Witch Hunt

BBC Radio Scotland•www.bbc.co.uk

From the 16th to the early 18th centuries, witch hunts took place in Scotland. In this podcast series Susan Morrison, along with Dr Louise Yeoman and a team of expert historians, explores how events aligned to allow this to happen. How did it get to the stage where many innocent people, mostly women, were executed for imaginary crimes

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Episodes

Introducing House of the Lion: A Blood Soaked Throne

Susan Morrison and Len Pennie explore what it takes to be King in medieval Scotland, where ruthlessness and brutality where qualities at the top of the job description.

Jan 26, 2024•3 min

Satan's Last Hurrah! Demonic possession and the end of the hunt

The Devil was loose in Scotland possessing frightened youngsters - or was he? Susan Morrison and Louise Yeoman find what our historians think was going on

Dec 05, 2019•37 min

Peak Witch Hunt

Scotland carried out five times more executions per capita for witchcraft than the European average but how did people come to believe in such a thing and what did they believe about it? Our top-notch panel of Scottish historians are here to take you deep into the psyche of the 16th and 17th century, along with our hosts Susan Morrison and Louise Yeoman. This time - how do we get to peak witch-hunt? The civil wars and political upsets of the mid-17th century led to a swell of Scottish pride in b...

Nov 28, 2019•35 min

Quarrels, Women and Bad Magic

Curses and quarrels abound as Susan Morrison and Louise Yeoman investigate Scotland's war on witches and witchcraft with the help of a team of expert historians.

Nov 21, 2019•33 min

Friends of the Fairies

The witchcraft trials were one of the biggest injustices in Scotland’s history, a massive miscarriage of justice, but how did people come to believe in such a thing and what did they believe about it? Our panel of Scottish historians are here to take you deep into the psyche of the 16th and 17th centuries, along with our hosts Susan Morrison and Louise Yeoman. This time we find out about beliefs in fairies, spirit guides, charms and ritual objects. While the elite believed in the witches’ sabbat...

Nov 14, 2019•33 min