Peder Jönsson (died 1640), was a Swedish hunter and fisherman from

Söderköping Söderköping is a locality and the seat of Söderköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,992 inhabitants in 2010. Söderköping is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a ''town''. ...

, who was executed for having confessed to sexual intercourse with a

Sjörå The sjörå , (lake Rå) or the ''Sjöfru'' (Mistress of the Lake) was a mythical creature of the lake, or Rå, in Swedish folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, sub ...

(a lake-nymph; a mythical female creature of the lake). Though they are other cases of the same kind in 17th-century Sweden, his was the only case were the sentence is confirmed to have been executed.Häll, Mikael: "Den övernaturliga älskarinnan - Erotiska naturväsen och äktenskapet i 1600-talets Sverige", i Catharina Stenqvist & Marie Lindstedt Cronberg (red.), Dygder och laster - Förmoderna Perspektiv på tillvaron, Nordic Academic Press, Lund (2010), s. 142 Jönsson was from Söderköping, where he was employed as a member of the staff at a church. In 1640, his wife alerted the authorities about him. Before the court, he admitted to having had called upon the

sjörå The sjörå , (lake Rå) or the ''Sjöfru'' (Mistress of the Lake) was a mythical creature of the lake, or Rå, in Swedish folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, sub ...

with a magic chant. She appeared to him as a beautiful woman with horsetail, feet like a cow and legs with fur. She promised him good fortune in hunting and fishing. In exchange, he would provide her with sex and refuse his wife in bed. He agreed. The wife of Jönsson confirmed his story. This story was interpreted as witchcraft by the authorities, and Peder Jönsson was sentenced to death by the local court. His sentence was confirmed by the high court, and he was thereby executed. Though his case is not the only one in the 17th-century Sweden where a human is sentenced to death for having had sex with a mythological creature (not counting Satan or a demon), his is the only sentence confirmed to have been executed.

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* Häll, Mikael: "Den övernaturliga älskarinnan - Erotiska naturväsen och äktenskapet i 1600-talets Sverige", i Dygder och laster - Förmoderna perspektiv på tillvaron, Catharina Stenqvist och Marie Lindstedt Cronberg (red.), Nordic Academic Press, Lund (2010) * Helmfrid, Björn: Söderköping: Tiden 1568-1690, S:t Ragnhilds Gille, Söderköping (2001), s. 253 {{DEFAULTSORT:Peder Jonsson 1640 deaths 17th-century Swedish people 17th-century executions by Sweden 1640 in law 1640 crimes People from Söderköping Municipality People executed for witchcraft

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