In 1749, a convent in Würzburg, Germany, experienced an outbreak of mass hysteria among its nuns, who began screaming, squirming, and falling into trances. The bizarre behavior, reminiscent of earlier convent panics, was attributed to demonic possession or witchcraft. The hysteria culminated in the execution of a suspected witch, reflecting the enduring belief in supernatural evil and the vulnerability of enclosed religious communities to collective psychological episodes.

The Würzburg nunnery hysteria is part of a long literary tradition of convent panics, which have been depicted in Gothic literature and poetry as sites of repressed desire and supernatural terror. The event feeds into the Romantic fascination with the irrational and the demonic, influencing writers who explored the intersection of religion, madness, and female agency. It also serves as a historical example of how mass hysteria could be weaponized to justify persecution, a theme explored in works critical of religious extremism.