For years youngsters stored disappearing within the El Raval neighborhood in Barcelona. When the perpetrator lastly was discovered it was Enriqueta Marti and her twisted crimes at fault. She was due to the darkness of her crimes referred to as The Vampire of El Raval, and maybe the scope of her crimes won’t ever be revealed.
Step into the darkish streets of El Raval, Barcelona, and immerse your self within the chilling story of Enriqueta Martí, the notorious vampire who haunted this neighborhood within the late nineteenth century.
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Identified for her macabre actions, Enriqueta Martí preyed on essentially the most weak members of society, luring harmless youngsters into her clutches. This darkish story unravels the secrets and techniques behind her heinous crimes, revealing an online of deceit, manipulation, and unspeakable horrors that made folks refuse to imagine that she was really human.
The Darkish and Scary Neighborhood: El Raval
The Raval neighborhood in Barcelona had a darkish and sinister status within the years main as much as the primary world struggle. This space, nonetheless generally known as the Barri Xino or pink gentle district, has an extended historical past of legal exercise and poverty in addition to the bohemian houses to artists, theaters, bars and cabarets.
Its dimly lit streets and alleys have witnessed numerous crimes, making it the proper setting for the haunting story of Enriqueta Martí. Firstly of the twentieth century it was essentially the most densely populated district in Europe. The environment of worry and unease that permeates the Raval provides an additional layer of dread to the story of the notorious vampire.
The Lacking Kids No person Regarded For
Within the late nineteenth century, Barcelona was a metropolis affected by poverty and social inequality the place there was an enormous distinction between the highs and lows of social standing. It was on this atmosphere of desperation that Enriqueta Martí discovered her victims. She preyed on essentially the most weak members of society: the poor youngsters that nobody actually observed. These harmless souls had been typically uncared for and forgotten by society, making them straightforward targets for Martí’s twisted needs.
The disappearances of those youngsters went unnoticed for a lot too lengthy, as their absence was overshadowed by the chaos and hardships of the time. Martí’s capacity to function within the shadows, unnoticed by the authorities, allowed her reign of terror to proceed unchecked.
The Darkish Legend of Enriqueta Martí because the Vampire of El Raval
Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés, a reputation that also sends chills down the spines of those that dare to talk it. Born in 1868, Martí would go on to develop into one of the crucial infamous figures in Barcelona’s historical past.

She was recognized by many names: “The Vampire of carrer Ponent”, “The Vampire of Barcelona,” and “The Vampire of the Raval.” The press sensationalized her crimes, perpetuating the picture of a bloodthirsty monster who consumed the harmless.
Learn extra: Try the tales about Paris’ Haunted Père Lachaise Cemetery or Poveglia Island — The Most Haunted Place within the World for extra tales about suspected vampires.
Martí’s macabre actions included kidnapping, homicide, and even working a brothel that specialised in youngster prostitution. However what drove this girl to commit such heinous acts?
Earlier than being renovated in 1923, the road was one thing else totally than the house of a bar, pub and fancy outlets. It was a brothel that Enriqueta owned.She was a easy nation lady that moved to town to earn her residing. She began out as a nanny and a waitress, however quickly ended up turning into a prostitute till she grew to become a madam and opened her personal brothel on Carrer Ponent.
The Vampire’s Work as a Witch Physician
Considered one of her darker endeavors was her work as a witch physician. She was stated to promote miracle pores and skin lotions to wealthy women that promised them everlasting magnificence.
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The one factor they didn’t know was that these supposed lotions contained the blood and fats of kids. Or maybe they knew, however simply didn’t care.
She additionally claimed to have discovered a remedy for tuberculosis that plagued town at the moment. She stated that by consuming the blood of kids, they might be cured.
The Horrible Crimes
It’s stated that she dressed up as a poor girl and regarded for kids that had no grown ups watching them. She then took them and offered them in her brothel.
She was arrested as soon as in 1909 in the course of the Tragic Week for promoting youngsters however was by no means convicted as she utilized her buddies in excessive locations that relied on her providers.
It was solely when a selected lady went lacking that the police actually bothered to research correctly as she was not a poor and orphaned youngster as lots of her different victims had been.
The Tragic Story of Teresita Guitart Congost
Though Teresita Guitart Congost’s dad and mom weren’t essentially wealthy, they had been standard and had a good quantity of affect to make this case matter in comparison with all the opposite circumstances. A neighbor noticed the lady in Marti’s residence on 29 Ponent Avenue or Carrer de Joaquin Costa as it’s at the moment, and notified the police. Once they arrived they discovered each Teresita Guitart Congost and a lady referred to as Angelita. Teresita Guitart Congost stated that Marti had lured her there with sweets earlier than locking them up in her residence.

Nobody knew who Angelita was, and even when Marti claimed it was her daughter, her ex husband stated they by no means had any youngsters. It was from this lady that harrowing particulars got here into the sunshine. In accordance with this younger lady, she had apparently seen Marti butcher a 5 12 months previous within the kitchen desk referred to as Pepito that she had stolen from a single mom that was new to town.
The police additionally discovered luggage stuffed with small and bloody human bones in addition to soiled garments in addition to round 50 jars of fats, blood, hair and skeletons, some already combined into an ointment, prepared on the market.
Though there was a dirty residence with a horrible stench, there was one room the place it was clear with costly furnishings and good wanting garments for each women and boys, more than likely the place her shoppers had been taken.
In her former residences they discovered bones, within the yards, a cranium of a kid. That they had no method of piecing all of them collectively, and the forensic may solely determine twelve youngsters. However what number of it actually was, is unknown.
The Arrest and Trial of Enriqueta Martí
The police accused her of abducting and killing youngsters, what number of is unknown. She had 20 years to commit her crimes in peace. She by no means confessed to killing any of the youngsters, however admitted that she had introduced youngsters to wealthy youngster molesters by way of her brothel. She by no means named her shoppers.

Martí was by no means convicted. Her fellow inmates took issues into their very own fingers and hung her within the jail yard in Could 1913. In some variations she was overwhelmed to demise. The official demise claims it was most cancers. Rumors circulated that Martí’s rich patrons had paid for her homicide to make sure that their darkish dealings along with her would by no means come to gentle. The official reason behind demise listed on her demise certificates was uterine most cancers, successfully closing the door on any additional investigation into her crimes.
Was the Rumor False?
Whereas Martí’s reign of terror got here to an finish along with her demise, questions nonetheless linger concerning the true extent of her crimes. Did she actually kill them, or was she extra of a scapegoat for the elite to throw away when the police got here too shut?
They counsel that she will solely be reliably linked to the kidnapping of 1 younger lady, Teresita Guitart. These researchers contend that the black legend attributed to Martí can’t be confirmed past an inexpensive doubt.
Nevertheless, the tales and legends surrounding her proceed to hang-out the darkish corners of Barcelona, perpetuating her notorious status and for a few years, there have been numerous of native Barcelonians that claimed that that they had been tried or had been kidnapped by her.
Enriqueta Martí’s Darkish Story Lives On
The story of Enriqueta Martí, the notorious vampire of El Raval, is a chilling reminder of the darkness that may lurk within the human soul. Her crimes shocked a metropolis and left scars that also stay to at the present time. Whereas the reality might by no means be totally recognized, the legend of Martí continues to captivate and terrify those that dare to delve into the depths of her darkish story.
As we stroll by way of the streets of El Raval, it’s not possible to not really feel a way of unease, as if the echoes of her crimes nonetheless linger within the shadows. Enriqueta Martí could also be gone, however her legacy as one in all Barcelona’s most infamous figures lives on, reminding us of the skinny line between good and evil, and the horrors that may lie hidden simply beneath the floor.
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Enriqueta Martí – The Vampire of the Raval – Barcelona Lowdown
https://www.thepastworld.com/put up/the-vampire-of-raval