ABSTRACT
Niels Lind was the driving force behind the case of the nightmen. It was his decisiveness and sharp questioning that propelled the case forwards. As Niels Lind pointed out, all the witnesses were either related to or employed by Severin Bech or Frederik Borthig. Many of these, including several of the serving girls, also submitted written statements, but of these we can, of course, know nothing. Niels Lind even managed to clash in the courts with the parish priest, Peder Paludan. He had asked the priest to act as witness to certain demeaning statements said to have been made in Paludan’s house by Borthig’s brother, C. C. Borthig, who was parish priest in Rorby. In November 1734, when the Ugerlose peasant disappeared, Niels Lind was in an extremely difficult situation.
