The Attempted Host Desecration

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In Walderbach in the Upper Palatinate, a woman once went to the Eucharist, but did not swallow the host. Instead, she let it drop on a white cloth and hurried out of the church. When she reached the Stockhof estate and spread out the cloth, the host rose up in the air and continually hovered at a height which the desecrator was unable to reach. Pigs and sheep which were grazing here lowered themselves on their knees. The woman fled. Now several people arrived, but the host still floated high above the ground so that they were unable to reach it. When they called for a priest, he only succeeded when he held the monstrance high, on which it sank down by itself. The host was now brought to the church at Walderbach, but it did not stay there and once again floated above the spot near the Stockhof where the woman had spread out the cloth. After this, a chapel was built at the spot, and the host stayed there. Subsequently, many miracles occurred. The chapel soon became so rich that it was possible to build a church. This church, too, no longer stands there. Now the Stockhof, a farm, stands at this location.

But the woman who stole the host is still known as “The Witch of Stockhof”. The narrator saw a painting of the witch on the wall of a house belonging to the estate which portrayed how she looked up to the floating host with an outstretched arm.

Source: Panzer - Bayerische Sagen und Bräuche Zweiter Band, p. 166f