If you don’t know what to do in Prats de Lluçanès, and you want to discover this town, from COOLTUR Cultural Tourism we propose you the Tourist tour of the Napa Witch in Prats de Lluçanès!
Prats de Lluçanès is a municipality located in the natural region of the Lluçanès plateau, in the county of Osona.
Although Prats de Lluçanès has a small municipal area, in this area you can discover natural places of indescribable beauty. In addition, you can also find a large number of heritage elements of great value.
Tourist tour of the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès
In 1766, a century after the great Witch Hunt in Catalonia, events occurred that traumatised the village of Prats de Lluçanès. During the summer of that year, the village discovered the dismembered body of Anna Riambau, a four-year-old girl, in a dunghill.
The discovery traumatised the entire municipality, which desperately searched for the person responsible for the atrocious murder. According to the townspeople, the terrible murder was the work of the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès.
From COOLTUR Cultural Tourism we would like to propose a route to discover the history of the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès, one of the last witches in Catalonia.
What is witchcraft?
Witchcraft was considered a crime of heresy by the Catholic Church as early as 1326. According to the Catholic Church, witchcraft was a heresy presided over by the devil himself. From that time on, several people were arrested and tried for the crime of witchcraft.
However, it was not until the 17th century that the great Witch Hunts took place in Catalonia. Due to an economic, political, and religious crisis, various self-proclaimed civil courts were set up in Catalonia to try the crime of witchcraft. At that time, many people were arrested, tried and executed for the crime of witchcraft.
What were the witches and warlocks accused of?
Apart from having made pacts with the devil, the enemy of God, various accusations were made against those considered witches and warlocks. The most generic accusations were:
- Creating storms: Witches and warlocks were believed to create great storms that destroyed crops.
- Killing animals: Witches and warlocks were also believed to be responsible for the death of animals. We must remember that animals were a fundamental part of the economy of the time, as they provided protein and were used to work the land.
- Death of people: Many witches and warlocks were also accused of causing the death of other people, especially children.
Legends of Witchcraft
Witchcraft was a real phenomenon in which many people were executed. In Catalonia, it is estimated that 90% of those executed were women.
This phenomenon led to the creation of many legends related to witchcraft. These legends served to maintain, in popular memory, the existence and dangers of witchcraft.
Who was the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès?
In the 18th century, Maria Pujol lived in Prats de Lluçanès. She was an old woman with a face full of wrinkles. The people of the village knew Maria Pujol as Napa, as she was the daughter of Cal Nap.
She was a single woman with no descendants who, despite having no known job, had never gone hungry. Moreover, Napa did not like to associate with the people of Prats de Lluçanès, although she loved playing with the village children. She always gave pumpkin seeds to the little ones so that they would let her comb their hair.
Napa’s behaviour aroused a lot of suspicion among the villagers. Many believed that Napa was a witch, and so the villagers called her Napa the Witch. Nobody trusted this woman, and a great number of rumours were spread about the Napa Witch.
The villagers believed that every night the Napa Witch flew to Cal Costes, a house in Sagàs. Once there, she spun wool with the woman of the house. Others also believed that she carried a lizard in her basket, which gave her great agility to move around. Some people even claimed that when she combed the children’s hair, she stuck needles into their skulls.
Technical details of the Tourist tour of the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès
The tour we propose has a route of about 5 kilometres that runs through the municipality of Prats de Lluçanès. This is a circular route with an accumulated difference in altitude of 100 metres.
We believe that this route lasts approximately 1 hours and a half, which will allow you to do it at your leisure. In addition, it is a route that can be done with children.
Map of the tourist tour of the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès
Below you can see the map of the Tourist Tour of the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès.
Points on the Tourist Tour of the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès
Below you can discover the different points that make up this tour:
Sant Pere Street
This is the street where Cal Nap’s house was located. This is the house where the Napa Witch was born and lived. Unfortunately, this house is no longer preserved today.
Roca d’en Braç Street
In the summer of 1766, the dismembered body of Anna Riambau, a 4-year-old girl, was found in the dunghill of a house in this street. Once the body was discovered, a crowd of people from the village gathered around the dunghill.
This crowd of people began to investigate who could have been the culprit of this terrible murder. Many thought it was the Napa Witch. To find out, a group of people went to Cal Nap to investigate the murder.
When they arrived at Cal Nap, they knocked on the door, but no one answered. Many thought that the Napa Witch was hiding inside and that, out of fear, she would not open the door. The impatience of the group of people grew until they decided to break down the door of Cal Nap.
Once the door had been kicked down, they saw the frightened Napa Witch. They tried to stop her, but the Napa Witch, with great agility, escaped from the group of people and took refuge on the shores of Sant Sebastià.
The group of people decided to search Cal Nap’s house in order to find evidence of the murder. Apparently, they found Anna Riambau’s left arm, together with the girl’s liver cooked with blood.
Once they found this evidence, the group of people decided to look for the Napa Witch in order to arrest her.
Roc Foradat
It seems that the Roc Foradat is where the Napa Witch made her ointments and spells. In addition, many said that this is also where she hid the animals she used to steal.
It turns out that this is where the Napa Witch took refuge when she escaped from the group of people who wanted to arrest her. She came to Roc Foradat because, apparently, there is a cave here that she used to sneak around the Costa de Sant Sebastià.
The group of people who wanted to stop the Napa Witch went to Roc Foradat to try to find her. When they reached this point, they found her and were able to arrest her. Once arrested, they imprisoned the Napa Witch in the town’s jail. To prevent her from escaping, they tied her to an iron link in the wall.
There are two versions of the end of the story of the Napa Witch of Prats de Lluçanès.
According to one version, the Napa Witch was tried in Prats de Lluçanès. Once tried, she was executed by hanging for the murder of Anna Riambau.
But the most plausible version is that the Napa Witch was sent to Barcelona to be tried. In this case, the trial found the Napa Witch guilty of the murder of Anna Riambau. As a penalty, she was sentenced to death by hanging for murder. Although the sentence did not reflect it, for the people of Prats de Lluçanès, one of the last Witches in Catalonia had been eliminated.
(Cover image: Roc Foradat of Prats de Lluçanès Photo: COOLTUR Cultural Tourism)
How to get to Prats de Lluçanès
Prats de Lluçanès is a municipality located in Lluçanès, in the county of Osona. To reach this municipality you can use the roads C-62, BV-4401, B-431, B-432.
You can also reach this municipality by public transport. In this case, we recommend that you check the bus timetables before setting off on your journey!