Within Andorra Folklore
Were Andorra's Witches Legend or History?
The witches of Engolasters link eerie lake stories with Andorra's unusually rich records of witchcraft accusations and trials.
On this page
- Lake Engolasters and the night bathing witches
- Tribunal de Corts records and real accused women
- Modern memory, routes and heritage interpretation
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Introduction
The witches of Engolasters occupy a rare position in Andorran tradition because they stand at the meeting point of folklore and documented history. On one side are the famous stories of Lake Engolasters, where witches were said to gather at night, bathe in the water and punish anyone who dared watch them. On the other side are surviving court records showing that Andorra experienced real witchcraft prosecutions during the early modern period. Together, these two strands create one of the country’s most distinctive supernatural traditions: a landscape haunted by legend, but also connected to the lives of real people who faced accusation before Andorran courts.[Visit Andorra]visitandorra.comVisit AndorraHiking route: Llac d'Engolasters… night to watch the witches bathe, naked, in the lake. To punish them, the witches turned…
Unlike many modern ghost stories that exist only in oral retellings, the Engolasters witch tradition can be examined from both directions. Folklore explains how local people imagined witches, while legal documents reveal how fears of witchcraft could have serious consequences in everyday life. The result is a fascinating case study in how belief, storytelling and justice became intertwined in the Pyrenean valleys of Andorra.[Patrimoni Cultural]patrimoni.gencat.catPatrimoni Cultural They were talked aboutand they were out thereApril 22, 2021 — over twenty women in connection with at least nine cases of alleged witchcraft between 1514 and 1…
Lake Engolasters and the Night-Bathing Witches
Lake Engolasters is one of Andorra’s most famous legendary landscapes. The mountain lake lies above the central valleys and has long been associated with uncanny stories. According to local tradition, witches gathered there after dark, especially on moonlit nights. They bathed naked in the water, danced around the lakeshore and practised mysterious rites beyond the view of ordinary villagers.[Encamp]encamp.adLlac d'Engolasters - Turisme Encamp i El Pas de la CasaIt is also said that on full moon nights, witches would gather at the lake t…
The most widely repeated version of the story focuses on curious men from nearby settlements. Drawn by rumours of the witches’ gatherings, they climbed to the lake at night to spy on them. The witches discovered the intruders and punished them with transformations, turning them into black cats. In some variants elsewhere in the Pyrenees, the punishment is petrification or another magical curse, but the Andorran versions most commonly feature black cats.[visitandorra.com]visitandorra.comVisit AndorraHiking route: Llac d'Engolasters… night to watch the witches bathe, naked, in the lake. To punish them, the witches turned…
The lake is also connected to another local legend: the tale of a village swallowed by water. In several retellings, a settlement once stood where the lake now lies. The inhabitants behaved arrogantly or refused charity to a stranger, leading to divine punishment. Floodwaters engulfed the community, creating the lake. The witches then adopted the newly formed waters as a gathering place. The combination of a drowned settlement and nocturnal witch meetings gives Engolasters an atmosphere unlike any other legendary site in Andorra.[grandvalira.com]grandvalira.comlake engolastersLake Engolasters in Andorra8 Feb 2024 — The story goes that one village was once completely engulfed by the water and that wit…
One intriguing detail in modern versions of the legend is the claim that the witches disappeared at the beginning of the twentieth century. Local tourism materials connect their departure to the transformation of the area through engineering projects, including the construction of the dam and hydroelectric infrastructure. The story symbolically marks a shift from a supernatural landscape to a modern technological one.[visitandorra.com]visitandorra.comVisit AndorraHiking route: Llac d'Engolasters… night to watch the witches bathe, naked, in the lake. To punish them, the witches turned…
When Witches Moved from Story to Courtroom
The folklore of Engolasters might be dismissed as a colourful mountain tale if it were not for the fact that Andorra also possesses unusually rich evidence of actual witchcraft prosecutions.
Research based on records from the Tribunal de Corts, the principal judicial institution of the Andorran valleys, has shown that witchcraft accusations were not merely imaginary stories. Surviving documents indicate that more than twenty women were investigated in at least nine witchcraft cases between 1514 and 1522. These proceedings involved both secular and ecclesiastical authorities and demonstrate that fears about witchcraft formed part of real legal practice.[Patrimoni Cultural]patrimoni.gencat.catPatrimoni Cultural They were talked aboutand they were out thereApril 22, 2021 — over twenty women in connection with at least nine cases of alleged witchcraft between 1514 and 1…
Modern studies of the archives have uncovered dozens of references to witchcraft prosecutions. Reports discussing the Andorran records describe around forty witchcraft trials conducted during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, making the country an important but often overlooked part of the wider Pyrenean history of witch hunting.[All Pyrenees]all-andorra.comAll Pyrenees Andorra, the land of the witchesAll PyreneesAndorra, the land of the witchesMarch 6, 2019 — 6 Mar 2019 — The study revealed about forty witchcraft trials conducted by th…
The surviving evidence does not prove that the women accused at court were connected to the legendary witches of Engolasters. That link belongs to folklore rather than documentary history. What the records do show is that belief in harmful magic was taken seriously enough to trigger investigations, interrogations and legal proceedings. In that sense, the lake legends and the trial records illuminate the same cultural world from different angles.[Patrimoni Cultural]patrimoni.gencat.catPatrimoni Cultural They were talked aboutand they were out thereApril 22, 2021 — over twenty women in connection with at least nine cases of alleged witchcraft between 1514 and 1…
Real Women Behind the Fear
One of the most important lessons from the archives is that witchcraft accusations were not directed at imaginary beings. They affected real people, most of them women.
The Andorran records fit a broader pattern seen across Catalonia and the Pyrenees, where local courts often pursued alleged witches more aggressively than larger institutions such as the Inquisition. Accusations typically emerged from fears about illness, livestock losses, crop failures or unexplained misfortune. The accused were neighbours rather than supernatural creatures.[gencat.cat]patrimoni.gencat.catPatrimoni Cultural They were talked aboutand they were out thereApril 22, 2021 — over twenty women in connection with at least nine cases of alleged witchcraft between 1514 and 1…
This distinction matters when reading the Engolasters legends today. The beautiful and frightening witches who bathe beneath the moon belong to folklore. The women appearing in court records belonged to real communities and faced the consequences of collective suspicion. The two images became intertwined over time, but they should not be confused with one another.[Patrimoni Cultural]patrimoni.gencat.catPatrimoni Cultural They were talked aboutand they were out thereApril 22, 2021 — over twenty women in connection with at least nine cases of alleged witchcraft between 1514 and 1…
Why Engolasters Became a Witch Landscape
The association between witches and high mountain lakes is not unique to Andorra. Across the Pyrenees, isolated lakes, forests and mountain clearings were often imagined as gathering places for supernatural beings. Such locations lay beyond ordinary village life and therefore provided natural settings for stories about secret nocturnal meetings.[Perennial Pyrenees]perennialpyrenees.comPerennial PyreneesWeekly Article #1 – The Witches of Engolasters LakeApril 24, 2017 — 24 Apr 2017 — Witchcraft and the Pyrenees have long…
Engolasters possessed several qualities that encouraged this reputation:
- Its elevated and relatively isolated setting.
- The reflective surface of the lake, often surrounded by mist.
- Existing legends about divine punishment and a drowned settlement.
- Wider Pyrenean traditions linking witches with remote mountain locations.[grandvalira.com]grandvalira.comlake engolastersLake Engolasters in Andorra8 Feb 2024 — The story goes that one village was once completely engulfed by the water and that wit…
The result was a landscape that became both physically real and imaginatively charged. Visitors saw a mountain lake; storytellers saw a place where ordinary rules no longer applied.
Modern Memory, Routes and Heritage Interpretation
Today, Engolasters is presented as both a natural attraction and a legendary one. Tourism routes, hiking materials and local heritage descriptions regularly mention the witch stories alongside information about the lake’s scenery and history. Visitors encounter the legend not as a living belief in witchcraft but as part of Andorra’s cultural heritage.[Visit Andorra]visitandorra.comVisit AndorraHiking route: Llac d'Engolasters… night to watch the witches bathe, naked, in the lake. To punish them, the witches turned…
At the same time, growing interest in historical witch trials has encouraged a more nuanced interpretation. Scholars and cultural institutions increasingly emphasise the difference between folklore and persecution. The legendary witches of Engolasters remain colourful characters in local storytelling, but the court records remind modern audiences that witchcraft accusations once affected real women whose lives were shaped by fear, suspicion and legal power.[Patrimoni Cultural]patrimoni.gencat.catPatrimoni Cultural They were talked aboutand they were out thereApril 22, 2021 — over twenty women in connection with at least nine cases of alleged witchcraft between 1514 and 1…
This dual perspective is what makes Engolasters especially significant within Andorran folklore. Few traditions allow readers to move so directly between mythic narrative and archival evidence. The lake preserves the imaginative world of witches dancing beneath the moon, while the Tribunal de Corts records preserve traces of the historical world in which accusations of witchcraft could become a matter of law. Together they reveal how deeply supernatural belief once penetrated everyday life in the Andorran valleys.[Visit Andorra]visitandorra.comVisit AndorraHiking route: Llac d'Engolasters… night to watch the witches bathe, naked, in the lake. To punish them, the witches turned…
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Endnotes
1.
Source: grandvalira.com
Title: lake engolasters
Link:https://www.grandvalira.com/en/blog/lake-engolasters
Source snippet
Lake Engolasters in Andorra8 Feb 2024 — The story goes that one village was once completely engulfed by the water and that wit...
2.
Source: encamp.ad
Link:https://www.encamp.ad/en/encamp-el-pas-de-la-casa/map/%40%40place_view/llac-dengolasters
Source snippet
Llac d'Engolasters - Turisme Encamp i El Pas de la CasaIt is also said that on full moon nights, witches would gather at the lake t...
3.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Lake Engolasters
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Engolasters
Source snippet
Lake EngolastersLake Engolasters, in the Encamp parish of Andorra, is an oblong shaped lake at an elevation of 1,616 m (5,302 ft). for...
4.
Source: Wikipedia
Link:https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engolasters
5.
Source: theworld.org
Link:https://theworld.org/stories/2022/02/14/catalonia-pardons-women-accused-witchcraft-400-years-ago
Source snippet
The World from PRXCatalonia pardons women accused of witchcraft 400 years...14 Feb 2022 — About 400 hundred years ago, in the small Cata...
6.
Source: visitandorra.com
Link:https://visitandorra.com/en/nature–sports/hiking-route-llac-d-engolasters/
Source snippet
Visit AndorraHiking route: Llac d'Engolasters... night to watch the witches bathe, naked, in the lake. To punish them, the witches turned...
7.
Source: patrimoni.gencat.cat
Title: Patrimoni Cultural They were talked about
Link:https://patrimoni.gencat.cat/sites/default/files/hd-images-zip/descarregues/llibreBRUIXES_eng_final.pdf
Source snippet
and they were out thereApril 22, 2021 — over twenty women in connection with at least nine cases of alleged witchcraft between 1514 and 1...
Published: April 22, 2021
8.
Source: hotelrestaurantcampdelserrat.com
Link:https://www.hotelrestaurantcampdelserrat.com/en/lake-engolasters
Source snippet
Lake Engolasters, AndorraThe witches, who bathed in the lake at night, cast spells on those who dared to spy on them, turning them into b...
9.
Source: multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com
Title: The lake becomes a favorite bathing place of Andorran witches.Read more
Link:https://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2018/12/land-of-witches-following-folktales.html
Source snippet
Multicolored DiaryLand of witches (Following folktales around the world 95.10 Dec 2018 — That night a flood drowns the entire town, and L...
10.
Source: all-andorra.com
Title: All Pyrenees Andorra, the land of the witches
Link:https://all-andorra.com/andorra-the-land-of-the-witche/
Source snippet
All PyreneesAndorra, the land of the witchesMarch 6, 2019 — 6 Mar 2019 — The study revealed about forty witchcraft trials conducted by th...
Published: March 6, 2019
11.
Source: perennialpyrenees.com
Link:https://perennialpyrenees.com/2017/04/24/weekly-article-1-the-witches-of-engolasters-lake/
Source snippet
Perennial PyreneesWeekly Article #1 – The Witches of Engolasters LakeApril 24, 2017 — 24 Apr 2017 — Witchcraft and the Pyrenees have long...
Published: April 24, 2017
Additional References
12.
Source: nationalarchives.gov.uk
Link:https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/early-modern-witch-trials/
Source snippet
Early Modern witch trialsThis resource helps to highlight some of the reasons why people were accused of witchcraft, who they were, and w...
13.
Source: amnesty.eu
Link:https://www.amnesty.eu/news/andorra-defamation-charge-against-activist-facing-trial-for-speaking-out-about-womens-rights-must-be-dropped/
Source snippet
Andorra: Defamation charge against activist facing trial for...16 Dec 2022 — In 2020 the public prosecutor brought three criminal defama...
14.
Source: facebook.com
Title: They were tortured and hanged. “We’ve gone down in history
Link:https://www.facebook.com/hazlittmag/posts/in-arb%C3%BAciestwelve-women-thirteen-witchescatalonian-saying/2887382284620441/
Source snippet
In Arbúcies, Twelve women, thirteen witches —Catalonian sayingIn the Catalan village of Viladrau between 1618 and 1622, several women wer...
15.
Source: facebook.com
Link:https://www.facebook.com/KTSM9News/posts/accused-witches-may-be-exonerated-centuries-later/557030016461410/
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were also prosecuted. In some regions, such as parts of...Read more...
16.
Source: travesiapirenaica.com
Title: Its waters are so dark that the stars do not reflect in it.Read more
Link:https://travesiapirenaica.com/en/legend-engolasters/?srsltid=AfmBOoqolD_3R4ZnUrmlrPxSy6A5-MjSphFaSSe26J6twk5_81LGDk26
Source snippet
The legend of the lake of Engolasters19 May 2023 — In fact, the name Engolasters, which means "engulfing the stars", comes from this...
Published: May 2023
17.
Source: legalhistorymiscellany.com
Title: elizabethan witch trials
Link:https://legalhistorymiscellany.com/2019/06/30/elizabethan-witch-trials/
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More Evidence (and a Map)30 Jun 2019 — Most of what we know of accusations of felony witchcraft in early modern England comes from the fe...
18.
Source: travesiapirenaica.com
Link:https://travesiapirenaica.com/en/legend-engolasters/?srsltid=AfmBOoq-Vwyb5CYtvFwrZ51h7orEAhQHoRXFZq4ZKuwrbFXiTNa5zRvL
Source snippet
The legend of the lake of Engolasters19 May 2023 — Apparently, the witches came up at night to bathe in the lake and some daring men went...
Published: May 2023
19.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKG07dEQlF4
Source snippet
itchcraft of these the vast majority were women...
20.
Source: youtube.com
Title: DISCOVER The Witch Quela’s Potion (Routes in Andorra
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZBLkfJRR6M
Source snippet
They Said She Was a Witch with Judith Prat...
21.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Secrets of the Basque Witch Hunt with Jan Machielsen
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=389wgCchHMY
Source snippet
Inside the Heretic Trials of the Pyrenees - Secret Files of the Inquisition...
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