin and her spouse, Paul Kalthenpacher, went under torture. During the sessions, as torture was not a one-shot deal but rather spread in sessions, confessions happened. To stop the torment, a victim would admit to any wrongdoing, each worse than the last.

Barbara Kollerin admitted that her son made a pact with the Devil. Her spouse supported her declaration that Paul Jacob Koller did such a thing. They described him as a twenty-year-old man and that his father was an executioner’s assistant.

However, the confessions didn’t grant them their freedom, as Barbara Kollerin had her execution in August of 1675. As for her son, he would most likely suffer the same fate when a warrant for his arrest was granted.

The Confession Of A Dirty Animal During The Trials

In 1677, a twelve-year-old disabled boy who worked as a beggar was arrested. His name was Dionysos Feldner, also called ‘dirty animal.’ His contact with the law was due to his contact with the Jackl or Paul Jacob Koller nearly a month before his arrest.

According to the boy, Jack led various gangs of professional beggars and thieves. All of whom were children and teenagers. He would teach them the art of black magic and the occult.

Sadly, Feldner’s confession led to mass arrests of anyone under the age of maturity and who was homeless. The streets were clean of those who reminded everyone of the reality they lived in. Common victims of witch hunts are the homeless, handicapped and poor. The hysteria settled in the archbishopric.

The Mass Torment Of Teenage Boys And The Jackl

Under torture, as mentioned before, everything becomes a possibility to stop the torment. After the mass arrest of the homeless, beggars and thieves, all under the age of adulthood, stories surfaced about Jackl.

Jackl, or, again, Paul Jacob Koller, could appear invisible to those around him. Because harvests weren’t good that year, the children admitted that he ordered vermin to destroy them. Jackl was a prolific murderer and had no mercy. They said he was so cruel, forcing them all to learn the occult.

Paul Jacob Koller became the most famous witch in Salzburg’s history. Jackl was never captured. However, it didn’t stop the witch trials from growing and expanding. The hunt was against all beggars, the homeless, and thieves, all under adulthood. Gangs became the main focus and target of the authorities.

If nothing could be pinned on the gangs, often they would make them responsible for bad weather and bad crops. Anything that could be pinned on the youngsters happened to clean the streets, or at least one would believe so. The excuse of witchcraft gave them a good reason to clean the streets from a town’s wrongdoings.

The End To A Witch Hunt Madness

When the trials for the Witch of Salzburg ended, the body count was atrocious, and the average age was just as hellish. Do not fear witches. Fear those who persecute them because they are the actual ‘monsters’ in the story.

The torture of those arrested for crimes of witchcraft, hoping to lead to a most likely poor young man unaware of his reputation as a witch, was worthy of nightmares. The common torture for witches was the pear of anguish, the boot, flaying and pilliwinks.

A total of a hundred and thirty-nine people lost their lives because of one young man. Thirty-nine of the victims were between the ages of ten and fifteen. Fifty-three were between fifteen and twenty-one years of age. Twenty-one of them had no record of their age. The youngest victim was Hannerl, ten years old, while the oldest was Margareth Reinberg, eighty.

A hundred and nine of them had their execution throughout 1681. Out of a hundred and thirty-nine, a hundred and thirteen were males. But all of them suffered torture reserved for witches. As it was the tradition, all the bodies were burned; while some were alive, others were hanged first and then burned.

But first, as it was tradition, all a hundred and thirty-nine of them had their hands cut off. Afterwards, they would be decapitated and marked as witches. Do not fear witches; fear those who fear them. They are the worst kind. As for Jackl, rumours say that he left Austria the second he heard a warrant for his arrest. He was never caught.

The OCD Vampire