Alice Kyteler's witchcraft trial shocked 14th century Ireland. Today, the charges against her are seen largely as nonsense, and more about personal vendettas and struggles for power.
Mar 2025
Ireland's Witchcraft Trials
<p>In 1711, a wave of terror gripped the Islandmagee peninsula in County Antrim. First there was the haunting and supernatural murder of a local clergyman's wife. Then 18-year-old Mary Dunbar suffered violent convulsions, levitation and vomiting of pins, feathers, and buttons, sp ... Show More
44 m
Oct 1
184: The Devil's Secretaries or Scapegoats? The Witches History Erased
<div>Hi friends, happy Wednesday!<br>
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So the other night I was deep into my usual bedtime routine of doomscrolling, and I stumbled across this headline that said: “DID YOU KNOW: The Last Witch Trial Was in 1944.”<br>
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And I was like… I’m sorry, what? 1944? Like while the ... Show More
52m 53s
Nov 2024
Practical Magic: Spells, Prayers & Cunning Folk
<p>Long before witch trials, magic was the domain of ‘cunning folk’ who were part of the fabric of medieval and early modern life. Their charms, filters and spells - for personal advancement, aiding fertility, predicting the future, even exacting revenge - offered people sol ... Show More
33m 59s
Aug 2023
03.01 - The English Revolution
Charles I has been executed, and the English Parliament establish a new, kingless, government. The reaction to the Regicide sweeps across Europe and the fledgling English empire.
For this episode, I found the following publications particularly useful:
Philip Baker, 'The Regici ... Show More
27m 24s
Jan 2025
Alice Kyteler and the First Witchcraft Trial in Ireland with Molly Aitken
In County Kilkenny, Ireland, in an early year of a century not too long before our own, Alice Kyteler was accused of witchcraft. But the story doesn't end there. This week, Molly Aitken—author of BRIGHT I BURN—is here to tell us a tale where the more things* change, the more ... Show More
1h 4m
Apr 2025
The Salem Witch Trials
For more than two centuries, between the late 1400s and early 1700s, a terror of witches gripped Europe. From Scotland to Spain, thousands of people were accused, tortured and executed. But as the hysteria faded in Europe, it crossed the Atlantic. In 1692, in New England, it took ... Show More
58m 58s
Apr 2024
Women of Salem Invented Gay Pop
<p>Carley leads Blair through a deeper-dive on some of the women convicted of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials. And, JoJo Siwa.</p><br><p>Also: voice notes, the eclipse, another lie we told, The Giving Tree, Anne Putnam Sr's egg bites, allies, the hottest ages, fashion tips m ... Show More
1h 43m
Oct 2024
Bram Stoker and The Petty Sessions
This special Talking History episode, live from the Supreme Court in Dublin, in conjunction with Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival, centres on Bram Stoker and the ‘Petty Sessions: Weird and Wonderful Court Cases from Victorian Ireland’ . Hosted by Tommy Graham, editor of H ... Show More
52m 19s