Buzz
For centuries, witch hunters roamed across Europe, driven by a blend of superstition, fear, and an intense, often irrational religious fervor. Political motivations sometimes played a role too.
It’s estimated that tens of thousands of individuals were put to death for witchcraft across Europe. The witch hunters frequently targeted vulnerable elderly women, but occasionally, a trial would reveal a far stranger story.
10. Thiess, the Benevolent Werewolf of the North
Thiess was an elderly man from 17th-century Latvia who shocked a judge by claiming to be part of a local group of werewolves. He explained that werewolves weren’t agents of evil, but rather couldn't “tolerate the Devil.” Instead, they were seen as “hounds of God.”
Thiess described how, on specific days of the year, the spirits of werewolves would travel to a “place beyond the sea” and venture into Hell in wolf form. There, they would confront the Devil to protect the harvest. The werewolves would defeat him, using rods of iron to beat him. However, if they delayed, the gates of Hell would be closed, causing the harvest to fail.
Thiess’s personal adversary was a dead witch named Skeistan, who would meet him in Hell and had previously broken his nose with a broom. When questioned repeatedly, Thiess firmly declared that werewolves served the Church and angrily proclaimed they were closer to God than the local priests. He was sentenced to 10 lashes.
In the 20th century, Thiess attracted renewed interest because his story mirrored that of the benandanti (“good walkers”) and other groups from southern Europe.
9. The Good Walkers and Their Battle at the End of the World
The benandanti, or 'good walkers,' were members of a widespread and seemingly ancient dream cult uncovered by the Inquisition in the Friuli region of Italy. During the seasonal change on the “Ember Days,” the benandanti would enter trance-like states and spirit their way to a valley at the edge of the world. There, they would fight against evil witch-spirits to protect the harvest.
One of the walkers recalled the experience: “I had the impression there were many of us, as if in a fog, though we didn’t know each other. It felt like we moved through the air like smoke and crossed over water like smoke.”
The benandanti were identified at birth, often by the presence of a caul. Their existence was widely accepted, and any walker who refused to enter the trance on the Ember Days risked being punished by their fellow villagers. Without fail, they were appalled by the idea that their shamanic battles in the spirit world could be considered un-Christian.
8. The Shape-Shifting Sky Battles of Hungarian Witchcraft
The taltos were Hungarian mystics, believed to be the surviving remnants of pre-Christian Hungarian shamans. They claimed the ability to leave their physical bodies and travel to far-off lands or even ascend to Heaven. (One taltos bragged that she had laid motionless as if dead for nine days while conversing with God.)
The taltos were particularly famous for battling each other in the sky. While their physical forms remained in a trance, their spirits transformed into bulls, stallions, fireballs, flaming wheels, or metallic discs. These spirits would then rise into the heavens, engaging in fierce and thunderous aerial duels. Many taltos would proudly display wounds they claimed to have earned in these sky battles, which were said to influence the fate of their communities.
One taltos told a court that this was an ancient practice and that legions of taltos had once fought “in the skies for the empire.” She went on to say that there were about 700 taltos in Hungary by 1725, and that “the light of their flag is shining all over the world.”
The taltos came under intense persecution in the 18th century, with many being tortured or executed as a result of the crackdown.
7. The Ladies From Beyond
In 1587, a perplexed inquisitor in Sicily urgently reported the rise of “a new sect of witches.” These Sicilian witches confounded the Inquisition because, unlike traditional witchcraft, they claimed to communicate with spirits not through horrifying encounters with the Devil, but through dreams. They spoke of the “ladies from outside” (donni di fuora or donas de fuera), a group of stunning beings with the feet of cats or other animals.
The ladies from outside were mostly benevolent, though not without their peculiarities. They seemed to be offended by any mention of God or the Virgin Mary. Led by a queen, often referred to as “the Eastern lady,” and her young consort, the witches’ interactions with them typically ended in sexual encounters, which were said to be quite pleasurable. The inquisitors recorded one woman's first journey outside:
She described a kind of witches’ Sabbat—but without devils or any of the usual ugly details; everything Laurea de Pavia encountered was beautiful and delightful… there was a vast plain with a large platform, upon which sat a red-haired young man and a lovely woman. They were introduced as the queen and king. The queen instructed her not to worship God or Our Lady but instead swore her to honor the king as God and the queen as Our Lady. After the oath, they feasted, danced, and made love frequently in a short time.
6. The Cloud Sailors and French Sky Witches
The tempestarii were a group of storm wizards in ninth-century France, believed to have gained their powers through an alliance with the people of Magonia. These mystical beings sailed the skies in ships that moved through the air as smoothly as vessels did through water.
The Magonians hired the tempestarii to act as their agents on Earth, and in exchange, the tempestarii would extort money from local farmers. If the farmers refused to pay, the Magonians would send a storm to ruin their crops.
The tempestarii are referenced in various historical sources, most notably in a polemic by Bishop Agobard of Lyon, who was outraged that people would pay the tempestarii and yet still claim poverty when it was time to make tithes to the Church.
Belief in a sea in the sky persisted well beyond the ninth century. Gervase of Tilbury, a 12th-century historian, recounted an incident in which an anchor fell from a cloud and became stuck on a church. Onlookers saw a man descend from the rope, moving as though submerged underwater, and release the anchor. They captured him, but he appeared to drown in the air and died shortly thereafter.
5. Kresniks: Vampire-Fighting Witches of the Balkans
Kresniks were spirit warriors from Istria, an area now part of Slovenia and Croatia. Much like the benandanti, the kresniks were recognized at birth by their caul. They were chosen to serve at ages 7, 18, or 21.
Kresniks were shamanistic fighters whose spirits would leave their bodies during sleep, often taking the shape of various animals to battle witches and vampires. Typically, their spirit would first emerge as a fly before transforming into a more fearsome creature for the actual fight.
When the realm was under threat from particularly malevolent spirits, the kresniks would unite and sail across the sea in eggshells to confront demons in the skies above St. Mark’s Square in Venice (a notoriously dark and evil place, as any visitor to Venice could confirm).
In some parts of Istria, it was believed that each kresnik had an evil counterpart, a werewolf-like creature known as a kudlak. One kresnik and one kudlak were born into each clan, and their spirits would often engage in animal battles to determine the clan's fate. Those suspected of being kudlaks were sometimes buried with their tendons cut, preventing them from returning to walk the Earth.
4. The Peasant Who Used Witchcraft To Catch A Witch
Chonrad Stoeckhlin was a peasant living in a remote village in the 16th-century Alps. In 1586, he accused an elderly woman in the village of being a witch. He explained that he had been warned of her witchcraft by the phantoms of the night, a group of spirits that flew above his village.
Chonrad claimed that he could leave his body and travel to mysterious realms with the phantoms. He was genuinely shocked when his testimony led to his own arrest for witchcraft.
According to Chonrad, his journey into the spirit world began when his deceased friend appeared to him, urging him to repent. After doing so, Chonrad was visited by an angelic figure marked with a red cross on his forehead, who taught him how to separate his spirit from his body and introduced him to the phantoms. In return, the phantoms helped him identify witches hiding in the area.
Chonrad Stoeckhlin was executed as a witch in 1587.
3. The Cow Resurrection Game Night
In 1390, the Inquisition in Milan interrogated Sibillia (sometimes spelled 'Sibilla') and Pierina, two affluent women who admitted to being part of a cult that met regularly in the homes of wealthy Milanese merchants. They revealed that the gatherings were led by a mysterious woman known as the Madonna Oriente ('Lady of the East') or the Signora del Gioco ('Lady of the Game').
The highlight of each meeting was a feast featuring beef, during which the bones and hides were carefully preserved. After the meal, the Lady would tap the bones with her stick, causing the cows to come back to life. However, the resurrected cows were reportedly in poor health, as they were deemed unfit for labor.
This particular act of resurrection magic bears similarities to figures in European mythology, especially Thor. The focus on bones also draws a parallel to Siberian shamanism, which believes the soul resides in the bones. Some scholars have speculated that Sibillia and Pierina were part of an underground group with ties to ancient European shamanistic traditions.
This theory, however, remains contested. The Inquisition ultimately deemed the women's testimony unreliable and released them. Yet, they were re-arrested years later and executed for witchcraft.
2. Aunt Fairy
In Croatia, vilenicas were individuals believed to have the ability to communicate with fairies (vila). Noteworthy testimonies still survive, including one from a vilenica questioned by the Republic of Dubrovnik in 1660.
The vilenica in question was a young woman in her twenties. She claimed to communicate with an entity named Tetka Vila ('Aunt Fairy'), who appeared to her in the form of a nun. Tetka Vila instructed the woman to pick a particular pair of roots whenever she wished to speak with her. When she did, the fairy would appear and offer guidance on healing and how to identify evil witches.
Although this testimony led to a witchcraft trial, vilenicas continued their practices in other parts of the country. One priest lamented:
I do not know if there are witches or warlocks. Certainly not in public. But there is a form of witchcraft. They tie knots with evil spells to hasten or prevent marriages. [...] They do not realize that by aligning themselves with the Devil, they bring harm.
1. The Cunning Trance Werewolf
In the late 1500s, a wave of werewolf hysteria engulfed St. Claude, a town in the Franche-Comte region of eastern France. At least one person was stoned to death by an angry mob, who accused her of attacking children while transformed into a wolf. Several others suspected of being werewolves were put on trial and tortured into confessions.
Jacques Bocquet, a local healer or 'cunning man,' claimed that his spirit had attended a witches’ sabbath while his physical body stayed at home. Another individual stated that he frequently fell into long trances, especially on days like Maundy Thursday, which he found deeply exhausting, leaving him to recover for several days afterward.
Pierre Gandillon, another suspect, shared his account of transforming into a werewolf. He explained that he would slip into a cataleptic state, lying completely rigid and motionless on his bed. The Devil would then cloak his soul in the pelt of a wolf, and he would travel to an evil sabbath.
