Trollkäringeskogen (Witch Forest Nature Reserve)

DOCUMENTED: Why 1617 — politics and persecution

The **Finspång witch trials of 1617** are among the **largest Swedish witch prosecutions before the great hunt of 1668–1676** (Swedish/English Wikipedia; Finspångs kommun). Context: **Duke Johan of Östergötland** and **Princess Maria Elisabet**, with chaplain **Claudius Prytz**, drove harsh anti-witchcraft policy after earlier cases (including the so-called Tobo witch). Accusations involved **Blåkulla**, **Satan**, and confessions obtained under extreme pressure. This was **judicial and clerical persecution**, not verified witchcraft.

Haunted Sweden treats every condemned woman as a **victim of historical injustice**.

DOCUMENTED: Sources — and what is missing

Risinge härad court books reportedly contain **little or nothing** on the witchcraft sittings; the core documentary trail is the **bruks fogde Christoffer Andersson’s account book / financial records**, plus letters (e.g. the Skedevi priest’s question to Linköping cathedral chapter about burying Lusse). Equipment for **torture** (e.g. branding tongs, rack) and **water ordeal** is recorded in period notes (Wikipedia summarizing research; Finspångs kommun). Exact trial transcripts are fragmentary — historians reconstruct carefully.

DOCUMENTED: The nine women (names preserved)

Names commonly listed from the fogde/process tradition (Finspång materials; Wikipedia):

1. **Elin from Näs**, Risinge parish — first arrested / first to confess under pressure 2. **Kerstin from Näs**, Risinge parish 3. **Ingrid from Rippestorp**, Risinge parish 4. **Margareta from Eketorp**, Kvillinge parish 5. **Kerstin (Kirstin) from Tråbrunna**, Östra Eneby parish 6. **Ingrid from Gållbo**, Regna parish 7. **Ingrid Göran Orres (Ingrid Orres)** from Vånga parish 8. **Lusse from Mullsätter**, Skedevi parish 9. **Lusse (Lussi) from Svarttorp / Svartorp**, Hällestad parish

Do **not** collapse them into an anonymous “nine witches burned here.”

DOCUMENTED: Imprisonment, water ordeal, torture

Women were held in connection with **Finspångs gård**. At a later ting, the **water ordeal** was used: thumbs bound to opposite toes, cast into water — **floating = guilt**, **sinking = innocence** in the superstition of the court (Finspångs kommun). A rope around the waist allowed recovery. This was **not** a scientific test.

Torture followed to force “true confession.” **Lusse from Mullsätter died during the process** (torture / imprisonment) before proceedings finished; priest Bengt of Skedevi wrote to the cathedral chapter asking where to bury her — she had **denied** the accusations (Finspångs kommun).

DOCUMENTED: Fates — do not oversimplify

- **Seven women** who survived to the fourth ting were **sentenced to death** in 1617 and executed in connection with the steep mountain / **Trollkärringeberget** area north of Finspång near Flasbjörke. - **Finspångs kommun** states they were **probably beheaded then burned on a pyre** — the normal Swedish legal pattern. - **Graphic later stories** of binding women at a cliff edge, pouring tar, and shoving them alive into a fire below are treated by Wikipedia as **largely legendary embellishment** unless independently verified. Haunted Sweden labels those details **folklore / later retelling**, not proven method. - Tradition says **Elin from Näs** was treated as especially dangerous and killed separately; others in groups — treat grouping details as **tradition pending deeper archival check**. - **Lusse from Svarttorp**: water ordeal and Blåkulla confession in the Finspång orbit; condemned later; **executed 1620** in the **Hällestad** process (burned) — **not** the same day as the 1617 Flasbjörke executions.

DOCUMENTED: Brandberg 1761 map

Surveyor **Johan Brandberg’s 1761 map** marks **Trollkäringebergs röse** and the **göl** — cartographic memory of the witch-trial landscape (Länsstyrelsen Östergötland; Finspång materials; NT local reporting). Exact modern pin of every execution step can still be debated; local oral history sometimes places the water ordeal or “berg” differently than the municipal map (NT interview with Ellisif Sjöholm). Haunted Sweden notes **historical uncertainty** where identification is contested.

DOCUMENTED: Nature reserve today (2023)

**Trollkäringeskogen naturreservat** — **60.7 ha**, protected **2023**, municipality Finspång, landowner Holmen Skog, managed by **Länsstyrelsen Östergötland**. Old mixed **conifer forest**, wet forest, rock, caves; borders **Lilla Skiren** and **Bleklången**. Länsstyrelsen explicitly links sparse historical logging to the **dark reputation and legends**. Visitor rules: no damaging trees, rocks, mosses/lichens (matsvamp OK); no drilling/carving rock. **No official parking yet**; fishing platforms around Lilla Skiren require fishing permit. Approach from Flasbjörke toward signed Trollkäringeskogen / Gräsfallet roads (Finspång reserve checklist coords **58.759187, 15.738422**).

DOCUMENTED access note

Paths/old roads exist; **marked trails incomplete**. Stay on durable surfaces, follow reserve regulations, respect silence at a place of historical suffering. Do not disturb rocks, caves or water. Never encourage illegal camping or damage.

FOLKLORE CLASSIFICATION KEY

1. Historical fact 2. Historical testimony / period document 3. Folklore / legend 4. Modern witness report 5. Paranormal interpretation

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FOLKLORE — “Jag är oskyldig”

**Category 3 (documented as local legend):** Voices of women are said to cry **“Jag är oskyldig”** (“I am innocent”) in the forest near the execution landscape. Tradition warns: **do not imitate the voices** — anyone who mocks them **dies before sunset**. A careless farmhand is named in some tellings (Swedish Wikipedia summarizing local legend; municipal / tourism retellings).

This is **preserved storytelling**, explicitly tied to the 1617 trauma. It is **not** scientific evidence of ghosts. Haunted Sweden does **not** convert the legend into a modern paranormal “fact.”

FOLKLORE — Cave, stone, dance rock

- **Cave:** Women hid from authorities before capture — **local tradition** (Naturskyddsföreningen tours; tourism). Historical proof of that hideout is weak; treat as folklore unless archival confirmation appears. - **“Hällen där trollen dansade”:** Midsummer troll-dance rock — folklore. - **Ättestupa / cliff pyre narrative:** Dramatic shove-into-fire accounts — **legendary layer** over documented executions (see history). - **Blåkullebackarna** name on old road — folk memory of Blåkulla accusations.

MODERN “PARANORMAL” LAYER (category 4–5)

Contemporary hiking/tourism texts call the place **haunted** and repeat the voice legend (e.g. tadigut.nu). Systematic EVP campaigns, professional ghost-hunt corpora and verified multi-witness modern apparitions are **thin** compared with the historical/folklore strength. Score paranormal reputation **MEDIUM–HIGH as folklore continuity**, not as documented modern phenomena.

If visitors report voices, lights or being watched: classify as **modern witness report (4)** or **interpretation (5)** — never as proven haunt.

SPECIAL LOCATIONS

1. **Trollkäringebergets röse** — historic map reference (1761). 2. **Execution mountain / ättestupa tradition** — traditional execution landscape (exact pin uncertain). 3. **Trollkäringegölen** — water-ordeal association. 4. **The Cave** — hideout folklore. 5. **Kulknektens stuggrund** — later historic cottage remains (official map). 6. **Old road** Finspång–Björke / Igelfors — historical route. 7. **Hällen där trollen dansade** — folklore rock.

HISTORICAL MYSTERY FRAME

**“The forest where the dead were never allowed to forget.”**

Questions for documentary work: What exactly happened in 1617? Who were the nine? Why these accusations? What do fogde records prove? Where precisely were the executions? How did “Jag är oskyldig” survive 400 years? Why was the forest left comparatively unworked?

INVESTIGATION IDEAS (legal daylight / reserve rules)

The Witches of Trollkäringeskogen · Jag är oskyldig · The Nine Women of 1617 · Lost Execution Site · Water Ordeal at Trollkäringegölen · History vs Folklore · 400 Years of a Swedish Witch Legend. Dusk audio only where legally permitted — never damage the reserve.

BEST CONDITIONS

Autumn · fog · early morning · blue hour · light rain · overcast.