Category: History Publisher: Salem Media
Pages: 81
Copyright: 2011
ISBN-13: 780987975812
The true story of the last witches of Kleinheubach, Germany.
Under the rule of Dukes of Erbach, witch hunting reached a fervor as entire generations of families were executed for witchcraft. This is their true story.
Excerpt
One day, George Ludwig came across the Kleinheubach gallows as the bones of many witches were being burned in a fire. He was thinking pleasant thoughts when he was suddenly startled by a gust of wind that came up and blew the hat from his head to the ground.
George thought it was an omen of his death and that he too would later be burned in Kleinheubach. On the 27th of May 1629, George was found guilty of witchcraft and on the 18th of June 1629, he was executed as he had seen in his omen.
Perhaps this fanciful tale was created by George in an attempt to give his torturers the confession they wanted so as to alleviate or end his torture.
Variations of the story of Der Freischütz have since become part of German lore and from this story, in 1821, composer Carl Maria von Webber wrote the three act opera “Der Freischütz.”
