Marti Enriqueta

Executed in Spain, 1912.

   The Danish "fairy tale" of Hansel and Gretel is one prime example, 
   its child-eating witch of the woods nothing more  than a sadistic 
   dabbler in black arts and cannibalism. (Her crimes mirrored in 
   real-life by the case of Marti Enriqueta, a Spanish "witch" executed 
   in 1912 for murdering at least six children, cannibalizing their 
   bodies, and boiling the leftovers down for the love charms she sold 
   on the side.) 


   Enriqueta, Marti
   A self-styled witch who made her living through the sale of charms 
   and potions, Enriqueta was arrested by police in Barcelona, Spain, 
   in March 1912 on charges of abducting several local children. Her 
   most recent victim, a young girl named Angelita, was rescued alive 
   from the witch's lair, appalling police with a tale of murder and 
   cannibalism. According to the girl, she had been forced by Enriqueta 
   to partake of human flesh. Her "meal" had been the pitiful remains 
   of yet another child, kidnapped by the murderess a short time earlier. 
      
   As ultimately pieced together by authorities, Enriqueta's local crimes 
   had already claimed at least six victims. After murdering the children, 
   she would boil their bodies down for use as prime ingredients in her 
   expensive "love potions."  Convicted on the basis of her own confession, 
   coupled with the testimony of her sole surviving victim, Marti Enriqueta 
   was condemned and executed for her crimes.