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The 1970s Witchcraft Trial and Other Oddities in Witch History

Khalid Elhassan March 15, 2022 25 min

23. Nut Who Thought Witchcraft and Demons Were All Around Her

Margaretta Peter came to head a small rural congregation. Imgur

Margaretta Peter was born into a large Swiss family around 1794, and from an early age, displayed remarkable religious zeal. By age six, she was a prodigy as a preacher and captivated congregations with impassioned sermons. She revealed a better grasp of the Bible than many grown ministers. She had a strong personality, and spiritually dominated her family and neighbors and turned them into her disciples.

At age twenty, Margaretta announced that she was a prophetess, and started a small congregation in her village. She also began to wander the region and preach, and gained a reputation and followers across Switzerland. In 1823, Margaretta began to harp on Satan, demons, witchcraft, and warn her flock that such fell darkness was all around them. Soon, she began to experience prophetic visions in which demons took over the world.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.