A view of the legendary witch caves of Zugarramurdi. In the early seventeenth century, a witch panic swept Northern Navarre, and over a thousand men and women confessed to or were accused of cavorting with the Devil at Akelarres in fields and caves like this one. Their depositions – before Inquisitors and local officials – were detailed and evocative. As the widow María de Endara related in 1611,
“And after some small talk, the Devil and the said serora finally persuaded María to make the renunciation. Once this was decided, another serora from the Church of Santa María… appeared by trickery, and then while the Devil sat in his chair, the three women knelt around him, and María renounced God and the Virgin Mary and all the Saints, and she renounced all of this and everything the Devil asked her to renounce. And once she had done this, the Devil commanded her to stand, and accompanied by the two seroras, the Devil said to her, “No longer are you to hold the God of the Christians as your God, but rather you should worship me as your God.” And then he asked her to adore him by kissing his left hand, which was black with claw-like fingers and with long nails like talons of a bird. And María asked him what other parts she needed to kiss, and he said that she only needed to kiss his hand and nothing more. And once this was done, he offered – that is he gave her – a large toad dressed in a brightly colored suit of clothes, with little hands just like those of the Devil and he held his head raised high, unlike other toads who hold their heads down, and he wore a little belt of gold and attached to this was a little rattle that sounded just like an ordinary rattle. He had huge round eyes of the same color as the eyes of the Devil and he had a yellow tail that must have been about six fingers long and about as thick as a thumb. And when the Devil gave her this toad, she was so scared that she threw him away from her, but Cathelina recovered the said toad [and picked him up]. Then the Devil [and Cathelina] retired for some private words, and María didn’t see what they were doing or if the Devil gave her anything else. While the two of them were talking, the other serora said to María, “Don’t be afraid. You ought to be content and pleased, for from here on after, you will be very happy.”
(My translation, from Archivo General de Navarra, Codices,L.3, fols. 61r-65r.)