The Witches of Viladrau: The Montseny Witch Trial

Marc RL · · 4 min read

In the Montseny mountains, when the sky closes in and the wind stirs the chestnut trees, people still remember a hard story. Les Bruixes de Viladrau — the Witches of Viladrau — and their witch trial marked this corner of Catalonia forever. In the early seventeenth century, Viladrau lived through its darkest nights.

They say that on All Souls’ Day 1617 a huge storm broke. Rivers burst their banks, stone bridges collapsed, harvests were lost. That same night, some saw bonfires near Sant Segimon, high on Matagalls. The next day, they claimed to have seen two women coming down the path, as if stepping out of the gloom. The word spread on its own: witches. And the hunt began.

How the trial began: hunger and fear

Those were bad years: famine, strange rains, disease and bandits on the roads. In the mountain villages, fear grew. So did superstition. The Montseny already had a reputation for sorcery. A local saying put it plainly: “d’Arbúcies a Sant Hilari, dotze cases i tretze bruixes” — from Arbúcies to Sant Hilari, twelve houses and thirteen witches. In that climate, every misfortune needed a culprit. And the finger pointed at poor women, widows, folk healers and outsiders with no one to protect them.

What happened in Viladrau (1618–1622)

In one small village, fourteen women were arrested, interrogated and executed for witchcraft. It was not the Inquisition. It was the work of civil courts. A single accusation was enough to light the fuse, and the panic spread through Osona and other villages.

What were they accused of? Of maleficia, evil spells. Of making children sick. Of killing livestock. Of unleashing storms. Of casting the “evil eye”. Then came the torture to extract confessions. Stories surfaced of witches’ sabbaths in the hills, of ointments for “flying” and of pacts with the devil. There was talk of nights at Sant Segimon, on the Puig de les Formigues or at hidden springs deep in the forest. With fear running loose, anything counted as evidence.

The sentences came. In Catalonia the end was not the stake: it was the gallows. In Viladrau there were fourteen. The village square saw the scaffolds go up. It was a blow to everyone: broken families, empty houses, a silence that lingered for many years.

Legend and night in the Montseny

Alongside the facts, the tales grew. Gatherings by moonlight. Circle dances. Lights on the mountainside. Muttered spells. It was said that some women used potent herbs, belladonna or jimsonweed, to make ointments and “fly” up the chimney to the gathering. Today we know that many of those “witches” were simply women singled out for being different. Fear and old grudges between neighbours did the rest.

The mark it left

Over the years, Viladrau has chosen to remember them with respect. In 2022, Catalonia symbolically pardoned the victims of the witch trials. And since 1997, on the eve of Tots Sants (All Saints’ Day), the village has held the Ball de Bruixes, the Witches’ Dance: music, fire and theatre in the square. It is not meant to frighten; it is meant to keep the memory alive. Several streets now bear their names.

If you go, stop by the Font de les Bruixes, climb towards Sant Segimon and walk the trails of Matagalls. There are also visitor centres and routes that tell the story of what happened. The landscape helps you understand why this history sank so deep into the Montseny.

Info: 28è Ball de Bruixes de Viladrau | Ajuntament de Viladrau
Program: Programa CapSetmana Bruixes 2025_WEB

Memory and mystery

The story of the Witches of Viladrau is not just a tale. It is memory. It speaks of hunger, of fear and of blame laid on the wrong shoulders. It also speaks of how a village turns pain into remembrance. When the wind comes down off the ridge and the night is still, some say you can still hear whispers. Maybe it is the mountain. Or maybe it is the lesson of that time: never again point the finger at those who are different.

Agenda Oculta