Walpurga Hausmannin

Who was Walpurga Hausmannin?

Walpurga Hausmännin was a German midwife executed for witchcraft, vampirism, and child murder. The confession she made under torture exemplifies the classical relationship between witch and devil later commonly used in several witch trials.

The old widow Walpurga had worked as a licensed midwife in the city of Dillingen for 19 years when she was arrested and accused of sorcery. During torture, she made a long series of confessions. In 1556, when she, as a newly made widow, had worked in the field of the city, she had made arrangements to meet a male coworker for sex in her cottage later in the evening. But he had not arrived; instead, a demon had come dressed in his clothes. They had sex, and the night after, he returned and promised to save her from poverty. She had sworn herself to Satan and written it on a contract, and the demon, called Federlin, had then taken her to the real Devil, and confirmed her contract, after which they had drunk wine, eaten roasted babies and had sex. Afterwords, Federlin had given her an ointment, which she had used to hurt people, children and harvests. Since then, she had often visited the Devil, and her demon lover Federlin often visited her and had sex with her, even in the streets at night and in prison. He left every time she said the name of Jesus, which is also exemplary for these relations and something she had in common with Johannes Junius.