Catherine Monvoisin

Catherine Monvoison also known as La Voisin is a serial killer who is said to be a sorceress and a fortune teller who arranged black masses in order for her clients to have an access to the devil and grant their wishes,

Her career as a fortune teller began after her husband passed away.  She started practicing palm and face-reading and adapted it as their steady source of income.  She studied medicine and midwifery but would later result to performing abortion to her clients.  Her gift of clairvoyance is said to be a gift from God.  She claimed that she already has the ability to foresight the future when she was just a kid.

Eventually La Voisin noticed that most of her clients have the same wishes and problems.  Most of them are associated with love.  She would recommend them to visit a certain church and pray for a certain saint.  She then sell amulets and love potion which consist of bizarre things found in some insects.

La Voisin has many loyal clients, most of them include aristocrats.  She would arrange black masses wherein a woman was put into the altar and a bowl was placed onto her; a baby was then held above the bowl and the blood of the new born would then flow into the bowl.  This black mass is said to grant his client the ability to talk to the demon and state their wishes.

She was arrested on March 12, 1679 outside of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle after she heard a mass.  It was followed by the arrest of her daughter and other people associated within her network.  On December 27, 1679, Louis XIV release an order that everyone associated with the “cult” of La Voisin should be exterminated regardless of their rank and stature.

La Voisin was burned in public on February 22, 1680 at Place de-Greve in Paris.  Today the character of La Voisin has been an inspiration to the film Marquise and the manga ボアザン.