Modern Serial Killers Have Nothing On The Middle Ages

Forget Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy. Forget Jack the Ripper. One serial killer in 16th-century Germany was so prolific and horrifying that he puts all our modern true crime subject matter to shame. Peter Niers confessed to taking the lives of over 500 victims, both while robbing and looting as a bandit and, apparently, for love of the game as well. Not only was Niers a killer, he was also, according to stories at the time, a practitioner of dark magic. He made deals with the devil and specifically targeted pregnant women and their unborn children in order to make his dark magical powers stronger. Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the Softcore History Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for hundreds of hours of extra history content including episodes like this, listener voicemails, movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.  Rob Fox⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dan Regester ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/danregester/ ⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices