The Witch of Czeladź – In 1376, Czeladź was hit by heavy rains that lasted for more than two months. According to local lore, Włodyczkowa, a widow living on the outskirts, warned the people of Czeladź about the consequences. The town was flooded, with water everywhere, but it stopped before Włodyczkowa’s property.
As described in Czeladź Legends published by the Czeladź Lovers Association in 1995, the widow was known to be a “quarrelsome” woman and frequently argued with her neighbor, the land steward Sojecki. It was he who accused her of witchcraft, claiming that the water stopping before her house was evidence of her guilt.
According to Sojecki, Włodyczkowa had been stealing milk from cows, casting spells on people, and wandering off at night to unknown places. The trial in the municipal court was swift and superficial. Land steward Sojecki, along with his accomplice, Mayor Żądliński, pressed the case against her, as they also coveted Włodyczkowa’s extensive estate. The woman was unjustly sentenced by secular judges. Her property was divided among others. A few years later, at the request of Włodyczkowa’s sons, the Kraków bishop took up the case, outraged that the woman had been condemned for witchcraft without consultation with the clergy.
Only clergy are qualified to determine whether real witchcraft was involved or if it was merely human superstition. The Kraków bishop declared the trial invalid and cleared Włodyczkowa of the witchcraft charges. She was rehabilitated, and land steward Sojecki was fined 60 groszy and imprisoned for two months for his false accusations. As penance, the bishop also ordered Sojecki to kneel with a candle for the next eight Sunday Masses in the parish church during the high mass. The unjustly seized property was returned to Włodyczkowa’s sons.
