Enriqueta Martí was one of the most disturbing, infamous murderers in the history of Barcelona. Born in 1868, she worked for a rich family in the centre of Barcelona.
At that time, she was married to an artist, Joan Pujaló. They separated and conciliated six times. His testimonial says that, under his words, their marriage failed terribly because of her obsession with men, and her strange, fake and compulsive character. He didn’t feel safe around her, and he declared that she was always gone, not giving any kind of explanation.
Surrounded by luxury and vanity, she wanted more. She started selling her body for money as a prostitute for the guests in the house and out on the street until a terrible idea crossed her mind.
She realized, as a good observer she was, that rich people had an obsession: youth.
They would pay vast amounts of money; they would give anything, for youth.
But how could she provide for that?
She was smart. She wandered off in the streets looking for orphans and homeless kids that would follow her to her apartment (at Ponent Street in Barcelona, right in the old centre near the Cathedral).
She kidnapped children. Killed them. Afterwards, used their body parts and blood to create “potions” of youth which rich people would pay greatly for.
Enriqueta, in the mornings, acted like a homeless woman, asking for money and charity in the streets, and at night she attended the most luxurious theatres and environments, where she offered her services to child traffic.
The remains of the poor bodies, she buried within the walls of her numerous apartments. There was one girl though… one little girl she kept alive. This child would witness the traffic of other kids in one of her apartments. Why? No one knows.
She was Teresita Guitart Congost, she wasn’t an orphan and they looked for her for two weeks, confirming the terror that had been hovering over the neighbourhood about children disappearing. A lady next door saw the figure of a child with short her looking out the window and she knew Enriqueta didn’t have any children. Being suspicious, she warned a friend who warned the police.
With the excuse of having been sued for having animals in her apartment, the police entered the place and found two kids. Teresita and another child who called herself Angelita, but she didn’t know who she truly was.
She explained how she had witnessed how the woman killed a five-year-old boy on the kitchen counter. The girls explained how they had found a bag with bloody girl clothes and knives.
When the police inspected the apartment, they found a room of horrors: buckets of coagulated blood, jars of human fat turned into pomades, hands skeletons and baby hair. Creams and lotions with pieces of human skin, and a full wardrobe filled with little human bones exposed to fire.
One of the apartments she had lived in was rented to a family. When they tried to reform one of the bedrooms and removed a wall… their heart stopped as the bones of little children showed mixed with the bricks and concrete.
When the police realized the pattern, they investigated further. Where had she been living? They went to one apartment after another and dug in the walls. The confirmation of dozens of child corpses was abominable. Those apartments were at Talleres, Picalqués, Juegos Florales streets and her first home in San Feliú de Llobregat.
She was never judged because she blackmailed her wealthy clients, threatening them with making public a diary with their names.
She didn’t make it out of prison though. She woke up dead one morning by, they say, her roommates. Some say it was a command from someone outside, some say it was revenge. It’s been known that one of the women in that same prison recognised her as the kidnapper of her baby boy six years before.
The police found several pieces of evidence of black magic. Old books written in perfect handwriting, cards with recipes and a notebook with dozens of names, belonging to the richest people in the city: bankers, directors, politicians, doctors…
The local government of Barcelona has tried so hard to remove any trace of this monster from the city’s history to the point of modifying the name of the street. But… we still know.
The investigations to find the families of the murdered children still go on. Take into consideration that they were mostly orphans and homeless kids. No one missed them. The terror they suffered is echoed in the walls of those buildings.
The area is the nearest surrounding the Cathedral, impregnated with devastating history itself. But that’s a subject for another day.
Several people have declared notorious paranormal activity in the streets, when the sun goes down.
Shadows cross the streets. The sound of children crying. The knock on the walls… Those poor children never had rest. People don’t last long living in those buildings. Businesses fail. Accidents happen…
The spectre of a veiled woman has appeared to several people over the years. She is still wandering the streets.
As personal advice, hold on tight to your kids when around the area. You never know the depth of a monster’s hunger…
Welcome to the dark side of Barcelona. Where the night is deep and hell is only one step away.
