The Witch of Tongeren

Tongeren, Belgium’s oldest city, has a dark past full of conflict and supernatural tales. In the year 1683, an old woman named Aldegunde lived in a poor neighborhood near the Basilica of Our Lady. She had not always been poor — her husband had once been a brewer of some reputation — but after his death she had fallen into oblivion. Her daughter, who had made a good marriage, wanted nothing more to do with her. The village folk said that Aldegunde responded to this rejection with vengeance — not with words, but with destruction.

It began with the cattle of Pieter Goyvaerts, a wealthy farmer from the Molenhoek. His five cows, previously healthy and well-fed, suddenly began giving bloody milk. Their udders swelled to the size of watermelons, purple in color and burning with fever. Goyvaerts called the veterinarian, but he could only shake his head. Within three weeks, all five animals were dead. The same curse struck soon after the sheep of neighbor Hendrik Nils — twelve head, all afflicted with a mysterious disease in which they walked in circles until they collapsed.

Then the rumors began to circulate. Aldegunde had been seen — by whom, no one said precisely — at midnight around Goyvaerts’ fields, muttering in a strange language, raking the air. She wore small dolls of lead and linen at her belt, the fearful said. Her eyes glowed like fireflies in the dark. And whenever she visited a farm to beg for food, and whenever she was rejected with harsh words, the death of animals followed within days.

The fear of the population grew like fermenting dough. Families kept their doors closed when Aldegunde drew near. Mothers warned their children of her face, which was wrinkled like dried fruit and was missing several teeth. The bailiff was called in. When Aldegunde was questioned, she denied everything, but her words were strange and sometimes incoherent. She spoke of voices that gave her commands at night, of a "Master" who gave her powers, and of much greater evil than the killing of a few cattle.

The priest of the Basilica, Father Theodor, decided to perform an exorcism. With a group of the faithful — including officials and notables — he entered Aldegunde’s small hut. When the holy water was sprinkled, she is said to have screamed like a possessed beast, clung to the walls, and strange sounds came from her mouth. Father Theodor’s hands are said to have trembled as he recited the prayers. When it was over, Aldegunde lay exhausted on her straw mattress and said softly: "It is over. The demon leaves me now."

But the cattle plague did not stop. Rather, it spread to new houses. Some clever women from the area brought their knowledge. They advised roasted urine, overturned shoes under beds, and salt scattered in circles around the stables. They cut willow twigs into crosses and nailed them above the stable doors. But the most effective remedy, they said, was "driving out the witch" — by chasing her from the village.

On a foggy morning in January 1684, Aldegunde and her meager possessions were driven from Tongeren. She was given bread and a cloak, but threatened that if she ever returned, she would be forced to walk through fire. The old woman left the city foot by foot, and did not look back. Within weeks, the cattle plague stopped. Not a single new cow, sheep, or horse was struck. The farmers walked in their stables and felt freed from a nightmare.

Years passed, and the story of the witch of Tongeren became a warning to the young. Some said Aldegunde went to Maaseik, others that she was burned on a rainy day in a village in Germany. What was true was never determined. But in Tongeren itself, the story lived on as a tale of darkness and deliverance — a reminder of the power of shared belief, of susceptibility to the supernatural, and of the dangers of marginalization.

To this day, old inhabitants of Tongeren can point to the stone houses along the Tongersestraat and say: "There she lived. There it happened." The name Aldegunde is still whispered with some fear, and mothers still warn willful children: "Be careful, or else the witch will come for you — as she came for the cattle of Tongeren."