Agnes Waterhouse and Her Cat, Satan

that note, I'm Maria Schmrqui. I don't know if you're saying that you're guilty or not, but we're going to keep going. I'm Polly Fry. Agnes Waterhouse was known as Mother water House in the village of Hatfield, Peverell. She was a widow who was raising a daughter named Joan, and in fifteen sixty six, at the age of sixty three, she was accused of bewitching to death a man named William Fine, who died in November of of teen sixty five.

In the bigger picture, she was accused of using witchcraft to cause harm, and her daughter, who was just eight team, was accused of the same crime. We probably wouldn't actually know who Agnes Waterhouse was except that Her name appears on a list of accused felons held by the Essex Record Office among their court records. The felony in this case was suspicion of practicing witchcraft. That was a really serious crime that was punishable by death during this time

and place. Agnes was tried in Comstort, about twelve miles away from Hatfield, Peverell, in the summer of fifteen sixty six, which made her the first person who can be verified as being executed by hanging after being accused of witchcraft. Sure there were others before her, but her trial and death are part of the historical record, and what we do know about her life and death may best be told through the records of her trial and the testimonies

that were given during it. Agnes Waterhouse was accused of and confessed to practicing black magic. That's the basic gist of it. Her case first passed through the lower court of quarter Sessions, which were local courts that held trials four times each year. This is where the details of Agnes's case would have been heard by a Justice of the peace. It would then go on to the Assizes, the court where she would be tried and sentenced it's different than what we know now, but it was normal

then in fifteen sixty six. There were two stages involved in criminal prosecution. The Justice of the Peace would perform the examination and committal. This is where Agnes was charged, and that was followed by her arraignment and trial in the courts of assize, where she would face a jury. The assizes were held periodically by a higher court in each county. Accusations of witchcraft certainly pre date Agnes, and

the crime did appear before the courts fairly regularly. Assizes can mean a few times a year to administer both civil and criminal law, and were presided over by visiting judges from higher courts, such as those in London. They were held as far back as the Middle Ages and continued to be a type of court of justice in England all the way up until the early nineteen seventies, when they were combined with the Quarter sessions to become a single permanent Crown court. So you know that we

know how the court system worked during her trial. Let's talk about the law. Over the years, various acts of Parliament were specifically designed to punish anyone accused of engaging in any form of what was considered to be witchcraft. Not long before Agnes was accused. The Witchcraft Act of fifteen forty two was enacted as England's first anti witchcraft law, partly in reaction to the growing religious tensions in England during the sixteenth century, but also partly to address the

growing hysteria and fear about the power of witches. The Act was made law during Henry the Eighth's reign and defined witchcraft as using invocations or other magical acts to cause injury, get money, or to behave badly towards Christianity. It did not mention a pact with the devil as a way of identifying a witch, as was the case in different times throughout history. The Act didn't just define witchcraft,

it also established penalties for practicing these perceived indiscretions. Witchcraft became a crime that could be punished by forfeiture of one's belongings, but depending on the nature of the crime, it could also be punished by death. The Act was overturned in fifteen forty seven as the king overhauled the legal code, but he died that year and left unfinished business. As a result, there were really no laws against witchcraft on the books in England between the years of fifteen

forty seven and fifteen sixty three. But enter Elizabeth the First. Queen. Elizabeth the First rose to the throne in fifteen fifty eight, and under her reign and just three years before Agnes's trial, the Act against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts was enacted. Under this new law, the f penalty was to be applied only when harm had been caused, and that crime was

considered a felony. Harm as it was defined in this case, was anyone who quote, used, practiced, or exercised any witchcraft, enchantment, charm, or sorcery whereby any person shall happen to be killed or destroyed. The statute also was the first to legally link witchcraft with the devil and devil worship. So we're gonna take a break for a word from our sponsor, but when we return, we'll talk a little bit more about anti witchcraft laws and of course Agnes's trial. Welcome

back to Criminalia. Let's get started with Agnes's trial and just why it was such a sensational story. Under the Act against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts, those who were accused of black magic were a rested and put on trial for committing a criminal offense. Those offenses were broken into

two branches. Lesser offenses, such as accusations of spreading illness among livestock or turning butter rancid, were sentenced to one year in prison and maybe time in the stocks, but those accused and convicted of major offenses such as murder, were executed by hanging. At the same time. Records show that indictments for murder caused by witchcraft begin to appear in the historical record almost immediately following the implementation of

the fifteen sixty three anti witchcraft law. Agnes's trial, held just after the law was in place, ended up setting

the stage for subsequent witchcraft trials across England. There are various estimates, some conservative and some quite wild, given of the number of people who were executed for allegedly practicing witchcraft between fifteen forty two and seventeen thirty six, but it probably hovers around a thousand people in the area where Agnes lived, Many of the accused and executed were women. Agnes was scheduled to appear at the Midsummer Assize in

Chelmsford at the Market cross House. Essex historian Hill Degrieve wrote of the Market Cross Houses being noisy and very public overall a building totally unsuitable as a courtroom. She described it as, and we quote, an open sided building with eight oak columns supporting upper galleries in a tiled roof. The galleries, which overlooked the open piazza below, were lit

by three dormer windows in the roof. The magistrates and justices sat in open court, which measured only by four ft, with the officers of the law, counsel and clerks, plaintiffs and defendants, jurors, witnesses and prisoners before and around them, while spectators, hangers on and those awaiting their turn crowded

into the galleries above and thronged the street outside. Because the trial was scheduled to be held during the summer months, some of the top judges in London, in an effort to escape the heat, often set in judgment over these courts. Agnes sat before prestigious agents of the law, including Justice Southcote, a Justice of the Queen's Bench, Reverend Thomas Cole, who was rector of a church near Chelmsford, Sir John Fortescue, who later became Chancellor of Her Majesty's Exchequer, and Sir

Gilbert Gerrard, Attorney General. Her trial turned out to be the hottest ticket in town, and the daily details of the proceedings were recorded and distributed as pamphlets, which became popular reading like reading TMZ or US weekly. Someone would tip off a London publisher about statements made in the courtroom. The publisher would then add eyewitness accounts and eyewitness here, I'm gonna air quote of the scene inside the courtroom. Sometimes they would add poems, but the description of the

execution was what was the star of the show. Loving a sensational story, the editors gobbled it all up and pamphlets were in man. Agnes wasn't the only woman on trial. Three women, Agnes, her daughter Joan, and a woman named Elizabeth Francis, who was assumed to be Agnes's sister, were all accused of practicing witchcraft. And at the center of this trial was a cat. So we're going to begin with Elizabeth, who was the first to own this cat.

She was arrested after Agnes confessed that Elizabeth had given her a cat named Satan in exchange for a cake. Elizabeth told pre trial questioners that when she was twelve years old, she was given this cat named Satan as a gift from her grandmother. Her story goes on that she then fed her blood to the cat and renounced God. The cat named Satan became her familiar, her witch's companion.

There are pieces of Elizabeth's story that describe how she used this cat named Satan, which included asking her cat for certain things like to bring her sheep to help her find a husband, which is a story that ended up turning into her having sex out of wedlock, certainly a no no under religious rules and social moray's of the time. Elizabeth got pregnant during an affair, but with the help of her cat, she did marry the child's father, that was a man named Christopher Francis. But this story

does not have a happy ending. During a period of quote marital unhappiness, Elizabeth killed their child, or she was accused of doing so. At this time in history, as we've said many times, the infant mortality rate was very high and there could have been any number of a

lot of other reasons for the baby's death. Her story was printed in the Examination and Confession of certain Witches at Kentsford in the County of Essex in fifteen sixty six because her alleged sexual improprieties were not a felony, Though she was sentenced to one year in prison with four instances where she would be placed in the stocks, there is no mention in historical records that we could

locate of any punishment for her child's death. Thirteen years later, though, she was tried, convicted, and hanged for the murder of a neighbor named Alice Poole by witchcraft, specifically by using an enchanted black dog. We'll get to that enchanted black dog in a minute, but let's get back to Satan the cat. The cat was allegedly a demonic spirit, and

under Agnes's care, it was used to kill. She confessed she had used Satan to kill cows, pigs, and geese, and to harm brewing and other productions such as dairying. Though she was accused of hexing her neighbor, a tailor named Wardoll, Agnes reported that Satan the cat told her Wardoll's faith was so great he could not be harmed. She had set him against villagers who angered her. She claimed including the murder of a neighbor and nine years

prior the murder of her husband. But in court there was no mention about the murder of a neighbor William Fine, no mention of the murder of her husband, and no mention of the confession she made about harming livestock and property. The defense was that the cat had done all the crimes at which Agnes stood accused. Despite all of the accusations we've just listed, we haven't actually gotten to the damning accusation yet. So Maria has talked a lot about

these confessions, and Agnes did confess to many things. While some sources disagree, this was all likely done under torture. Don't jump to the torture techniques from times like the Inquisition, though, torture at this time would have included slightly different tactics such as sleep deprivation, or in some cases, the accused would be bound and thrown into water. And then you've

probably heard this story of the person sank. It meant they were cleansed and innocent, but if they floated, it meant the water had rejected them and they were considered guilty. The reality, though, was that many women were accused of witchcraft because of their appears. The presence of moles or simply signs of old age were enough to make a person at target, And if a woman had a companion animal, it was surely her devil driven familiar. I feel like we would all be in a lot of trouble if

this were the case. My cats and my fine lines and wrinkles, sure they would put me at risk, Like who protect fgitties? Those practicing there are in the same area as Agnes lived are known to us because of four remaining pamphlets that were published between fifteen sixty six and fifteen eighty nine. These pamphlets described the lives and in some cases the depths, of thirty women and one man who were accused and prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act

of fifteen sixty three. Prosecutions peaked between fifteen eighty and fifteen eighty nine, so decades after Agnes, but nearly nine of them were women. Some of the accused confessed that they did do whatever it was they were accused of doing, some amitted that they only practiced healing spells, and some

outright denied at all. Accusers as recorded in the trial records from the time, we're often likely to create narratives that were kind of a jumble of unverifiable things about, which is with descriptions of illogical or fictional events surrounding the alleged which what was real and what was not wasn't always easy to ascertain. But these types of testimonies were exactly the kind of thing that onlookers wanted to

hear and read about in those prolific pamphlets. We're going to take a break for a word from our sponsor. When we're back, and after all these accusations, will finally get to what was considered to be the incriminating evidence against Agnes. Welcome back to Criminalia Satan. The cat was not the only important piece of the trial. There is also a girl named Agnes Brown. Before we get to Agnes Brown, let's jump for a minute to Agnes's daughter, Joan.

Her crime was bewitching another girl, the waterhouse's neighbor, who happened to be twelve year old Agnes Brown. In court, Joan testified against her mother, strategy reportedly done in an effort to save herself from execution. At first, she denied any knowledge of witchcraft, but did admit that her mother had attempted to teach her quote this art, but then she started to talk. She confessed she had tried to use her mother's familiar, the cat named Satan, to punish

her neighbor, Agnes Brown, for basically bullying her. In the end, Joan was not sentenced, she was acquitted. So we have murder, we have animal cruelty, we have property damage in the mix, and among the dead we have Agnes's husband. Agnes's husband died in fifty seven. After living we quote somewhat un it lead together. Agnes was accused of murdering him. In part, the authorities argued to get out of her marriage and, as they thought, live life with freedoms that came with

being a widow. Agnes, once again under torture, confessed to her husband's murder. But the bulk of the evidence against Agnes, though, had nothing to do with any of these crimes. The incriminating testimony came from Agnes Brown. Because two agnes Is here are going to get confusing. For the moment, let's refer to them by their full names. Agnes Brown was counseled by clergy before and during her testimony and her

statements appeared in the examination and confession. Her testimony is considered to be the primary reason these women were put on trial. Agnes Brown testified that Agnes Waterhouse kept a demon, not the cat, but this time in the form of a black dog with a short tail with a chain and silver whistle around its neck. To that description, she added that the dog had a pair of horns on its head. She told a story about how that dog had spoiled the family's butter, and she also told that

the dog threatened to kill her with a dagger. Specifically, we quote a Sweet Dame's knife. But the piece of damning evidence against Agnes Waterhouse in this testimony was this. Agnes Brown claimed that when she asked the dog who its master was, the dog turned its head toward the Waterhouse home. Agnes Waterhouse, though, countered that Agnes Brown was making this entire story up, saying to her quote thou liest and that she Agnes Waterhouse didn't even own a dagger.

While some of the details of the trial may or may not be exaggerated, it is believed that the older Agnes did confront the younger Agnes over being dishonest. After Agnes Brown's testimony unfolded Agnes Waterhouses wrong doings. Agnes Waterhouse pleaded guilty to practicing witchcraft. If you're wondering why she'd do that, so do many historians, but many conclude that she probably did that guilty ply in an effort to save Joan from execution, the same reason Joan had testified

against her mother. So based primarily on the story of a preteen girl, which involved the head turn of a dog as the keystone to the whole portfolio of alleged evidence. On July fifteen, sixty six, Agnes Waterhouse was executed by hanging in front of a crowd gathered at the gallows in Chelmsford. As she stood in front of the large crowd, Agnes gave her confession again, this time repenting and asking

for God's forgiveness. She again claimed that she had never stopped praying and that she prayed often, but that she always prayed in Latin because her cat forbade her from praying in her native tongue English. Agnes's trial really emphasized this cat and she continued that she we quote repented earnestly and unfeignedly, and desired Almighty God's forgiveness. And that she had abused His most holy name by her devilish practices and trusted to be saved by his most unspeakable mercy.

Other witchcraft cases in the summer of fifteen sixty six went largely unreported, but of course they were happening. Into the eighteenth century, accusations of witchcraft and the practice of witch hunting continued to grow into a frenzy. It wouldn't be until the British Witchcraft Act of seventy five that would formally end which trials across England, Scotland and Wales. So Holly, Yes, come into the cauldron. Yes, please join me by the cauldron. Yes, a charm of powerful trouble

is waiting up. Listen. We can't have an entire episode where we talked about a black cat over and over and not have that be the theme of the drink. But that's true on I'm a crazy cat lady. So there are a number of different cocktails that are called black cats because with a great image and people love to make them like a Halloween and one mine share some DNA with some of those, but it's a little bit different, and I'm calling it the Feline Devil and

it does turn black, which is a delight. This is a super easy one to throw together too. It's just an ounce of vodka, an ounce of blue curos out. This is a subout because a lot of the recipes for black cats you see would put cherry brandy with the vodka, or even some other kind of brandy sometimes, but blue curos out, and then three ounces of cranberry juice, and then three ounces of the cola of your choice,

like I did a diet coke. It turns black. It's a really unique flavor because you get a lot of citrus notes, and you know there is a little bit of a citrus note in most cola, and the blue currous ow pulls that out and kind of like amplifies it a little bit. So it's interesting because it looks very dark, but it has a very summary taste to it. So it does a nice little trick in your mind, much the way an animal making butter rance and doing a trick on how that works. The mock tail for

this one is also easy as pie. You're just gonna leave out the vodka and you're gonna bump up the cranberry juice to four ounces, add an ounce of I would do an orange syrup. If you're really pressed, you can do an orange juice. It just depends. I am not the biggest fan of orange juice, which is why I skipped it. Um and then your three ounces of cola, and you'll still get it won't be quite as dark as if you have that that blue color of a blue curros. How so you can drop a little food

color in there if you're really going for it. Similarly, it looks dark autumnal and HALLOWEENI and then you're like, oh, but it tastes like summer of a little weird trick to yourself. I will probably make lots of these in the coming year because I really like them. It's very unlike smooth the ingredients that you've used in the path, so I'm curious to see what it tastes like. I don't do a lot of cola in cocktails because most people just mix like a thing with cola, Like you know,

you have been around me a lot. But I'll just get a vodka and diet coke. That's been my drink for decades, literal decades. That's always my go to. If you're in a place where like it is not going to be a mixed drink like a you know, any kind of craft cocktail situation. Great, but I don't tend to use it very much in cocktails for reasons. I don't have I shy away from it because everybody kind of just does a rum and coke, or a vodka and coke or whatever. Sometimes a whiskey and coke, so

you can you can throw that in. Delightful. It does sound delightful. I look forward to it. It's a bunch of ingredients that you don't put together, and I like it. Listen, it's a feline devil. You can cheers to any cats running around your house, but don't share it with them. That's not cool or safe for them. No, although I have one that will stick her face right in it. A well, maybe she's a feline devil. Is if you

have a feline devil in your life. We welcome you to our club ay and we're thankful for everybody that spent time with us this week. We will be right back here next week when more stories of witchcraft, some of which are infuriating, but we hope you have a good time with us exploring this history. Criminalia is a production of Shonda land Audio in partnership with I heart Radio.

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