The following narrated video is based on the article, “The Demonic Cats Of Witch-Age Strasburg.” The text has been edited and rearranged for the sake of narration and video formatting. A transcript is provided below the embedded video.
Kramer and Sprenger, two Papal Inquisitors supported by Pope Innocent VIII (r. 1484-1492), published their Malleus Maleficarum treatise on witches, demonic forces, and witchcraft trials around the year 1487. One of the more interesting and peculiar tales in the book occurred in an unknown town within the region of Strasburg. According to the inquisitors’ story (found in Part II, question 1, chapter 9), a certain woodcutter was going about his business in a lumberyard when a random cat suddenly attacked the unsuspecting laborer. He tried to drive off the cat with his axe or a nearby stick, but whenever he began to gain an advantage, another vicious cat would arrive to join the feline fray. The woodcutter continued to try to shoo away the cats, but every time he threatened one of the feral beasts, a new cat would arrive and join the attack. Before long, it appeared as if all of the cats in Strasburg had declared war on this unlucky woodworker. He was the only person in the lumberyard, so the only protection he had against the fury of the furballs was his trusty axe, or whatever makeshift weapons he could find lying around.
Three cats, in particular, seemed to be the leaders of the hissing host. The woodcutter managed to maim all three of these leaders—one he hit over the head, another he struck on the legs, and the last he hit across the back. With the feline commanders injured, the frenzied swarm of cats scurried away, leaving the woodcutter once again alone in the lumberyard. According to the inquisitors, the unnamed worker had defended himself against the swarm of cats for around an hour. When the man got over his shock, he resumed his work.
Yet, not long after the woodcutter’s bizarre battle was over, two employees of the town magistrate arrived at the lumberyard and arrested the man. The town judge never spoke to the detained woodworker, but only stared him down with hatred from afar. Without telling him what he had been accused of, the judge had the laborer thrown in the deepest and most unaccommodating cell in the local prison. The baffled woodcutter pleaded with the jailors for three days, claiming that he was innocent and that he wanted to speak with the judge. He apparently won over the jailors with his pitiable words, and they helped the woodcutter set up a meeting.
At the meeting, the judge wanted to hear nothing else but a confession. When the woodcutter continued to profess his innocence, the judge became thoroughly enraged. In an angry matter-of-fact tone, the judge accused the woodcutter of battering three respected women of Strasburg. As the suspect steadfastly continued to reject the charges, the judge began listing out the wounds that the woodcutter had allegedly inflicted on the respected matrons—he had beat one woman over the head, he had hit another woman across the legs, and the last he had bludgeoned on the back. The judge backed up the charges by saying that the women were alive and had testified against the woodcutter. They also had marks on their bodies to prove the assault.
When the judge finished his speech, the woodcutter then told his side of the story. He recounted how he was attacked by a swarm of ferocious cats and how the wounds on the three women eerily reminded the woodcutter of the three injuries he had inflicted on the leading cats during the attack in the lumberyard. Curiously, when the woodcutter finished telling his story, the judge and magistrate reacted as if everything was clear and understandable. They concluded that the incident was a case of witchcraft and that the three respected matrons were in fact detestable witches. As for the ultimate fate of the three women, the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum remained vague, but they insinuated that the three women were spared.
The inquisitors did, however, try to explain the incident with their theories on witchcraft. They concluded that the cats were demonic illusions and that the damage from the woodcutter’s blows was supernaturally transferred from the illusory cats to the bodies of the women, who were elsewhere in the city. As for motive, the inquisitors wrote that this particular act of alleged witchcraft was done to imprison an innocent man and, if the women were spared, to produce a crime that would go unpunished.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Thumbnail Picture Attribution: (Hallowe’en greeting card, by George C. Whitney (c. 1842-1915), [Public Domain, no copyright] via Digital Maryland, and My Wife’s Lovers by Carl Kahler (1856–1906), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).
Book Sources:
- The Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, translated by Montague Summers (Dover Publications, 1971).
- The Demonology of King James I, edition of Donald Tyson (Llewellyn Publications, 2011).
Video source Info:
Music
Devil’s Organ – Jimena Contreras
All of the artworks and assets used in the video were labeled public domain, royalty-free, or otherwise open access at the time of the project’s upload.
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