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| “ | Dance, dear little children, dance, Genipperteinga your father is making the dance for you. | „ |
| ~ Genipperteinga's cry to the hanging corpses of his children. |
| “ | What are you whining about? Our children are dancing and playing, so stop crying! | „ |
| ~ Another version of the above quote, directed at Genipperteinga's wife. |
Christman Genipperteinga (known by various other names) was a legendary German serial killer first recorded in a 1581 pamphlet by Caspar Herber entitled Erschröckliche newe Zeytung Von einem Mörder Christman genandt ("Terrible new tidings about a murderer named Christman"). The story was reported as fact but appears to be a folk tale, containing many similarities to older stories about killers with names such as Papedöne, Görtemicheel and Lippold and later tellings containing significant additions of elements such as cannibalism and deals with the devil. Genipperteinga is said to have killed around 964 people, a higher number of confirmed victims than any real-life serial killer in history.
Biography
Genipperteinga was said to have been born in the town of Körpen, two miles from Cologne. As an adult he lived in a cave complex a mile from the town of Bergkessel which was cleverly built like an ordinary house with cellars, rooms and chambers. From 1569 until 1581, he would prey upon travellers who passed through the area and was said to be so dangerous that only those travelling in a party of five or more could be sure they would be safe from him. Some later versions of the story state that he ate the flesh of his victims after killing them. He often robbed and killed with a gang of fellow miscreants, however his greed was such that no man lasted more than five hours in his gang as once his men had helped him bring the loot back to his cave he would serve them poisoned ale in order to keep it all for himself. He would dispose of their bodies down a mine shaft connected to the cave network.
In 1574 Genipperteinga ambushed a young woman (named as Dorothea in one version) who was on her way to live with her family in Trier. Lusting after Dorothea, he chose not to kill her as he intended but instead forced her to come back to his cave under threat of death. He extracted a promise from her in God's name that she would never betray him and for the next seven years he used her as a sex slave, binding her ankle with a chain whenever he left to find new victims so that she could not escape. Genipperteinga fathered six children with Dorothea, but each time he killed them by pressing in their necks, with later versions stating he would devour their hearts afterwards. He hung their bodies up from a nearby tree, and when the wind made their corpses move he would cry out that they were dancing.
In May 1581, Genipperteinga finally consented to his wife's pleas that she be allowed to visit her relatives in Trier on the condition of a renewed oath not to betray him. However, on arrival she saw the children running through the streets and, remembering her murdered children, fell on her knees and lamented how she had suffered for seven years. Many passers-by asked her what was wrong, but, mindful of her oath to Genipperteinga, she refused to reveal it. She was eventually brought before the mayor and the priests, who assured her that God would not punish her for confessing, and soon told of her relationship with Genipperteinga. Not wanting Genipperteinga to see them coming, they allowed Dorothea to return to the cave alone, leaving a trail of peas to mark the way.
On May 27, a contingent of 30 soldiers followed the trail of peas to Genipperteinga's cave, where they found him unconscious after Dorothea had lulled him to sleep while delousing his hair. Awoken by the soldier's arrival, Genipperteinga cried out to Dorothea that he wished he had strangled her when he had the chance before being apprehended. An immense amount of stolen booty was recovered from the cave, alongside a diary in which he detailed 964 murders (some versions state that these were separate from the six murdered children, giving him a total of 970 victims). Genipperteinga freely admitted to his crimes and lamented that he had been unable to reach his claimed goal of one thousand murders. He was condemned to death for murder and broken on the wheel over the course of nine days, being given strong drink to keep him alive and prolong his sufferings for as long as possible. In his final moments, Genipperteinga cried out that he was murdered.
One pamphlet claimed that Genipperteinga was a student of real-life medieval bandit and serial killer Peter Niers, who was believed to be a practitioner of the dark arts, and the two of them had made a deal with the devil which allowed them to turn themselves invisible through black magic.
Earlier versions
Genipperteinga's story is known to have existed prior to its original retelling in 1581, as several earlier folk tales depict what is clearly the same character under a different name. One such tale, recorded three years before the first account of the "Genipperteinga" character, concerns the infamous bandit Papedöne who would hang his victims skulls from a tree or thread them on a string and bang them together to produce a melody. Papedöne is said to have killed six abducted maidens before the seventh was able to give him away, resulting in his execution. Papedöne, like Genipperteinga, is said to have killed his children with the abducted women at birth, although one version states that he spared them until he realized he had been betrayed, at which point he hanged them from a tree as a final act of revenge on his bride.
Another version gives Genipperteinga's name as Görtemicheel, and states that he and his captive bride had seven children together. As in the later version she betrayed him on an errand and marked the way to his cave with peas; however, in this version she wept with fear when she arrived back. Görtemicheel realized she had betrayed him and had enough time to cut off her head and hang their children from a nearby tree before the soldiers arrived to take him.
A 17th-century legend names yet another variant, a robber named Lippold who abducted a woman after killing her husband and held her captive for several years until she managed to escape and alerted the nearby townsfolk. This version states that there was a hole in the roof of the cave through which the townsfolk either dangled a rope which was tied round Lippold's neck by his bride, allowing them to hang him, or drowned him by pouring water through it. This version also states that Lippold murdered his children at birth.
Other versions state that their Genipperteinga equivalent was a robber and murderer who held a woman captive for years until she escaped and led soldiers back to his cave to apprehend him, but make no mention of the murdered children, cannibalism or black magic.
