Jasper Hanebuth was born in 1607, baptized on February 8, in the modest “Hof Pieper” homestead of Groß-Buchholz, near Hanover. He was the son of Hans Hanebuth, a cotter—a smallholder or tenant farmer—whose identity placed Jasper firmly within the lower rural classes of the Holy Roman Empire.

As the Thirty Years’ War raged across central Europe, Hanebuth enlisted as a mercenary in Swedish service. It was an opportunity to escape poverty, but the political and military chaos also introduced brutality as a normalized way of life. After the war, he briefly claimed Hanoverian citizenship, but lost it due to unpaid taxes.

In the aftermath of war, Jasper Hanebuth turned to crime. By the early 1650s, he was operating in the forests of Eilenriede, now a park near Hanover’s zoo, conducting robberies, thefts, and murders—often executing victims with a shot from a distance, ignoring the actual value of their possessions. His brutal efficiency blurred the line between soldier and outlaw in a weakened social order.

He later posed as a horse dealer, but when one trader refused to cooperate, Hanebuth allegedly stole from him the following night. The victim reported this crime, leading to Hanebuth’s arrest for horse theft on November 14, 1652.

Under pressure and threats of torture—administered under formal legal procedure—Hanebuth confessed to 10 thefts and a shocking 19 murders during an interrogation at the council in the Altes Rathaus (the Old Town Hall). This marked the beginning of the end for his reign of terror.

Held for nearly a year in prison, he was finally tried and sentenced. On February 3–4, 1653, the high court (Halsgericht) delivered a gruesome verdict: Hanebuth was to be broken on the wheel, a fate typical for the most heinous criminals of the era. The sentence was carried out the next day, February 4, 1653, at a public location near a stone gate in Hanover.