A Tour de Force for history: What was the real story behind the “Heart-Eaters”, demon-worshippers, and other so-called criminal masterminds?

Not all was as idyllic in the days of yore as we’d like to believe. Plague, hunger and pestilence ruined whole countrysides and many people attempted to ease their lot by making a pact with the devil or turning to witchcraft, e.g., the infamous “Heart Eaters” – vile serial killers who murdered people and ate their hearts in the belief this would in turn render them invisible. Others, such as the Countess Bathory, turned their criminal drive upon innocent children. The authorities reacted with persecutions and court proceedings. Were those ritual killings? Criminal masterminds? Or just official propaganda? In this well-researched book the reader finds assembled outrageous crimes and a form of demonology of the Hapsburg Monarchy.

About the author:

Dr. Christa Agnes Tuczay was born in 1952. She read German literature and Philosophy at university. She has taught German literature at the University of Vienna since 1991. Her main focus of research is Medieval literature, the history of magic, witches and Medieval culture. Prior publications: she has written for the magazine, “FABULA”; for “The Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales and Mythology of the Middle Ages” and “The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft”. In 1992 she published the book, “Magic and Magicians of the Middle Ages”.