Wolfgang Behringer: A Historian of Witchcraft

Wolfgang Behringer, born in 1956 in Munich, is a German historian specializing in early modern history. His work explores witchcraft, popular culture, and climate history in Early Modern Europe. Over the years, he has held academic positions at prestigious institutions, including the University of Munich, the University of York, and Saarland University, where he currently teaches.

Behringer has written extensively on witchcraft and cultural history, with notable works such as Witchcraft Persecutions in Bavaria and A Cultural History of Climate. His research focuses on the connections between religion, folklore, environmental influences, and socio-political forces, offering a nuanced perspective on historical events.

Shaman of Oberstdorf: A Look into Chonrad Stoeckhlin’s Life

One of Behringer’s most well-known books, Shaman of Oberstdorf: Chonrad Stoeckhlin and the Phantoms of the Night(1998), originally published in German in 1994 and later translated by H.C. Erik Midelfort, takes an in-depth look at the life and trial of Chonrad Stoeckhlin (1549–1587). Stoeckhlin, a horse wrangler from Oberstdorf, Bavaria, claimed to have visions of the afterlife and engaged in mystical practices—claims that ultimately led to his execution for witchcraft.

Behringer uses Stoeckhlin’s story as a window into broader historical themes, including Alpine myths about spirits, remnants of pre-Christian shamanistic traditions, and how these beliefs were shaped by the religious tensions of the Counter-Reformation. The book is a microhistorical study, meaning it zooms in on one case to reveal larger cultural and historical patterns. It has been widely praised for its detailed analysis and engaging storytelling, showing how local folklore played into the witch-hunting phenomenon in late 16th-century southern Germany.

Rethinking Witchcraft Persecutions

Behringer’s work has reshaped how we think about witch trials, highlighting their complexity. Instead of relying on simplistic explanations—such as attributing them solely to misogyny or religious fanaticism—he digs deeper into the environmental, economic, and political pressures that fueled accusations.

His research shows how environmental crises, like crop failures, often coincided with waves of witch hunts, as desperate communities looked for scapegoats. His regional study of Bavaria demonstrates how local religious, political, and legal structures influenced the intensity and spread of witch trials. He also examines how the Counter-Reformation, with its aggressive push to reinforce Catholic orthodoxy, played a major role in escalating witchcraft persecutions in places like Bavaria.

Another key aspect of his work is how pre-Christian shamanistic traditions shaped early modern European ideas about witchcraft. Figures like Stoeckhlin, who claimed to communicate with spirits and travel between worlds, reflect older belief systems that survived in fragmented forms within Christian Europe.

Chonrad Stoeckhlin: Visionary, Folk Healer, or Shaman?

Chonrad Stoeckhlin lived during a time of religious upheaval, when supernatural visions and accusations of witchcraft could mean the difference between life and death. His experiences began when he claimed a deceased friend’s ghost appeared to him, urging him to repent. From there, his visions intensified—he described traveling to otherworldly realms, encountering angels, and witnessing the beings called the Nachtscharr (“night horde”).

But Stoeckhlin’s mystical experiences didn’t just stay in the realm of personal belief. He started accusing others in his village of witchcraft and practiced folk healing, activities that soon put him under the scrutiny of local authorities. Eventually, he was arrested, and after likely being tortured, he confessed to engaging in occult practices. In 1587, he was executed for witchcraft.

Behringer interprets Stoeckhlin’s experiences through the lens of pre-Christian healing-systems having undergone tremendous sociocultural change during and after Christianization, drawing comparisons to other cultures where spiritual intermediaries engage in ecstatic trances and communicate with supernatural beings. However, he is careful not to overstate the connection—rather than seeing Stoeckhlin as part of an unbroken shamanistic lineage, Behringer argues that his visions reflect fragmented traces of ancient myths, reinterpreted within early modern Christian beliefs.

The Wild Hunt and Alpine Folklore in Stoeckhlin’s Visions

Stoeckhlin’s supernatural encounters were closely tied to Bavarian Alpine folklore. One of the most striking aspects of his visions was his connection to the motif of the wild hunt—a spectral procession of spirits or souls, often led by a pagan deity like Wotan (Odin) or as is the case in the Alps, by Perchta and Berchthold. This myth, widespread in European folklore, was a remnant of pre-Christian traditions that lingered in local beliefs long after formal Christianization.

His experiences also echoed the customs and cultural practices of his home region. For example, Oberstdorf had traditions like bonfire festivals, which contained elements of older fertility rites. Stoeckhlin’s visions incorporated pieces of these traditions, suggesting that he was drawing from the cultural environment around him.

To make his case that Stoeckhlin functioned as a kind of shaman, Behringer relies on trial records, which document Stoeckhlin’s accounts of otherworldly journeys. These visions often took place during Ember Days—Christian fasting periods with deep-rooted connections to agricultural cycles. During these times, Stoeckhlin described traveling between realms with angelic guides and encountering spectral figures linked to Alpine myths.

Behringer’s interpretation of early modern witchcraft beliefs differs from that of historian Carlo Ginzburg, a well-known scholar of European shamanistic traditions.

Ginzburg, in books like I Benandanti and Ecstasies, argued that traces of ancient Eurasian shamanism survived relatively intact in some European witchcraft traditions. He suggested that practices such as nocturnal spirit journeys and fertility rites were part of a long-standing, continuous tradition stretching back thousands of years.

Behringer, on the other hand, is very careful with the idea of continuity. He believes that Christianization largely transformed these ancient practices, leaving only fragmented remnants behind. Rather than viewing figures like Stoeckhlin as part of a long-standing shamanistic tradition, Behringer sees them as products of cultural adaptation, where old myths were reshaped to fit the religious and social realities of early modern Europe.

Ginzburg’s approach relies on broad comparative analysis, drawing parallels between European traditions and Siberian shamanism. Behringer takes a more localized approach, focusing on specific cases like Stoeckhlin’s to understand how myths evolved over time.

Why Shaman of Oberstdorf Matters to researchers of Witchcraft and Paganism

Behringer’s Shaman of Oberstdorf offers a historically grounded perspective on how remnants of pre-Christian beliefs influenced early modern witchcraft accusations. His careful approach challenges the idea of a direct link between ancient shamanism and early modern witchcraft while still acknowledging the cultural impact of these older traditions.

His work, alongside scholars like Ginzburg, provides a deeper understanding of how folklore, religion, and historical forces shaped witchcraft beliefs in early modern Europe. Rather than reducing witch trials to a single cause, Behringer shows how they were the result of a complex interplay of factors—economic hardship, religious conflict, political pressures, and deeply rooted cultural traditions.