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