Stories

The first occupant of Pajamäki, Paavo Kotilainen, is said to have been beheaded as a sorcerer in the market square of Oulu in 1577. It was claimed that he had harmed people and their property with his witchcraft. Pieti Riippi from Kälviä shared the same fate as Kotilainen. In light of these examples, it seems that the phenomena the church defined as black magic were severely addressed in Central Ostrobothnia (Virrankoski 1997, 67–68). It is possible that Kotilainen was one of the Lapps living on riverboats and commonly regarded as sorcerers in those days (Suur-Lohtajan historia I, 488).