Do you think Baba Yaga is a fictional character? If so, now you can make big eyes. Baba Yaga really existed and was called Enriqueta Marti i Ripolles. The woman lived in Barcelona, where she murdered innocent children. Later, she used their bodies to prepare very expensive lotions, medicines, and cosmetics for rich people. Read the story about the real Baba Yaga, thanks to which you will not fall asleep at night.
Enriqueta Marti i Ripolles was born in 1868 in the seaside town of Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Spain). When she was in her teens, she moved to Barcelona - there was a greater chance of finding a job there. It was in Barcelona that Enriqueta became interested in herbalism and began to learn about the properties of some medicinal herbs. At first, the girl could not find herself a job in the big city, but over time she managed to find a part-time job as a servant. Later, she also worked as a carer for the children of wealthy families. Enriquet, however, wanted more money than she was getting from her employers. That's why she decided to change the industry and became ... a prostitute. Sometimes she earned money in the streets, and sometimes she wandered around brothels, taking all the jobs that came up. Money was easy and fast, which suited the young woman very much.
When Enriqueta was 27, she fell in love with a Barcelona painter named Juan Pujalo. The man was charmed by the woman, but he didn't like one thing. His beloved was interested not only in him but also in other men. After all, he did marry Enriqueta. He loved her. It quickly turned out, however, that the woman, despite her marriage, did not intend to give up other men. She was unfaithful to Juan and continued to cling to strangers, especially rich bachelors. From time to time, she also made extra work in well-known brothels, which Juan learned about one day. Before the couple finally divorced, the marriage broke up and broke up six times.
Enriquet did not seem to care about the unsuccessful relationship with the painter. She continued to use her body for profit, amassing more and more money. However, she still could not satisfy her huge appetite for fortune. Enriquet Marti and Ripolles had a terrifying idea one day. She decided to look for wealthy clients with specific sexual needs. These clients were looking for experiences that ordinary prostitutes could not provide them. Enriquet decided to fulfill their demonic whims. She dealt with pimping.
The woman is no longer a prostitute. From now on, it was she who set the work schedule for her "charges". During the day, she wandered around charity centers and children's homes, where she took the most scared and abandoned orphans. Dressed in rags, she took the children with her, ensuring that she would guarantee them a beautiful life. In the evenings, however, she made them go out into the street and fulfill the fantasies of picky customers. When a client was unhappy or a child tried to flee the street, Enriquet killed them. The woman still did not have enough money to bring orphans from clients. Enriquet also decided that it was a pity to just kill and abandon children when they were no longer needed. It was then that she remembered the herbal medicine she had loved to read about. The woman had a macabre idea. She decided to combine pimping with black magic, as well as healing people. She had managed to meet such a wealthy and influential clientele that they could all help to hide her terrifying, booming business. Enriquet knew all the disgusting secrets and perversions of the clients, so no one would let steam out of their mouths. That is why she "legally" started her bloody business.
What exactly did Enriquet do? She killed children who were no longer needed for prostitution. Sometimes, however, she did not have to do it - because the clients did it for her, permanently damaging the bodies of innocent, poor orphans who served them. Every dead child's body was worth its weight in gold to Enriqueta. She used the corpse to prepare various specifics, using, inter alia, from baby fat, hair, blood, bones, and skin. She made them a specialist powder and then used it to prepare all kinds of ointments, rejuvenating cosmetics, or potions to treat tuberculosis and venereal diseases.
The medicine of that time was not as developed as it is today. People were terrified of diseases and were looking for ways to prevent or treat them. When they heard about the miraculous properties of Enriqueta's drugs, they willingly spent exorbitant amounts of money just to get the medicine. The most valuable cosmetic was the skin aging cosmetic that Enriqueta prepared from… infant fat. Thanks to its magical characteristics, Enriqueta Marti and Ripolles gained a lot of rich clients. The king of Spain, Alfonso XIII, is said to have bought from her. To this day, however, it is not known whether this is real information or just rumors.
After some time, the inhabitants of Barcelona noticed that more and more children were dying in the city. The police searched for the perpetrator of the disappearances, but to no avail - they had no traces. In February 1912, Baba Yaga, as fellow businessmen started to talk about her, kidnapped her last victim - Teresita. The girl's parents quickly reported her missing to the police. The search has begun. A few days later Enriqueta's neighbor noticed Teresita with her shaved head in the window of her apartment. She went to the police station, where she told the policemen about everything. Uniforms, under the pretext of questioning Enriqueta for illegal possession of chickens in the house, entered her apartment. The discovery they made in it was perhaps the most terrifying of their entire police career.
The policemen found two girls in the apartment - one really turned out to be Teresita. The girls confessed to the police that Baba Yaga abused and starved them. Angelita (the second girl) also testified that a boy named Pepito lived with them. However, he was butchered by Enriqueta in front of Angelita. The girl, seeing this, got scared and ran to bed. When Enriqueta heard the noise, she immediately went to the girls' room. Angelita, however, pretended to be asleep.
In Baba Yaga's apartment were found, among others children's bones, jars with preserved parts of the body, a bloody bathtub, lotions, medications, and Enriqueta's magic decoctions. The woman, after coming home, was immediately arrested by the police. Interestingly, when Baba Yaga was brought to trial, she did not hear the murder charges at all. She was accused of… kidnapping and forgery of documents. Why? Apparently, the evidence of the crime was insufficient.
At this point, you are surely wondering - how is it possible that Enriqueta Marti and Ripolles have not been convicted of any murder? After all, she killed innocent children! True, times were completely different. The prosecutor was one of the most respected people in Barcelona at the time. He was afraid that other, high-ranking people - his friends - might be involved in the activity of Baba Yaga. What if he had to hold them accountable too? What if King Alfonso XIII himself were involved in the Enriqueta Marti and Ripolles case? Would he have to accuse him too? It would be a scandal for all of Spain. So the trial of Enriqueta was postponed for a very long time. Fortunately, the pimps, the Titanic sank in mid-April 1912. The eyes of all the people of the world then turned to America. Before they remembered the Enriqueta Marti and Ripolles case, the woman's file mysteriously disappeared.
Some say Baba Yaga was sentenced to an 11-month sentence and was sent to prison. On May 12, 1913, the woman died - she was murdered by her fellow prisoners, allegedly in the yard of the prison. The press, in turn, wrote that Enriqueta died of a then little-known disease - allegedly uterine cancer. Still, others believe she was killed by powerful people who used Enriqueta's services. They wanted the woman to be silent once and for all and take all their demonic secrets to the grave. To this day, it is not known what really happened to the Spanish Baba Yaga. It is certain, however, that she was the bloodiest murderer ever to operate in Barcelona.
Bibliography:
- Stukan Jarosław: Serial murderers, Estymator Publishing House, Warsaw 2021
- A. Czerwiński, K. Gradoń: Serial Killers, Muza Publishing House, Warsaw 2001
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