Pfaffenkellnerin means "parson's waitress". She's the housekeeper of a parish priest before the Protestant Reformation. Screaming and howling with laughter through raging storms, her spirit appears on the Seebodenalp, a mountain near Lucerne, Switzerland.
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In the Middle Ages, the interaction of parsons or parish priests with their housekeepers is publicly known. In Switzerland the term Pfaffenkellnerin refers to a woman ostensibly employed as a maid or housekeeper, having a sexual relationship with the priest.
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The employment of live-in sex partners as housekeepers is also found in England and other lands. The Reformation ends this practice. The Zurich city-state government passes a law requiring a priest to wed his Pfaffenkellnerin. Not all men of the cloth are willing to comply.
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In 1535, a fatal poisoning case links to the nuptial law. Two years prior, a Pfaffenkellnerin named Margret Zollinger wins a court case against her lover, the priest Jacob Stössel, when his mistress Anna Müller sues for the right to marry him.
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The court finds the priest legally obligated to Margret. Sadly, Stössel does not fulfill the court order to marry her, and Margret is arrested for his murder by poison. Under torture she confesses. She's publicly hanged.
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This case is prominent due to the public interest it receives. Because of it the Zürich government passes a law November 3, 1535, restricting the sale of poisons by local apothecaries, who purvey them medicinally.
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Poisons sold by apothecaries are common in natural folk medicine. They include vegetable or herbal poisons such as plants with belladonna alkaloids (atropine) such as henbane, deadly nightshade, mandrake, jimson weed and datura.
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Others include monk's hood; hemlock, hellebore, colchicum (crocus), yew and opium. Mushrooms such as death cap and destroying angel also carry deadly toxins. Arsenic, also found at the apothecary, has been used since c. 2000 BCE, produced by copper smelting.
A Pfaffenkellnerin also appears in Götzis, Austria. Wearing a red bodice, she often sits at an old customs barrier.
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It's said she unhitches animals from carts, so carters have to re-harness them. Her spirit is forever restless, because as a Pfaffenkellnerin, she fed pigs with food meant for the poor.
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The Lucerne Pfaffenkellnerin is also associated with pigs in the form of wild boars. She may manifest as a mother sow, especially at night. Encountering her in this form causes stark terror. People have fainted on seeing her, and cannot be revived for days.
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She's also seen in the area of the river Schwarzenbach in the canton of Zug. On stormy winter nights she rages through the skies, a terrible figure in black accompanied by howling cats, baying dogs or squealing pigs. Any who see her fall into a physical or mental illness.
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Eldritch creatures, the animals of the Pfaffenkellnerin may have three legs or hybrid forms similar to the pig-dogs who run with der Türst. Like the malevolent Mare of myth she rides pine or fir trees and twists them out of shape.
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Her shrieking laughter peals over the sound of blizzard and gale. It's thought she urges the winds to howl and skies to thunder.
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Various stories of Pfaffenkellnerinnen are often connected to children. In one tale she dies due to missing the baptism of her godchild. In another, she kills her illegitimate child and is sentenced to death. She becomes one of the restless Undead and her spirit finds no solace.
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A significant part of the Reformation is the abolition of clerical continence and celibacy. Reformers denounce it as opposing the New Testament, which suggests a cleric should be "husband of one wife" and the right of the apostles to take a believing Christian as a wife.
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"Marriage should be honored by all," says Hebrews 13:4. Reformers blame the requirement of celibacy for widespread sexual misconduct among the clergy, including the keeping of concubines and Pfaffenkellnerinen.
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In England, celibacy is required for early Anglican clergy, under Henry VIII. It's repealed by his son Edward VI in the mid-1500s. Several key Reformation activists marry, including Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli (1522), Martin Luther (1525) and John Calvin (1539).
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