The legends of Peter Niers may be lesser-known than those of Vlad the Impaler or Elizabeth Báthory, but they are no less horrifying.
It was said that Niers was a master black magician who could render himself invisible, transform into a cat, a dog, or a goat. It was said that he garnered these powers through the cannibalization of fetuses and he kept the severed hands and feet of infants in a leather pouch at all times.
It’s no wonder, then, why the German robber-bandit has since been solidly rooted among some of the worst serial killers in history. This is the tale of the medieval Boogeyman.
Niers was born into a peasant family in 16th-century Germany. During the heyday of serfdom, Niers saw firsthand the struggles of rampant classism. No doubt the inhumane living conditions and treatment of the peasant class were a catalyst for his later sociopathy.
Niers’ murder spree took place in the aftermath of a country-wide peasant uprising that began in 1525. Also known as the German Peasants’ War, this revolt was the largest uprising in Europe until the French Revolution. Peasant armies stormed the castles of wealthy landowners, monasteries, and cities.
As a result, crime rates in Germany soared. Surviving records reveal that murder accounted for anywhere from 11 to 15 percent of the country’s crime between the 1570s and 1590s.
And it was from this backdrop of violence and chaos that Peter Niers emerged.
