He was judged guilty of making a Satanic pact, and was the last person executed for witchcraft in Denmark.
Johan Pistorius was a soldier in the Danish army with the rank of grenadier.
He claimed to have been inspired to the pact after reading a book about Doctor Faust.
The court faculty of Professors in Copenhagen recommended the king to confirm his sentence after they had interrogated him - which was unusual - and deemed that his regret was not sufficient, and that he should be executed as a public warning against the crime of Devil's Pact after having made a public confession of regret, which resulted in the public burning of the infamous pact at Nytorv square, followed by the execution of Pistorius the following day.
People were also lynched for witchcraft in Denmark long after the formal persecution stopped: the most known cases being that of Dorte Jensdatter, who was apprehended by the villagers who tied her up in her own home and burned it down after having accused her of causing death by magic, and the last lynching of witchcraft, in which Anna Klemens was lynched after having been pointed out for sorcery by a cunning woman in Brigsted at Horsens in 1800.