Speaker 1: Welcome to the fifth day of Halloween week.
Speaker 2: After today, there.
Speaker 1: Are two more to go. My name is Jacko, and
Speaker 1: over the years I have had the immense pleasure of
Speaker 1: being your master of ceremonies along the way, and I
Speaker 1: do hope you've enjoyed all the terrifying tales. But today
Speaker 1: things will take an even darker turn as we travel
Speaker 1: into the sixteen hundreds to discuss the ever so famous
Speaker 1: Pendle Witch Trials. So let's get into it, shall we.
Speaker 1: Here are your hosts of Wikied and Grim to present
Speaker 1: the fifth day of Halloween Week, Ben and Nicole.
Speaker 2: He's right, we're getting into the Pendle Witch Trials today.
Speaker 3: Hmmm. Oh man, I'm excited for this.
Speaker 2: Have you heard of this specific witch trial.
Speaker 3: I can't say that I have now because.
Speaker 2: We all know like the witch trials and like kind
Speaker 2: of what happened and everything. Yeah, and this one, I mean,
Speaker 2: it's it's pretty much exactly what you expect, but there's
Speaker 2: a few details surrounding it that's just like, oh man,
Speaker 2: if only that didn't happen, then everyone would have been
Speaker 2: fine sort of thing.
Speaker 3: Oh, one of those it's.
Speaker 2: Just like a domino effect that just like it kept
Speaker 2: going like bigger and bigger. Domine was falling and it's like,
Speaker 2: holy shit, yeah, the straw that broke the camel's back.
Speaker 3: Kind of thing. Hmm, okay, there you go.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So yeah, I hope everyone out there is enjoying
Speaker 2: their Halloween festivities. I saw a post today, well yesterday,
Speaker 2: but I digress. It was can we all just agree
Speaker 2: that there's two Halloween weekends this year? Oh okay, because
Speaker 2: Halloween like falls in the middle of the week, so
Speaker 2: it's like the weekend before and the weekend after.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what is it? It's on a Thursday, actual Halloween.
Speaker 2: So now you go to check a calendar just be sure. Yeah, Thursday.
Speaker 3: But I feel like once Thursday hits, is it really
Speaker 3: going to carry on into the weekend?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, okay, definitely. I've seen parties scheduled, like not
Speaker 2: even just like friends and stuff parties, but like actual events.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, okay, huh yeah that is cool.
Speaker 2: Though I think Halloween should be three weeks. I think
Speaker 2: just the whole month of October could just be Halloween.
Speaker 3: Well, I think for a lot of people it is
Speaker 3: the full month of October.
Speaker 2: Though, touche touche it is, But for many it's not
Speaker 2: for many their Christmas shoppings. You know.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, we've talked about that already. I think we
Speaker 3: have we have Day in your Lane Christmas exactly.
Speaker 2: But we're here to talk about some witch trials today,
Speaker 2: not Christmas. So are you ready for this?
Speaker 3: I am. I'm going to be very interested in this one.
Speaker 2: Well, Buckley, you's seatbelt because here we go. Okay. So,
Speaker 2: in the early seventeenth century, England was gripped by an
Speaker 2: extremely massive fear of witchcraft, an anxiety that basically built
Speaker 2: into a series of these infamous witch trials all across
Speaker 2: the country. Among the most notorious were the Pendle witch
Speaker 2: Trials of sixteen twelve, which unfolded in the remote rural
Speaker 2: landscape of Lancashire. This was driven by the superstition, social
Speaker 2: tension and harsh legal system at the time, and the
Speaker 2: trials resulted in the execution of ten individuals.
Speaker 3: Yeah wow, yeah.
Speaker 2: So it was back up, just ever so slightly before
Speaker 2: we get into the actual year of these events. It's
Speaker 2: the early sixteen hundreds in England and it's following the
Speaker 2: Elizabeth era and the ascension of King James. The first
Speaker 2: brought a really heightened fear of witchcraft into England. He's
Speaker 2: a new monarch, and he had a notorious fascination with
Speaker 2: the occult, which I honestly can't blame him. It is
Speaker 2: fascinating to all help. But I think for him it
Speaker 2: was more so like a fear of the occult along
Speaker 2: with the fascination, so he was really diving into it,
Speaker 2: and he was also like fearful of what it could do.
Speaker 3: Like almost maybe an unhealthy obsession too.
Speaker 2: Definitely, Yeah, even like a strong superstition where it's like
Speaker 2: because people are like, don't walk under ladders, don't like
Speaker 2: black cat cross your path, people who are superstitious. There,
Speaker 2: it's almost like a borderline fear of it an obsession
Speaker 2: with him, like you say, so, that's definitely kind of
Speaker 2: where he was.
Speaker 3: So I keep opening umbrellas in the studio to dry
Speaker 3: them out, which I'm thinking, maybe I need to stop
Speaker 3: doing that because my luck's been shit lately.
Speaker 2: Yeah, your photography studio is just going to be cursed now, wow,
Speaker 2: good job. But James himself had actually even wrote a
Speaker 2: book called Demonology in fifteen ninety seven that expressed his
Speaker 2: personal views on the dangers of witches and outlined methods
Speaker 2: for identifying them and prosecuting them. His writings would amplify
Speaker 2: already existing superstitions among civilians, turning what was once just
Speaker 2: kind of a local fear into like a malevolent, terrorizing
Speaker 2: kind of blanket across the nation.
Speaker 3: Which isn't good because I mean, how is this like
Speaker 3: was his writings and stuff all backed up, you know?
Speaker 2: And oh definitely not.
Speaker 3: No, No, that's not good.
Speaker 2: No, it definitely no. It's just basically him like making
Speaker 2: stuff up talking to a priest all that priest said this,
Speaker 2: Oh you know what I saw someone who said this,
Speaker 2: and just making shit up as he goes.
Speaker 3: Oh dang.
Speaker 2: I'm sure some of it has some facts behind it.
Speaker 2: You know, there's actual like because there is quote unquote
Speaker 2: like witchcraft out there right There's there's charms or protecting
Speaker 2: spells are like you know, burning stage or you can
Speaker 2: do sater those sorts of things like in that those
Speaker 2: are rooted very much so in culture. So those are
Speaker 2: factual things what they actually do. I mean, science and
Speaker 2: history can debate, but I'm sure there's some of that
Speaker 2: in the book, but he's probably like if you see
Speaker 2: a woman and she can do math, which.
Speaker 3: Like you know what I mean, as an example. Yeah, yeah, gosh,
Speaker 3: so so just like fearing everybody out there.
Speaker 2: Hey, pretty much. Now, I do want to put air
Speaker 2: quotes around around what I said. I've not read his books,
Speaker 2: I do not intend to read his books, but I
Speaker 2: can imagine that's along the lines of what it would contain. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So there was a religious reform movement that was called
Speaker 2: the Protestant Reformation. It was still influencing daily life at
Speaker 2: this time, and as religious leaders denounce practices they saw
Speaker 2: like as pagan basically, the rift between Catholicism and Protestantism
Speaker 2: basically just continued, having just these tears between society essentially,
Speaker 2: and this allowed accusations of witchcraft to serve as a
Speaker 2: convenient way to target specific individuals, which, unfortunately were particularly
Speaker 2: those who were socially marginalized, often poor, elderly, and those
Speaker 2: otherwise vulnerable.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh no, I don't like this at all.
Speaker 2: So the small rural communities near Pendle Heel Hill in
Speaker 2: Lancashire were particularly susceptible to the power of superstition at
Speaker 2: the time. So these communities were largely poor and very isolated,
Speaker 2: with residents relying traditionally on folk magic and herbal remedies
Speaker 2: to survive. It's literally their way of life because they
Speaker 2: don't have access to the bigger cities where I mean
Speaker 2: it is the sixteen hundreds. I'm gonna put doctors in quotes.
Speaker 2: But they just have themselves, the herbs that grow around here,
Speaker 2: and just what's been carried on through the ages. Right,
Speaker 2: So these sort of practices were often misunderstood and views
Speaker 2: as evidence of wicked influences.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, these people are just living their life, trying to
Speaker 2: survive and do what they need to do.
Speaker 3: And it's like hmmm, and then some person is putting
Speaker 3: like making it have a watchful eye on them. Basically
Speaker 3: just definitely.
Speaker 2: Now there's a little bit more to it than that
Speaker 2: when we get into the actual story, but we're we're
Speaker 2: getting there, so don't you worry now. At the time,
Speaker 2: Lancashire was one of England's poor and more isolated areas,
Speaker 2: as I said, with few opportunities for work and advancement,
Speaker 2: with limited access to doctors formal education, people in the
Speaker 2: area just had these, like I said, things passed down.
Speaker 2: These customs were often often included charms, herbal mixtures, practicing
Speaker 2: rituals to guard against illness or bad luck and natural disasters,
Speaker 2: even but outsiders increasingly saw these practices as superstitious and
Speaker 2: suspicious and dangerous. Now Nestled within Lancashire's landscape was Pendall Hill.
Speaker 2: It was known for its eerie shrouded slopes with expansive
Speaker 2: views and like gorgeous landscape. Honestly, the hill itself has
Speaker 2: long held a sort of mystical allure around it, and
Speaker 2: early seventeenth century Pendall Hill and its surrounding villages were small.
Speaker 2: They were tight knit communities where everyone kind of knew
Speaker 2: each other's business sort of thing. And of course, in
Speaker 2: Pendall Hill and these villages, the belief in witchcraft was
Speaker 2: a normal part of life for them because, as I mentioned,
Speaker 2: that's how they survived with these remedies, with these you know,
Speaker 2: it seems like there's a storm on the wind, or
Speaker 2: maybe we're on a drought, we need crops, these sort
Speaker 2: of things, and they put out these charms or these
Speaker 2: things out into the universe, and this witchcraft, if you will,
Speaker 2: to kind of protect them and keep these things alive.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, gosh, that couldn't hurt, right, That's what
Speaker 3: they believed in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well not only that they just made sense of
Speaker 2: their surrounding because they're so isolated, right, so they just
Speaker 2: did what they had, what God gave them sort of things,
Speaker 2: ye say, right exactly. It became like this area of
Speaker 2: Pendle Hill became a very symbolic area. It became a
Speaker 2: symbol of conflict between traditional rural beliefs and growing influences
Speaker 2: of authorities who wanted to control or punish those who
Speaker 2: didn't conform. So you have the old ways that are
Speaker 2: very rooted here still and the new ways trying to
Speaker 2: come in. And it became like that, that balancing point,
Speaker 2: that final stand almost at the heart of Pendell the
Speaker 2: Pendal Witch trial, Sorry, were two families, the Demdikes and
Speaker 2: the Chathokses. There was quite a rivalry and suspicion and
Speaker 2: superstition between these two families. So the matriarchs, Elizabeth Southern's
Speaker 2: Old Demdike and Ann Wittle Old chat Talks, were both
Speaker 2: respected as wise women who practice folk magic. They had
Speaker 2: reputations for using charms and irmal remedy skills that were
Speaker 2: sought out by locals when they needed them. Right, but
Speaker 2: at the time when folk practice were increasingly labeled as
Speaker 2: dangerous or witchcraft. These abilities put them under intense scrutiny.
Speaker 2: So old Demdike then in her eighties, which in the
Speaker 2: sixteen hundred, it's like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, dang, that's like a good life, like good.
Speaker 2: Long life, no kidding, which I can only imagine would
Speaker 2: fuel her being a witch sort of thing, not even
Speaker 2: like in a negative way, but like before they're under
Speaker 2: the microscope. Think of like the locals and everything who
Speaker 2: were seeking out someone to do a good luck charm
Speaker 2: or something. Yeah, talk to the eighty year old witch
Speaker 2: up the fucking hill, right, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: But she had a long standing reputation in Pendle for
Speaker 2: her knowledge of charms and curses as well. Her daughter
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Device and her granddaughter Alison Device were believed to
Speaker 2: carry out her practices inheriting both her knowledge and the
Speaker 2: stigma that came along with it. Now the chat Talks
Speaker 2: is meanwhile, we're often seen as rivals with old chat
Speaker 2: Talks as recognized for her super supernatural abilities. The family
Speaker 2: had been at odds for years back and forth between
Speaker 2: these two right, with accusations of theft, jealousy, and occasional
Speaker 2: curses keeping tensions extremely high. These conflicts would reach a
Speaker 2: breaking point when Alison Device, one of the Demdike's, allegedly
Speaker 2: cursed a peddler. So, as the story goes in March
Speaker 2: nine of sixteen sorry, I used to going back this
Speaker 2: far in time. Sixteen twelve, Alison Device, the granddaughter of
Speaker 2: Old Demdike, crossed paths with a local peddler named John
Speaker 2: Law along a road in column now, Alison, impoverished and desperate,
Speaker 2: she asked John for a few pins, was a small
Speaker 2: but valuable item which is often associated with folk magic
Speaker 2: and used in healing. He, however, refused to give them
Speaker 2: to her. She, in frustration, allegedly cursed him, and shortly thereafter, John,
Speaker 2: while still on the road, was struck by something and
Speaker 2: collapsed with a sudden paralysis on the side of his body.
Speaker 3: Oh man, okay.
Speaker 2: Now, in hindsight with modern medicine, paralysis in the side
Speaker 2: of the body sounds.
Speaker 3: Much like a stroke. Yeah.
Speaker 2: But even still, whether it's a stroke or something that
Speaker 2: we can explain away today doesn't mean it's not influenced
Speaker 2: by a curse. Right, She could have forced that stroke
Speaker 2: upon him.
Speaker 3: If this magic is real, well yeah, and then I feel,
Speaker 3: I mean, like so many of them back then, believed
Speaker 3: in this right so exactly.
Speaker 2: So news of John's mysterious affliction quickly spread across Pendel Hill.
Speaker 2: It also spread much farther as well, which fueled suspicions
Speaker 2: of witchcraft in the area and put a target on
Speaker 2: these people. Alison was eventually confronted by local authorities. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: and she reportedly confessed to cursing John under intense scrutiny
Speaker 2: and pressure. It didn't end there, though, She also implicated
Speaker 2: her grandmother, Old Demdike, and they're family members of the
Speaker 2: chat Tawks family. Allison's confession was all it took to
Speaker 2: spread suspicion over her family and even her rivals. Oh no,
Speaker 2: it was only the start of the floodgates of accusations
Speaker 2: that would soon sweep up the family, neighbors and rivals alike.
Speaker 2: So after she admitted to cursing John, local magistrate Roger
Speaker 2: Nowell launched a full investigation, interviewing villagers, family members, you
Speaker 2: name it, everyone to uncover what he believed would be
Speaker 2: a network of witches operating in the area.
Speaker 3: So it's not even necessarily that this is like a
Speaker 3: crime per se, but it's a crime I guess that
Speaker 3: they're doing witchcraft, right, Like cursing someone isn't necessarily a crime,
Speaker 3: but it's just showing that they're witches, which is not okay.
Speaker 2: Well that time, if you're going to curse someone, you're
Speaker 2: basically going to be a witch, which is a crime.
Speaker 2: So cursing someone therefore is a crime technically, okay, or
Speaker 2: crime adjacent.
Speaker 3: It's just I don't know. It's just so interesting listening
Speaker 3: because this shit would just like not really fly today
Speaker 3: because could you imagine be like I cursed that person,
Speaker 3: They'd be like, okay, cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're crazy. Fuck you, good luck with your curses.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I put on a bus next
Speaker 2: and thought, oh.
Speaker 3: You really did.
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, we're going there.
Speaker 2: I mean maybe it's because of like you know, like actually, no,
Speaker 2: I don't know where I was going with us, because
Speaker 2: there's some witch trials down in Salem, which isn't too
Speaker 2: far from Boston. I think that maybe that's why I
Speaker 2: did that.
Speaker 3: That's why you did that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, anyways, I digress. Now. The accusations spread quickly. Noel's
Speaker 2: investigation led to the arrests of both the dam Dykes
Speaker 2: and the Chatthawk's family, along with other villages as well,
Speaker 2: villagers as well, sorry, villagers that were rumored to be
Speaker 2: involved in witchcraft, because as I mentioned, he's going around
Speaker 2: talking to different villagers, different family members, He's talking to
Speaker 2: everyone in the area. And these are people who, as
Speaker 2: I mentioned at the very beginning, and know every detail
Speaker 2: about each other. They're all up in each other's business, right,
Speaker 2: So all it takes is for two people to maybe
Speaker 2: argue over something earlier and someone like shake their fish
Speaker 2: curse you, wow, you said the wrong thing two weeks ago.
Speaker 2: If one person's going to pass this on to the
Speaker 2: local authorities, and now you're implicated as a witch as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, roomed, I guess.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's nothing you can do. So where am I here? Okay?
Speaker 2: So each interrogation brought more accusations, with suspects revealing details
Speaker 2: about charms, curses and suppose deals with the devils, and
Speaker 2: this is where all that like you know, talking stuff
Speaker 2: and back and forth and all that comes in. So
Speaker 2: under pressure, the accused named others as well. So when
Speaker 2: they get accused, they also name someone else, and people
Speaker 2: being arrested quite a bit.
Speaker 3: So yeah, this is just going down a complete rabbit
Speaker 3: hole of shit exactly.
Speaker 2: And remember these are small villages too, so it's not
Speaker 2: like the population is high here. I would imagine, like,
Speaker 2: I don't even think the population would have broke a hundred.
Speaker 2: It's like, that's my guess.
Speaker 3: This is kind of sad. Like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, by the end of the investigation, twelve people
Speaker 2: were accused of witchcraft and ten would go to trial.
Speaker 2: The alleged crimes included cursing livestock, causing illness, and even
Speaker 2: to the far extent of murder.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, Okay.
Speaker 2: What started as a single accusation quickly spiraled into a
Speaker 2: full blown witch hunt, with the fear and distrust taking
Speaker 2: over the entire community because they were pointing fingers all
Speaker 2: at each other.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's too bad. I don't know. You almost think, oh,
Speaker 3: this little community could have, you know, almost like protected
Speaker 3: themselves in a way. I probably still would have gotten
Speaker 3: out and stuff. But like if they had just I
Speaker 3: don't know, but I mean, they all would have had
Speaker 3: it been on the same page and talking and exactly
Speaker 3: and stuff and had this like already planned if this
Speaker 3: ever came down.
Speaker 2: And the thing is too if you if you're being
Speaker 2: sitting here like interviewed by the magistrate and you button up.
Speaker 2: You're not being honest, you're not talking. They're probably gonna
Speaker 2: accuse you of aft. Well you're not talking, you don't
Speaker 2: want to give details clearly or hiding something like yeah,
Speaker 2: who knows what they're going to do at that time
Speaker 2: that day and age right.
Speaker 3: M hm, and like they were being convinced that they
Speaker 3: were doing something wrong and so yeah.
Speaker 2: Exactly so. And I'm sure there's lots of things like
Speaker 2: I don't think charms would have been abnormal in the area.
Speaker 2: So if the magistrate's knocking on your door and they
Speaker 2: see a charm right there and be like, oh, what's this? Oh,
Speaker 2: it will tell me who gave that to you and
Speaker 2: you will be safe, like, you know, tell me where
Speaker 2: you got that from. Yeah, and then you spill the beans.
Speaker 2: So the trial of Pendle Witches took place in August
Speaker 2: of sixteen twelve at the Lancaster I Sees Church or
Speaker 2: Sorry Court. It's a court known for giving out harsh punishments,
Speaker 2: which is hey, the perfect place for witch trial right.
Speaker 2: The case was led by Sir James Altham, a strict
Speaker 2: judge with a firm stance against witchcraft, so.
Speaker 3: Not bias at all, not at all.
Speaker 2: The odds are always stacking up in these of course, right. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So the accused face serious charges, as I mentioned, things
Speaker 2: even upwards as far as murder, and they were seen
Speaker 2: as major threats to both society and the crown. Specifically,
Speaker 2: the courtroom was filled with villagers, magistrates, and officials, all
Speaker 2: gathered to witness what would occur. So those who were
Speaker 2: accused were mostly poor, unable to read or write, and
Speaker 2: they didn't even have lawyers to help them. They faced
Speaker 2: a trial where they had little chance to defend themselves,
Speaker 2: let alone even have a chance of getting out of there.
Speaker 3: That's so sad, I know.
Speaker 2: So claims of spectral evidence, which is where people reported
Speaker 2: seeing supernatural events, were accepted without question, including stories about gatherings, curses,
Speaker 2: and dealings with the devil. So I saw this person
Speaker 2: speaking with the devil directly. They took that as facts
Speaker 2: in the courtroom. Yeah, that's what they did. They're like,
Speaker 2: I saw this person, I don't know, there was an
Speaker 2: aura around them on the full moon, and I saw
Speaker 2: them out in the middle of the night. Like that
Speaker 2: sort of shit was just take in his fact. Someone
Speaker 2: could just spill whatever the fuck they wanted and it
Speaker 2: was taken as fact.
Speaker 3: I know, because you almost wonder if all of it,
Speaker 3: you know, if some of it. I'm sure some of
Speaker 3: the stuff that came out was like made up. Oh,
Speaker 3: I'm sure majority of it was, especially with like rival
Speaker 3: rivalries going on in the in the town or village
Speaker 3: or whatever.
Speaker 2: Right, exactly, I lost my place here? Where are we?
Speaker 3: I do not know we are? Oh, I'm just going
Speaker 3: to tell you what we just talked about.
Speaker 2: So the authorities also relied heavily on claims of quote
Speaker 2: witch marks, which remarks physical marks on the accused which
Speaker 2: were believed to show the pre the pact that they
Speaker 2: have with the devil. The only problem is these witch
Speaker 2: marks were not consistent and always the same, so they
Speaker 2: could be as harmless as a birthmark or a scar
Speaker 2: that each individual possessed on their body. So the court
Speaker 2: would look at them be like, you have a scar
Speaker 2: in your wrist, that's your pack with the devil. You
Speaker 2: got a birthmark on your shoulder, that's your pact with
Speaker 2: the devil.
Speaker 3: Early just shit that you were born with, yep.
Speaker 2: Or it's like I got this scar farming two years ago. Yeah,
Speaker 2: when you made a pact with the devil, you heathen,
Speaker 2: like you know, like they're just literally making it up.
Speaker 2: And this is the sort of stuff that probably would
Speaker 2: have been written in that book by King James the first.
Speaker 2: This sort of shit. The mark of the pact that
Speaker 2: the devil can be hidden in any ways, and different
Speaker 2: from person to person, as their packs all change, search
Speaker 2: their bodies to find a mark. It is most guaranteed
Speaker 2: that is the pact. I just made that up, but
Speaker 2: I'm sure it says something along live to that, you know.
Speaker 3: So some of these people honestly were just doomed from
Speaker 3: the start, really like there's like nothing they could even do.
Speaker 2: No chance. Now, these marks, as I mentioned, could be harmless,
Speaker 2: but they were always seen as proof of guilt. Other
Speaker 2: evidence include descriptions of witches, familiars, or spirit animal companions.
Speaker 2: So if you had a pet or something, yeah, that's
Speaker 2: your familiar you are a witch.
Speaker 3: Oh, familiars oh man, yeah okay.
Speaker 2: Or it's like I've seen them. They got lots of
Speaker 2: mice in their house. Those they're familiarly, you know, who
Speaker 2: knows what a doing. The court accepted these circumstantial pieces
Speaker 2: of evidence as clear signs of guilt once again, but
Speaker 2: most of all. One of the saddest part of the
Speaker 2: Pendle witch trials was the involvement of nine year old
Speaker 2: Jeannette Device, Allison's younger sister. In a rare and controversial move,
Speaker 2: Jeannette would be called to testify against her own family.
Speaker 3: What yeah, that's not okay, Yeah, not okay.
Speaker 1: Oh no.
Speaker 2: So in a crowded courtroom, nine year old Jeannette, likely
Speaker 2: unaware of the weight of her words and what she
Speaker 2: was saying, accused her own family members of witchcraft, including
Speaker 2: her mother, Elizabeth Device and her older sister Alison.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Jeannette's calm descriptions of witch meetings, spells, and alleged deals
Speaker 2: with the devil became powerful evidence in the courtroom's eyes.
Speaker 2: Her testimony confirmed the fears of the judges and the jury,
Speaker 2: convincing them of the guilt of those acute used.
Speaker 3: Oh man, she.
Speaker 2: Grew up with this. Well, yes, this is just her life.
Speaker 3: She just didn't think anything of it was wrong.
Speaker 2: Exactly, she's nine. Exactly, My grandma makes spells for people
Speaker 2: and she yeah, she does the charms.
Speaker 3: And she's helped or she is helping people or something
Speaker 3: right like, or she helped her crops grow. This year
Speaker 3: or whatever, and.
Speaker 2: Which which which is all the courtroom is hearing, And
Speaker 2: of course a judgement hates witchcraft is probably hearing it
Speaker 2: tenfold in his ears. Right. So now the trial ended
Speaker 2: with a quick and brutal decision of twelve accused. Ten
Speaker 2: were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Among
Speaker 2: those sentence were Alison de Weiss and her mother Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, and wittle old Chattawks.
Speaker 3: So like that little girl lost what her sister, her mom,
Speaker 3: and probably grandmom, grandmother.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe so. The court showed absolutely no mercy,
Speaker 2: believing they were the agents of the devil. Execution Day
Speaker 2: marked the end of the Pendle Witch trials. On August twentieth,
Speaker 2: sixteen twelve. The convicted individuals were taken to Gallows Hill
Speaker 2: near Lancaster, where they were hung that morning. The Pendle
Speaker 2: Witches met their unfortunate fate, paying the ultimate price for
Speaker 2: crimes rooted in fear, not even crimes, but supposed crimes
Speaker 2: rooted in fear, rivalry, and strict beliefs. At the time.
Speaker 2: As for authorities, this public execution was both a warning
Speaker 2: to others and a way for them to show their
Speaker 2: power over the frightened superstitious community. The Pendel Witch Trials
Speaker 2: left a permanent mark in this region and also in
Speaker 2: English history. They became one of the country's most infamous
Speaker 2: examples of which hunt hysteria. For generations, the trials have
Speaker 2: served as a warning about the dangers of superstition and
Speaker 2: the tragic result of justice systems driven by fear and prejudice. Primarily,
Speaker 2: one of the biggest things on this though, was relying
Speaker 2: on the testimony of a child and forced confessions and
Speaker 2: claims of supernatural evidence. But the trial showed how easily
Speaker 2: fear could take over an entire legal system YEP. In
Speaker 2: centuries since, Pendall Hill has become closely linked to the trials,
Speaker 2: drawing visitors interested in its history and its connection to
Speaker 2: the supernatural. The hill is steeped in folklore, attracting people
Speaker 2: who are curious about the dark past and the lives
Speaker 2: of those who had died. Local events and exhibits often
Speaker 2: tell the stories of the accused, helping to humanize those
Speaker 2: who were branded as witches, which I love YEP. Today,
Speaker 2: the Pendle Witch Trials remind us of the dangers of
Speaker 2: mass fear. They have inspired books, films, and studies into
Speaker 2: the complex mix of folklore, justice, and of course tragedy.
Speaker 3: Okay, what did you call the hill Pendall Hill or no,
Speaker 3: like where they went to go? Oh you said something
Speaker 3: be hung?
Speaker 2: Yeah, let mean it was Gallows.
Speaker 3: Hill, Okay, because I feel like I've actually heard of that.
Speaker 2: The gallows. Yeah, well, the gallows is where people get hung.
Speaker 3: Right, Okay, so that's why.
Speaker 2: Okay, I see you send the witches to the gallows.
Speaker 3: The gallows Okay, yeah, so that okay, it's not really
Speaker 3: that that could be called that.
Speaker 2: Anywhere, right exactly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But I like how you said it was public
Speaker 3: because I was just like I was before you even
Speaker 3: said that. I was like, gosh, and they're all getting
Speaker 3: hung and there's just like a fucking audience watching all
Speaker 3: of this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in those days, it was public execution. Yeah, especially
Speaker 2: for witch trials like this. They made a big thing
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's just just so brutal.
Speaker 2: Hey, and now this is one of those events it's
Speaker 2: like you can you can deep dive into it. There's
Speaker 2: a lot to it. This is only scratching the surface.
Speaker 2: But it was so fitting for Halloween. I mean, I
Speaker 2: had to do this. How can we not do a
Speaker 2: witch trial for Halloween, right, huh. I mean it's fascinating. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you could go like just so go down a rabbit
Speaker 2: hole with all that, Oh you can. Well, I mean
Speaker 2: it's even taken root in like pop culture and movies
Speaker 2: and stuff. Oh yeah, if you think of hocus Pocus
Speaker 2: at the very beginning beginning, when they've cursed thatchery banks
Speaker 2: and the witches there the three witches, the three sisters,
Speaker 2: the Sanderson's sisters, they get hung at the gallows before,
Speaker 2: right at the very beginning of the movie.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's been a year since I at
Speaker 3: least a year since I've watched that. I need to
Speaker 3: watch We need to watch it again before Halloween.
Speaker 2: Oh we will be. We got a few days of
Speaker 2: Halloween still in US and a few days after.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there you go. It's going to go into like
Speaker 3: November second.
Speaker 2: Now, no, it's going to go into December second. But
Speaker 2: if you are curious, we do have a thirty one
Speaker 2: days of Halloween movies on our Patreon. You can go
Speaker 2: sign up and get access to that. Yeah, that's all
Speaker 2: I really got.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's it's a good one. It's well,
Speaker 3: I mean it's terrible, but it's good.
Speaker 2: It's an interesting story. Yeah, I honestly I think it'd
Speaker 2: be a cool place to go visit one day.
Speaker 3: It would be. It's just so hard to almost grasp,
Speaker 3: you know, like your brains so long ago, but it's
Speaker 3: hard to I mean, I understand the story and everything,
Speaker 3: but to like put yourself in that situation, because it's
Speaker 3: just like it wouldn't happen today, you know, No.
Speaker 2: Well I would sure fucking hope it wouldn't happen today.
Speaker 2: But with how much ease it was to accuse of
Speaker 2: someone of being a witch back in those days, Yeah,
Speaker 2: is remarkable.
Speaker 3: So much. There's just so much biasness to everything, and
Speaker 3: it just, like I said, you're just doomed, like it
Speaker 3: didn't even matter. The sports didn't even matter.
Speaker 2: Probably, no, they didn't. You're taking one person's word against another.
Speaker 2: And even still they can make something up like I've
Speaker 2: seen gag Instagram reels and tiktoks and stuff, just jokes
Speaker 2: where people like poke fun at the situation. And don't
Speaker 2: get me wrong, it's funny in that context, but it's
Speaker 2: not funny in real life. But they're saying, like, for example,
Speaker 2: a guy in the sixteen hundreds he goes up to
Speaker 2: a girl AND's like, hey, you're good looking, you want
Speaker 2: to go for dinner or something like that, like sixteen
Speaker 2: hundreds guy hitting on a sixteen hundred woman, right, and
Speaker 2: she's like no and declines, and what does he do? Whitch?
Speaker 3: Right? I have seen stuff like that.
Speaker 2: And she's like, what do you mean. It's like I
Speaker 2: just saw you hover three inches off the ground. You're
Speaker 2: a witch? And then everyone takes his word for it,
Speaker 2: and of course burned at the steak, It's like what
Speaker 2: it literally was as simple as that by the sounds
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for some well, well, I mean to have your
Speaker 3: own like daughter and sister up there in like the courts. Yeah,
Speaker 3: talking about your way of life and living you know
Speaker 3: that is not okay?
Speaker 2: No, definitely not. Anyways, we digress. We kind of got
Speaker 2: off a little bit of a tangent here and just
Speaker 2: like chatting a bit. But we appreciate you guys being here.
Speaker 3: We do.
Speaker 2: We have two more days of Halloween week. We've gone
Speaker 2: through five already. We've got some good stuff planned for you,
Speaker 2: so hopefully you're going to stick around, and hopefully if
Speaker 2: you can't, that's totally fine. We can't We're not gonna
Speaker 2: blame you, but hopefully you have a good Halloween regardless,
Speaker 2: and hopefully we can be there with you through your Halloween.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah until tomorrow.
Speaker 2: It's my impression of you. Yeah yeah, until tomorrow, Jacko,
Speaker 2: Stay wicked.
Speaker 1: H