Witches of Scotland

This week Zoe and Claire talk to Liane Maitland, Psychotherapist about considering the witch trials through her professional lens :  We talk about the legacy of trauma the witchcraft trials will have left on the country and we consider the trauma likely to have been suffered by James VI, and we discuss how that trauma may have impacted Scotland's witch trial history.   Liane's website can be found...

Zoe and Claire speak to Associate Professor Louise Nyholm Kallestrup about the crossover (literally across the sea) with the Danish and Scottish witch trials - we name Danish women and men killed as witches and we once again discuss the need for a Scottish Museum of Witch Hunts to memorialise those caught up in the terrible miscarriages of justice and paid with their lives

Zoe and Claire talk to Laurie Goodlad - who presents “Shetland with Laurie” podcast / insta pages - she is a podcaster, tour guide, historian and museum curator who was motivated to research the Witches of Shetland - listen as she names all the people she has found in local records, and as we discuss the controversial cremains of women accused as witches which can be seen in the Scalloway Museum.

Zoe and Claire discuss Tituba of Salem in more detail and then speak to Anna BJÖRG, curator of the Musuem of Witchcraft and Sorcery in Iceland - we find out why it was men that were accused, discuss the modern folklore on elves and we ask - should our national monument be a scottish Musuem of Witchcraft Trials?

Zoe and Claire talk to Rachel Christ about the Salem Witch Trials - the accused - the “spectral evidence” used to convict - the pardons granted for all but one of those convicted- the memorial garden - and the “final pardon” - the 21st century legislature to pardon the last person convicted of witchcraft.

Zoe and Claire talk about the term witch in politics and beyond, and speak to Judith Langlands-Scott, the brilliant independent scholar who has spent years researching the stories of those accused as witches in Forfar - and we end on another cliffhanger! (And another sterling “ending”)

Zoe and Claire talk to Leo Igwe - Nigerian human rights activist and award winning humanist - about his campaign to stop witchcraft allegations in the modern day - and how he wants us all to support those who suffer from being accused of witchcraft in the modern day

Zoe and Claire talk about the positive Scottish Government response to the petition, the extraordinary decision of the National Trust for Scotland to promote a holiday let by naming the apartment after man who was involved in witchcraft trials, and speak in depth with Sonia Casas, Editor in Chief of Sapiens magazine about their campaign “they were women not witches” in part inspired by the Witches...

This week Zoe and Claire talk petitions, widdershins, and hear from the inspiring Heather Upfield - writer of The 5 women of Kilwinning (about 5 women killed as witches) and campaigner to have the names and stories remembered .. find out about her great success... it may inspire you too!

IWD2021 marks a year of work on the the #womennotwitches Witches of Scotland campaign. Zoe and Claire talk to their very first guest, Sara Sheridan (EP 2) about why we need to memorialise women and why we need to remember the history of women and men who were killed as witches in Scotland.

This week Zoe and Claire talk to Hazel Meldrum about her mum, Jannette Archibald and her play “The Devil’s Mark”.Hazel and her sister Heather Ann have published her play and you can buy it at heatheranndowd.shop . We also talk about the Wall Street Journal, (?!? ) , Jeannie Dark, and another campaign to remember women killed as witches in Catalonia

Zoe and Claire speak with Andrew Tickell about what it means to have suffered a miscarriage of justice and whether we should now pardon those convicted as witches .. with a little Oscar Slater and Netflix chat thrown in for good measure!

Zoe and Claire discuss the third and final part of Doug Speirs story bringing the Lilas Adie story up to the 21st Century

This week Doug takes Zoe and Claire into the detail of Lilias Adie’s trial - and tells us the detail of her confessions and the records written clearly some time after the accusations - were they written as a cover up? Did the Minister ask for these papers when he moved parish because he knew the case was problematic and wanted to cover his tracks?

Zoe and Claire speak to Douglas Speirs about Lilias Adie - Scotland’s most famous woman who was accused of witchcraft - Who was she? What was her life like? Why was she accused of witchcraft? The first of 3 parts where we examine in detail Lilias life, death and beyond.

After months of building discussion and debate on the topic Zoe and Claire read out the public petition which is now live on the website www.parliament.scot/getting involved/petitions/witchesofscotland We also hear the poetic call for justice in the poem “In Memoriam” written by the very talented @Lenniesaurus

Zoe and Claire discuss the fate of 3 women, one of whom was alleged to have sought help to kill her former husbands ... We also speak to Rachel and Lauren from Heal & Harrow and discuss their future project to memorialise the people of Scotland killed as witches - to record both folklore and fact - and our first ever scoop as they reveal they writer who will be working on the project!

Join us as Iain Mc Sporran QC tells us about the story of Robert Burns and arguably his most famous poem, Tam o Shanter and his depiction of the dancing witches that Tam interrupts on his way home from the pub... we also talk about addressing past wrongs, and why looking at history honestly means recording the truth of the past.

Zoe and Claire name women killed as witches and consider why it is that so many of us believe that had we lived during the period of the Witchcraft Act we too would be accused of being a witch - We also talk with artist Karen Strang (www.karenstrang.co.uk ) who has been working on art inspired by the women killed as witches for decades.

This week we name those accused and executed as witches, and catch up on social media discussions including discussing the new cultural project, inspired but the campaign for a pardon and monument - we talk about the devil’s mark and why it was important for those confessing to witchcraft to renounce their baptism and we are played out by bagpipe music especially commissioned for women executed as...

Zoe and Claire remember those killed as witches, talk about Mrs Mennie of Newfoundland and her inspiring letter and discuss plans for 2021......

After naming women convicted as witches Zoe and Claire (inadvertently!) talk about Angels from the Bible and we hear from Herr Hegeler in Germany where a Bishop has apologised for the role of the church in witchcraft trials and has promised to put up a plaque in memorial to those killed.

A discussion with author of Tomb with a View , Peter Ross on the the need to memorialise the dead and the work of Councillor Kate Stewart, a founding member of RAWS (Remembering the Accused Witches of Scotland)

We learn about a woman tortured as a witch in Skye, of the work of Anton Praetorious a pastor who condemned the witch trials in Germany when they took place and his modern day successor Hartmut Hegeler who seeks pardons and memorials for European witches. We also hear from Alexandra Maher who is making a short film inspired by the story of Scotland’s last witch, Janet Horne and her daughter.

Paula Kehoe and Ashlene Aylward are currently co-writing and producing a tv show about the women accused of witchcraft in Ireland - we hear about these women and why there were so few accused of witchcraft in Ireland when compared with Scotland