In 1611, fourteen people died in Wattwil in one day. Since it was no longer possible to get gravediggers for individual graves, the many bodies were placed in large common graves, the mounds of which could still be seen behind the church 100 years ago.
Fr. Rothenflue, (Toggenburg Chronicle, Bütschwil, Sproll-Mettler, 1887.)

In the village of Wattwil so many people died that the survivors could eat at one table. (Oral.)

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437. Pest

Im Jahre 1611 starben in Wattwil an einem Tage vierzehn Personen. Da man für Einzelgräber keine Totengräber mehr bekommen konnte, legte man die vielen Leichen in große gemeinsame Gräber, deren Hügel hinter der Kirche noch vor 100 Jahren zu sehen waren.
Fr. Rothenflue, (Toggenburger Chronik, Bütschwil, Sproll-Mettler, 1887.)

Im Dorfe Wattwil starben so viele Personen, daß die Überlebenden an einem Tische essen konnten. (Mündlich.)

Picture: Copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel (i.e., Dr. Beak), a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome, circa 1656