Simon Bingelhelm

Billboard at Daneil's Cave

Simon Bingelhelm (born 1565 in Halberstadt - June 2, 1600 in Gröningen), called "Thousand Devils of Halberstadt", was a German robber and serial killer who was executed for multiple crimes in today's area of Saxony-Anhalt.

Capture

In the spring of 1600, a man was arrested who was believed to be the "Thousand Devils of Halberstadt". He was brought to Gröningen, the then residence of the Diocese of Halberstadt, Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick, where he was imprisoned and interrogated several times, sometimes under torture.

Confessions

In the course of the interrogations, the man stated that his civil name was Simon Bingelhelm and that he was born in Halberstadt.

He confessed to numerous burglaries and theft offenses, primarily in Halberstadt, but also in Wernigerode, Reddeber, Falkenstein, Hoym, Aschersleben, Seehausen, Ballenstedt, Eilenstedt, Heimburg, Klein Quenstedt, Westerhausen, Dardesheim, Prenzlau, Salzwedel, Haldensleben, Neuhaldensleben, Calvörde, Derenburg, Herzberg, Oschersleben, Schermcke, Krottorf and Quedlinburg.

He is alleged to have boasted that in 1599 he was the arsonist behind the fire of Drübeck Abbey monastery, which he watched from the neighboring mountain. He also had a chalice from Rade church and stolen eleven talers from the poverty box of St. George's Church in Derenburg. In addition, he had broken into the Martinique Church with others and stolen the poor box. In Helmstedt he stabbed a man for two groschen and a pawn near Bernburg. At Benzingerode he killed a young woman eight days before the Pentecost in 1599. In the forest between Hornburg and Osterwieck he tried to rape a 18-year-old girl and later killed her.

In the interrogations, which also took place under torture, the man confessed to a total of 71 different crimes, including involvement in 26 murders. Among other things, he is said to have attacked a pregnant woman, whom he killed with his cronies. Then they would have slashed her body to get to the unborn child, from whose entrails he then made candles for his next burglary. He was also involved in the robbery and killing of at least five infants.

During the interrogation, this was noted:

"Admit that he, Black Hans, Pothans, Rickel and the fat Marten zu Hessen [on the highway from Halberstadt to Wolfenbüttel] took a child of 3 or 4 years before the gates of a man. The same is a Jew to Berßel want to sell, but which, because it was a Medlein not keep the child. If they had taken it and buried it on the Huy in the Long Meadow in the ground up to the armpit and thrown after it with beards, Pothans had thrown off the child's head. The head at Huy-Neinstedt put back in a cave and the other buried in the ground. The child would always have laughed when thrown at it.

He confesses that he, Schwartze Hanß, Pothans, and Rickel, had four children of three and four years old, stolen, [...] hetted the children to the eight days in the Danneils cave in the Huy, and asked him to negotiate with the Jews to help, but which children do not want the Jews. Derwegen beaten the same death, three in Jürgen Holtz about Schwanebeck and in the Warta one Sarckstedt buried."^[1]

Execution

On his execution on June 2, 1600 in Gröningen, he was: "attacked with pinces for honor, dragged to the town court, then quartered."

References