The Dark Side of Zurich: Crime History in the Banking City

A self-guided audio tour in Zurich, Switzerland, available for booking in 2026, takes visitors through the medieval criminal history of one of Europe's wealthiest cities — a place where polished banking facades conceal a brutal past of witch trials, public hangings and state-sanctioned burnings.

A City Built on Dark Foundations

Zurich today projects an image of order, neutrality and financial precision. But beneath the gleaming surfaces of Bahnhofstrasse and the tranquil shores of Lake Zurich lies a city with a deeply violent history. For centuries, its streets and squares served as stages for public punishment, religious persecution and judicial terror.

The Dark Side of Zurich is a self-guided audio experience that confronts that history directly. Lasting between 1.5 and 2 hours, the tour uses a high-quality audio guide recorded by a professional speaker to lead visitors through the locations where Zurich's darkest chapters actually unfolded.

Witchcraft, Burning and the Law

Among the most disturbing confirmed facts of the tour: visitors walk the same streets where real, named individuals were condemned and executed for witchcraft during the medieval period. These were not abstractions or legends — they were residents of Zurich, tried by its courts and killed by its institutions.

The tour identifies the exact place within the city from which those condemned to death were led out through the city gates on their way to execution grounds beyond the walls. Standing at that threshold today, with the audio account of what happened there playing in your ear, the experience carries a weight that no museum exhibit can replicate.

Beyond the city boundaries, visitors learn where those condemned were burned and where they were hanged — the specific geography of Zurich's execution culture, mapped onto a city that most travellers know only through its contemporary reputation.