Darkcast Network Presents: Wicked Intentions-Witch's Cauldron

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Wicked Week here at dark
Cast Network. I'm Jasmine of Hands Off,

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my podcast host for this episode of
dark Cast Network's Wicked Week Double Double

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Toil and Treble, fire Bird and
Cauldron Bubble. You guessed it. This

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episode is all about witches. But
don't be too frightened, dearies. I've

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cast a protective spell upon you for
good luck. Hey, everybody, welcome

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to Sinister Story Hour. My name
is step Fear can be such a terrible

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emotion that causes us so many other
feelings and physical reactions, like a visceral

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reaction in my gut is what immediately
comes to mind, just to help us

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escape from the chaos. Case in
point, let's say you're scared of spiders.

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Uh, yeah, me too.
If you see one, your blood

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pressure might spike Like me, I
get sweaty, I get panicked. I

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definitely scream. I develop the it's
either him or me kind of line of

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defense until somebody finally gets rid of
the spider. Other things that we might

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be fearful of can incite other emotions
or physical reaction such as paranoia, irrational

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anger, or tears, just to
name a few. When people fear other

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people, the results can be devastating. In the sixteen hundreds, Mal Dyer

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was one such woman that the other
folks in her Leonard Town, Maryland village

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feared. Most. No one knew
Mal's backstory, and no one bothered to

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ask either. Instead, they made
up stories about Mal, which is so

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common even today in twenty twenty three, we do this all the time.

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We haven't changed stories that once she
was a beautiful lady who was born with

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a silver spoon in her mouth and
the spoils and riches of a well to

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do family. A handsome young suitor
that had come to call on Mal and

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she was smitten. But the young
man met with a treacherous fate and Mal

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was left heartbroken. Now the villagers
considered Mal an old hag, and since

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no one bothered to get to know
her, the other townsfolk grew to fear

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and hate the old woman unless they
needed something from her. That is,

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see, Mal was widely known as
a healer. If an outbreak of influenza

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hit the village, everyone and their
uncle Fred went to see Mal for recovery.

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Mang lived in a ramshackled house and
her looks for mostly the reason that

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the other townsfolk shunned her. She
stood tall, and she had a long

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gait. Her gaze when she looked
at you was cold and baneful. The

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citizens of Leonardtown were positive that Mal
was a witch. During the summer months,

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Mall would walk around the town,
gathering weeds and herbs that she would

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find to make teas and tinctures.
She would sometimes ask residents for small handouts.

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Most dared not to deny Mal for
fear that she would put a curse

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on them. In the winter of
sixteen ninety seven, a bitter storm hit

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in February. The villagers were getting
sick and dying. In spite of the

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many years that Mal had helped to
heal the townsfolk, this year was different.

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This year the people were looking for
someone to blame for their unfortunate luck

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and unfortunate weather. This year,
it had to be a spell that Mal

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had cast to wreak havoc on their
village. Maul lived in the outskirts,

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her tiny home on the edge of
the woods. The townspeople lit torches and

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marched through the freezing snow to Mal's
home. No longer would they allow the

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witch of the woods to control them. The angry mob used their torches to

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light Mal's humble shack ablaze. Mal, who was terrified of the townspeople who

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turned on her, suddenly ran from
her home into the woods, Satisfied they

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had destroyed the town, which forever
the villagers returned to their homes. They

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could now rest easy that the root
of all their troubles was gone. There

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were no immediate signs of Mall's existence
after the shack burning incident. Several days

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later, a boy looking for cattle
that he had lost came upon Mule's frozen

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body, kneeling over a large boulder, hand stretched to the sky as if

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cursing the people who had done this
to her. The boulder she had died

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on has been preserved and lays in
front of the Lennardtown Colonial Jail. It

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is said that there's an impression of
her knee and hand still upon the rock.

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There are tales of Mal's spirit haunting
the land that she died on.

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Honestly, I would haunt it too. Her spirit is most active on freezing

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cold nights. One last hidbit.
The story of Mal Dyar is said to

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have been the inspiration for the movie
The Blair Witch Project Again This is sinister

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stuff of Sinister Story Hour podcast,
and thank you for listening. Have a

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very witchy Halloween. Hey, Hey, I'm Autumn from Autumn's Odities, and

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please enjoy the spooky tale that Sleepy
Hollow adjacent. I give you the Witch

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of West Nyak, in the hamlet
of West Nayak, six miles from Sleepy

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Hollow. As the raven flies,
there is a historic marker at the site

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of the last witch trial in New
York State, one Jane Kiff. Some

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versions of her story use the name
Hannah instead of Jane. Others recall local

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Dutch farmers referring to her as not
I don't understand that Caniff in a ut

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Caniff, which was a salutation of
unknown meaning and origin. So I have

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no answers for anyone, whatever her
given name was. Descriptions of Caniff are

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wildly cartoonish. Like so many accused
witches, Kaniff was just a marginalized person

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living on the edge of society.
Pretty much every witch ever in early eighteen

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fifteen or eighteen sixteen Clarksville, as
the hamlet was known then, nearly everyone

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was bound by ties of blood and
marriage, much like the movie Sleepy Hollow

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any newly arrived stranger became the subject
of gossip and rumors. Jane almost invited

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suspicion. Twice widowed, she was
an aged woman living in an unpainted,

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rickety house with her only child,
a black cat, and a talking parrot.

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Unlike her plainly dressed neighbors, she
wore bold colors and kept her hair

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in unconventional ways, and she led
a mostly solitary existence. So it's just

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this eccentric woman. She doesn't have
a husband because she's widowed, she's living

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in an unpainted house, God forbid. And of course you know she's a

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witch just because she doesn't do things
like everybody else. From her deceased husband,

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a Scottish physician, Kenneth had learned
enough about herbalism to conc effective cures

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for what ails you, I guess, and adding to the matter, her

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son, to Bias Lowry, was
also as eccentric and antisocial as his mother.

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There was no single act that provoked
the witch trial. Rather, it

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was the accumulation of suspected misdeeds that
turned the community against her. Local housewives,

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who found it difficult to churn a
proper butter, would discover upon emptying

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the churn a horseshoe branded into the
bottom. A prominent member of the local

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church passed a sleepless night due to
the incessant allowing of his cows. At

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daybreak, he found his best milk
cow, inexplicably standing inside of a farm

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wagon. From that time board the
cow would produce no milk. Never mind

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that, you know, a little
heat on a cold morning would help butter

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to set, or that the farmer's
dog was known to harass the cattle.

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The cause, they assumed was surely
witchcraft, and all eyes turned toward Jane

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Kiniff. A later historian surmise that
neither a legally appointed judge nor the dominee

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of the local Reformed church would do
anything but laugh at such a charge.

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Suspected or suspecting as much. The
local citizens took the law into their own

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hands, because this woman has done
absolutely nothing wrong. There's not even a

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shred and ounce, like the tiniest
little bit of proof. But they decided,

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just because she's a little bit different, that she's the one making their

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butter not churn and putting a cow
in a cart. Really like this is

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something to try a person over.
I don't think so. Only upstanding citizens,

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of course, would be allowed to
act on such a serious charge as

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witchcraft, resulting in nomination of the
resident physician for judge and a jury of

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neighboring farmers. In the early eighteen
hundreds, medical practice was, as we

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know, a far cry from today's
industrial medicine. So was the physician judge

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truly impartial or was he pissed that
he had competition from a more competent female

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practitioner Like medicine back in the day
was absolutely nothing. Whatever she was doing

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was probably helping more. You know. They were like, you got ghosts

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in your blood, do cocaine about
it. I'm gonna pull leach on you

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because you're you know, your butt
hurts. I don't know. It's all

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very scientific. It's not, actually, But the good citizens held a secret

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meeting at Pie's woodmill or wool mill, sorry weird words, will mill,

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at which they decided the test would
be the ancient practice of dunking, in

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which the alleged witch is bound by
hand and foot and thrown into a body

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of water. We know it,
We've seen it a million times in earlier

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times in Western Europe and also America. An alleged witch who floated would be

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found guilty of witchcraft and executed.
If the alleged witch and drowned, well,

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the innocence of the unfortunate defendant would
be beyond doubt. You know,

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she's not guilty, but she is
dead, so guilty or innocent. The

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accused did not survive the trial.
You know, it's just double edged sword.

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There's no winning. So Canniff was
apprehended. She was bound hand and

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foot and carved it off to the
nearest pond. But before she was cast

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into the water, a separate group
of locals happened upon the gathering, if

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you want to call it that other
council prevailed, and instead of the water

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test, the jury decided to use
the enormous flower scales at Ourt Paulhemus's gristmill

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to wag Caniff against a bible.
I've never heard of this witch test.

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This is a new one for me. And this was no like regular church

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pew bible just weighing a couple of
pounds. This was a Dutch family bible

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with a capital B. The Great
Book was itself huge, covered with wood

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boards and bound in iron with an
iron carrying chain. It's very high fashion.

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It is couture if out weighed by
such a hefty tone, she would

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be a witch beyond doubt and suffer
accordingly. Yeah, so they wrapped a

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freaking massive Bible in wood and iron
chains, simply to make it weigh more

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than her and against her protest,
Canniff was put in the scales and weighed.

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Writing in eighteen eighty six Frank B. Green very dryly observed quote weighing

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more than the Bible. The committee
released her amid the ominous shaking of heads.

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At the decision of the judges.
Her persecutors were threatened with an action

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at law. So it didn't work. Even though they wrapped this Bible in

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wood and iron chains, she apparently
weighed more than it. Good for her,

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Canniff was released, ending the inglorious
last witch trial in New York State,

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or did it really end there?
A short time later, one of

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Pie's children is alleged to have met
a gruesome fate at the wool mill where

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the committee had first plotted the witch
trial. Through some accident, a large

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wooden hammer weigh hundreds of pounds,
which was used for beating out wool cloth,

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fell on the child, crushing and
killing him. This was of course,

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attributed again to Janekiniff for her brutal
treatment at the hands of her Zealot

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neighbors. Nothing remains today of the
Palamus Mill formerly the de Clark Mill,

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at the southwest corner of Grimmond's Road
and Strawtown Road, just a historic marker

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noting its historic significance as the site
of the last witch trial in New York

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State. I hope you enjoyed that
spooky short tail and if you like what

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you hear, you can hear more
episodes released every Tuesday and Friday on all

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podcast platforms. Thank you for listening, and remember, if it's creepy and

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weird, you'll find it here.
Hey everybody, this is Josh and this

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Jamie from the Paranormal Peep's podcast,
and we are going to talk vampires.

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Yeah. So normally we do mostly
ghosty stuff, but you know, it

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is spooky season and we're going to
branch out just a little bit. After

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all, it's fun. It is
fun. So we're going to talk the

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legend Asava Savanovich. Interesting name,
that's a mouthful. It is a mouthful.

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It is also Serbian. Yes,
So the story of Sava Savanovitch is

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one of the most famous and fascinating
folk tales from Serbia. It is a

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story of love, loss, madness, and ultimately the supernatural. The legend

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of Sava is one that has been
deeply etched in the cultural memory of the

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Serbian people and continues to be retold
to this day. The story begins in

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the small village of Zorzoji, where
Sava lived. He was a successful cattle

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trader and brave jjdaki, a member
of society, known and appreciated for both

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his courage and wealth. Sava lived
unmarried with his brother and his brother's family

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in a common house. One day, Sava well in love with the daughter

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of a local merchant. Despite his
efforts to marry the young woman, he

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was denied because of the great age
difference. This rejection led to a deep

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change in Sava. He became bitter, spiteful, and Quarrelsome people began to

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avoid and fear him. One day, after a night of waiting outside,

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Sava sought out the young woman who
was driving cattle to pasture. After a

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short exchange of words, he shot
the woman and possibly others present in the

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act. Sava also dramatically lost his
own life. In some accounts by suicide

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and others by strangulation by villagers involved. After his death, as custom dictated,

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Sava was buried not in the churchyard
but near the crime scene. But

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that was not the end of the
story. The villagers reported that they had

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seen Sava at night or had even
been followed by him. The situation escalated

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when several millers who had worked and
stayed overnight in the water mills on the

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edge of the river were found dead. All of them shown bite marks on

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their necks. It was clear to
the villagers that Sava had become a vampire.

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In their fear, the villagers decided
to take action. They opened Sava's

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grave and found an undecaying corpse inside. To break the curse, they drove

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a pointed stake through the vampire's heart. According to some locals, when they

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dug him up, Sava is said
to have opened his eyes. They drove

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a steak through his chest. Supposedly, a butterfly flew out and the priests

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failed to pour holy water in time. It is said that this butterfly pelagued

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people for a long time, and
many believed that it still plagues them today.

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So Sava Soganovich is among the first
known cases by the name of a

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folk belief in vampires native to the
Balkans. In Serbian folklore, he is

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usually considered to be the first vampire. The legend of Sava probably originated in

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the seventeenth or eighteenth century and is
closely connected with the interest of vampirism in

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Western Europe. At the time,
reports of vampires and other mysical beings were

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not uncommon in those regions. There
were reports of vampires into the late nineteenth

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century. In oral accounts of encounters
with unknown beings exist into the first half

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of the twentieth century. Although the
stories surrounding Sava can never be fully proven

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historically, they are an essential part
of the Serbian folk tradition. The seclusion

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of this dilapidated mill contributes to an
atmosphere shrouded in ominous mystery. For a

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curious tourist or vampire loving visiting Western
Serbia. The mill in Zarzoji is an

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unforgettable destination. Despite its collapse,
parts of the structure have been preserved and

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stabilized. The mill is located in
the middle of a dense forest along the

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babbling river, which is now peaceful, but still exudes in eerie presence.

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If you know the legend, guided
tours are occasionally offered, during which the

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story of Savanovitch is told in exciting
detail. As long as the legends are

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passed down, the memory of the
vampire lives on Sava is as one of

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the most eerie and fascinating legendary figures
in Serbia. Wow, it's pretty cool.

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It would be really neat to be
able to travel there and go see

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what's left. Yeah, of the
structure. Yeah, there's not much left.

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It's just like a little like shack
almost sitting by the river. Yeah,

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it'd still be really cool to go
see. It would be I mean,

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we hear these stories, We read
these stories. You know, they've

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been passed down generation through generation.
To be able to go and get a

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visual, even if it's not much, yeah, of where it supposedly took

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place and all that, and to
know the story behind it would actually be

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really cool. It would be really
neat. Yeah, I can think.

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The one part that is really strange
and isn't explained at all in the story

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is that butterfly. Yeah, what's
with the butterfly? Like butterflies are supposed

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to be like the transformation into something
great, right, It's the metamorphosis of

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ones from from child to adulthood or
from something minute to something beautiful. Yes,

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and the struggle that takes place,
you know, to transform. So

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I'm not sure where the butterfly comes
into play or what that would mean or

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symbolize, you know, I don't
know. I just get this picture of

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Bart from The Simpsons going nobody would
suspect the butterfly. Maybe that was him

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escaping in the form of a butterfly
and the priest forgot to spray it with

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holy water. He spread it too
late or not in time. Yeah,

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So I don't know. Curious,
it is very curious. Yeah, but

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you know, I think of all
stories like Vampire wise one. I've never

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heard this story me neither. So
it's very appropriate for spooky season. It

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is. And everybody, if you
enjoyed this story, come find us out

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on Paranormal Peace podcast. Yeah,
come give us a listen, and happy

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Halloween. I'm done from Scottish murders
and this is the story of Christians Cofin.

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In the early seventeen hundreds, the
the Laird of Bergharin. Christine Shaw

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was a Scottish industrialist and was widely
regarded as being the founder of the thread

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industry in Renfrewshire in Scotland. This
was after Christine traveled to the Netherlands and

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observed the spinning techniques there, along
with seemingly smuggling some of the necessary equipment

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back to Scotland in her luggage.
This allowed for the spinning of a more

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durable and whiter yarn of thread known
as Bergharin thread. Back home in Renfrewshire,

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however, it would be the spinning
a yarn of a different kind as

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a child in the late sixteen hundreds
that would also carry the Burgharan name,

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but in a far darker and shocking
way. The late sixteen hundreds were just

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a decade or so before those beginnings
of the Renfrewshire thread industry, but would

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seem like centuries before in comparison,
where fears were more primitive and the people

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persuaded more easily. In sixteen ninety
six, it would be in Paisley in

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Renfrewshire where a young eleven year old
Christian Shaw would become part of a thread

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of events which would shock then and
echo through the centuries to now. Christian

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as the daughter of John Shaw,
who was the Laird of Bergeran led a

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relatively privileged life living in Burgheran house. This included her father and landowner keeping

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servants, and one day Christian saw
one of the servants, Katherine Campbell,

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stealing a drink of milk, and
so she reported this to her mother.

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When the servant, Catherine discovered what
Christian had done, she cursed the young

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girl by wishing that the devil would
haul her soul through hell. This could

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easily be dismissed as an offhand remark
delivered in anger if this had been in

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the later industrial age of Renbrewshire,
that the older Christian herself would help start.

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But this was a very different Renfrewshire
of Christian's more sensitive youth. It

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would be a few days later when
Christian shaw encountered Edne's Naismith, an elderly

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woman described as being addicted to threatenings
who lived alone and was known for speaking

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her mind, and she inquired how
Christian was feeling, to which Christian replied

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she was feeling fine. However,
the day after the encounter with Agris asking

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about her health, in a few
days on from the curse from a servant,

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Katherine, Christian fell ill. She
began to have seizures at times,

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was unable to see or hear,
and her body would extend or contract violently.

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She was clearly no longer feeling fine. However, as her illness progressed,

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so did the nature of her symptoms, which went from those not unlikely

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of a serious illness to others,
which included apparently spitting out feathers, her

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own hair, carcasses of small animals, and even something that wouldn't seem out

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of place in her later life.
Pins whatever was really happening, Christian's parents

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would have been rightly concerned for their
daughter, but they believed that she was

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cursed. This was seemingly confirmed in
their eyes when for a short period Christian

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recovered and told her parents she could
see the family's servant, Catherine, who

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had stolen the drink of milk,
and the old woman Agnes, of whom

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people at the time would have accused
of being a witch, stabbing at her

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sides and threatening to cut her open. It would be two months before Christian

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Shaw's parents, concerned for their young
daughter's health, would head the eleven miles

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or eighteen kilometers to Glasgow to see
the skilled physician doctor Matthew Brisbane. You

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would assume that a visit to the
more rational doctor would help find out the

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true cause of Christian's poor health,
but instead it was stated that while in

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his surgery, Christians spat out a
coal cinder as large as a chestnut and

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almost too hot for doctor Brisbane to
handle, which caused the doctor to state

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that her symptoms were beyond what is
normal or natural. Many other fantastical symptoms

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exhibited by Christian included citing scriptures and
concepts beyond her years, seeming to fly

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unaided across her classroom, and picking
up a glove without using her hands.

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She would even at times plead with
their unseen Catherine Campbell to resume their friendship,

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which had ended due to her reporting
the theft of the drink of milk

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to her mother a week after Christian
and her parents had visited the doctor in

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Glasgow, which had produced no true
explanation for their daughter's affliction. Christian did

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recover, albeit briefly, before her
fits returned, but this time more violent

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than before. Still left with no
answers as to what was happening to Christian,

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her parents turned to their local parish
minister, who stated that the young

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Christian was possessed and was being tormented
by witches, something that was unfortunately quite

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commonly thought of at the time,
and many of her symptoms matched dose from

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the Salem witch trials a few years
earlier in America, and interestingly enough,

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America had recently been visited by Christian's
father, John Shaw, the Laird of

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Burgherin. The church set up a
weekly fast in prayer meetings at Burgheran House,

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and Christian's Jaw's father appealed to the
authorities that those named by his daughter

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should be arrested, although it was
overlooked at the time. Agnes Naysmith,

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the elderly woman Christian had encountered and
who had asked about her health, appeared

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to genuinely be concerned about Christian,
and she visited her at Burgarian House,

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where she prayed for her and wished
her as speedy recovery, although Catherine Campbell

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seemingly stated, according to John Miller's
account recorded in his collection The Witches of

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Renfrewshire, that the devil never let
Christian grow better. Although only two people

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were initially named by Christian, which
included the servant and the old woman she

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encountered, the list of the accused
grew to include twenty women, ten men,

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and five other men or women as
being part of a covent of witches

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that Christian blamed for her possession,
the Scottish Privy Council set up a commission

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to investigate the events surrounding Christian Shaw
at the request of the church in Paisley,

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to see if there was a case
against those accused in seven of those

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names, which included Campbell and Agries
Naysmith, along with Margaret Lang, John

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Lindsay, James Lindsay, John Reed
and Margaret Fulton, were summoned for trial

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and appeared at a second commission in
Paisley, charged with murder and tormenting a

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number of people, including Christian Shaw. The others did not face trial as

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their relatives were seemingly able to use
their standing in society to buy them out

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of what became known as the Renfrewshire
witch trials by offering what lens and goods

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they could. However, that was
not possible for the other seven, which

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included John and James Lindsay, who
were only eleven and fourteen at the time.

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The advocate for the seven who stood
trial argued that the prosecution was obliged

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to rule out the possibility that the
events could be explained by natural causes,

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but doctor Matthew Brisbane gave evidence that
he could not find any such cause for

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Christian Shaw's condition. There were also
seemingly witches marks found in the bodies of

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the accused, and doubt was kissed
on any reasonable explanations for those marks,

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which were offered by other physicians.
The prosecutor confronted the jury, saying if

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the defendants were acquitted, then those
on the jury would be accessories to all

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the blasphemies, atrocities, murders,
tortures and seductions, going on to say

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that those enemies of heaven and Earth
shall hereafter be guilty when they get out.

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This gave the juror's little choice but
to find all seven of those accused

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guilty based upon the word of eleven
year old Christian Shaw. After the guilty

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00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.960
verdict was delivered, James Reed decided
his own fate by taking his own life

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in prison, but the other three
men and three women were to be strangled

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and burnt on the Gallow Green in
Paisley in June sixteen ninety seven in front

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of a large and boisterous crowd.
This included Catherine Campbell, who was carried

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struggling and screaming to the gallows and
calling down the wrath of God and the

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Devil on her accused, and Agnes
Naysmith, who seemingly laid a dying woman's

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curse on everyone present and their descendants, where for many years afterwards, every

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tragedy in the town was blamed on
this witch's curse. However, the deaths

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of those who would become known as
the Burgarian Witches would be the last mass

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execution for witchcraft in Western Europe.
The remains of the dead were buried at

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a crossing known today as Maxwelton Cross, and a horseshoe was placed on top

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of their buried remains, which went
missing a few years later. In two

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thousand and eight, this was replaced
with a bronze plaque featuring a stainless steel

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horseshoe and the inscription pain inflicted suffering
endured injustice, done in a tribute to

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make sure people never forget the true
tragedy of those who had suffered and died,

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based merely on a yarn spun by
a young girl who would of course

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lived to grow up and spin those
yarns of different kinds. Hello everyone,

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my name is Raven and I'm the
host of Rogue Darkness, the podcast that

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00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:12.279
uncovers how the misinterpretations and misinformation surrounding
witchcraft, the occult, and other beliefs

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have led many to do unthinkable crimes. As part of the Dark Cast Network

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and honoring the spooky season, I
wanted to share a chilling tale about a

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mysterious woman from the past who was
said to be a witch and who was

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said to ultimately take her own life
by drinking her own blood. This is

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the horrifying tale of Lona the blood
Thirster. Let's go rogue and get right

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in to today's chilling crime, the
case of a young woman from Romania who

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was accused of being a Satan worshiper
and blood drinker, whose death had presumed

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ties to the occult, involving ritualistic
practices of drinking her own blood that was

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said to be the ultimate cause of
her death. So, with what may

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seem like a work of empiic fiction, let's tell the to the case of

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the infamous Lona the Bloodthurster. But
first, let's start off from the very

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beginning traveling back to the year of
nineteen o nine, when anything pertaining to

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witchcraft and the occult, or even
anything outside of Christianity was condemned with the

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penalty of death. A pair of
ministers reportedly accused a twenty seven year old

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woman of the Romanian city to Missura, of not only being a witch for

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her devout involvement in Zoroastrianism, but
they even rumored that she had killed and

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drank the blood of several local children, building a fear of her base sold

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the off of her involvement in a
religion that was different than their own.

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Upon hearing of these presumed acts of
devilry, a mob of angry locals gathered,

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hunted down, and savagely beat young
Lona to an inch of her life.

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Lona was said to be taken to
the local hospital to treat her for

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her injuries, but it said that
after being in the hospital for only two

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days, she reportedly checked herself out
and returned to her home, presumably to

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care for herself and get some much
needed rest in the comfort of her own

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home. Much to many surprise,
though, the very next day, after

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she had checked herself out of the
hospital, Lona was reportedly found dead lying

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on her sofa with her arms crossed
over her chest. When local authorities came

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to her home to investigate the scene, they were shocked to find that it

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looked like Lona had performed a crude
Satanic ritual the night prior, with an

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altar next to the sofa she was
lying on, adorned with occult symbols,

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ritualistic herbs, and pagan statues.
Atop the altar was said to be a

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00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:45.200
goblet that contained a deep, dark
red stains within it, which authorities determined

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to be blood. It wasn't just
any blood, though either. Instead it

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was concluded to be Lona's own blood, with which she drank on the night

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of her hospital checkout. Upon seeing
the blood stained goblet, authorities proceeded to

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inspect Lona's corpse at the scene for
any additional clues as to what may have

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caused her passing, and they noted
that although she was fully clothed, upon

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00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:12.640
inspection, they saw several cuts all
over her arms and legs, indicating self

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harm as a means to obtain the
blood that was within the goblet. Lona's

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00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:21.039
body was then taken to the morgue
for an official autopsy, and the medical

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00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:24.480
examiner there reportedly stated that she had
died from a combination of blood loss an

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internal shock from ingesting massive quantities of
blood that then ultimately triggered cardiac arrest.

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Through drinking her own blood in an
assumed ritual Lona ultimately died of a provoked

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00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:44.160
heart attack by cutting her own body, draining herself of her blood, and

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then catching the blood in a goblet
to be drunk. After repetition of these

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acts, Lona was believed to have
committed ritualistic suicide. As was common back

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then, post mortem pictures were often
taken of the dead, and there is

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such an image of Lona herself that
was taken at the scene of her death,

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00:33:00.839 --> 00:33:06.079
which shows her deceased body on the
sofa. The photo has a rather

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00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:09.839
eerie feel to it, as if
she is not dead, but instead sleeping

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00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:15.559
peacefully on the sofa. Many people
claim that the photo is cursed, and

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that many who post the image online
or through social media have said to have

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00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.839
nightmares thereafter, or have woken up
to find their body covered in bruises and

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00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:28.160
scratches, much like how Lona's body
was found due to the beating she endured

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00:33:28.440 --> 00:33:32.519
and the self inflicted scratches from her
ritual blood draining to add a twist to

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the seemingly grim tail. The actual
validity of such a story revolving around the

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00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:42.519
photo is very much debated. To
this day. Records of such a person

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00:33:42.839 --> 00:33:47.480
named Lona Constantinescu is incredibly hard to
come by, leaving many to speculate that

404
00:33:47.519 --> 00:33:52.039
the tale was actually a fabrication of
possible real life events that may have occurred

405
00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:57.599
in the time frame. Another common
point that skeptics of the story point out

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00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:00.480
is that on the post mortem photo
of the presumed life, the lady within

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00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:05.400
the photo clearly does not look like
someone who had been brutally beaten a few

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00:34:05.480 --> 00:34:08.280
days prior. Rather, as mentioned, it looks like a young woman who

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00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:15.039
is peacefully sleeping on a sofa.
The actual name and story of Lona the

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00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:20.119
Bloodthurster can at the time be traced
back to an anonymously written poem by an

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00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:25.039
author only known as Unholy, the
title of the poem being called Lona the

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00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:30.639
Bloodthurster. The poem recounts the horrific
story of Lona's beating and unfortunate death,

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00:34:31.159 --> 00:34:36.199
Yet the validity of such a person
actually existing is still very much unknown.

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00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:42.760
The poem goes as follows. Lona
Constenescu died in the autumn of nineteen o

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00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:49.719
nine. Her cause of death ritual
suicide by purposeful ingesting of large quantities of

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00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:54.920
her own blood, stated and concluded
the official autopsy in coroner's reports. Jimisura,

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00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:00.639
Romania, Octumbri twenty three. She
called it the com Union of the

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00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:05.559
Saints. Twenty seven year old Lona
was laid to rest on a private ceremony.

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00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:09.679
She was known to many throughout the
township of Timisura and western Romania as

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00:35:09.719 --> 00:35:15.679
a witch and an idolater. Many
feared her. Many knew the stories of

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00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:21.840
alleged Hemo Injestin and unknown Striguikla in
the Wood. She was considered against by

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00:35:21.880 --> 00:35:25.320
two Christian ministers and their wives to
drive out the devil from their midst and

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00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:30.559
cleanse the northern gods from among us. Just before dawn on Octumbree twenty first,

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00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:35.719
she was dragged from her home by
a mob and beaten near unto death.

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00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:40.480
She spent the next two days drinking
continually from the communion glass. Both

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00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:47.239
ministers and their wives were dead before
the end of the year. If you

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00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:52.480
enjoyed this spooky story. Then please
be sure to check out Rogue Darkness wherever

428
00:35:52.519 --> 00:35:57.920
you listen to podcasts. Until next
time. Hey there, I'm CJ with

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00:35:58.119 --> 00:36:04.480
Beyond the Rainbow True Crimes the LGBTQ. While over in America witches were on

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00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:09.199
trial and being hanged when found guilty, in Europe things were just a little

431
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:15.079
bit different. Oh, The persecution
of witches was still prevalent thanks to the

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00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:21.400
Catholics and Christians fear of demons.
Tens of thousands of women were being gathered

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00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:25.519
and slaughtered for being witches. In
Heavens forbid. A woman was born a

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00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:30.119
lesbian, and like the ladies,
if she did and took a female lover,

435
00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:35.039
it had to be the work of
a demon, where the devil himself

436
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:39.920
possessing her. Although sexual identity wasn't
really a thing back then, at least

437
00:36:40.039 --> 00:36:45.800
not what we know it as today, there were no labels, just feelings

438
00:36:45.800 --> 00:36:51.239
and attractions. If a person was
born gay and had same sex attractions,

439
00:36:51.800 --> 00:36:57.760
they knew to hide it because anything
that was not considered societal normal was demonic

440
00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:02.400
funny, not much different than today, according to some people. The purging

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00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:07.320
of witches in Europe started in the
fourteen hundreds, and it continued on through

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00:37:07.320 --> 00:37:14.480
the mid seventeen hundreds. Witch hunters, many who were clergymen, would seek

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00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:20.679
out women with what they deemed to
have unusual behavior. One of the tests

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00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:24.559
to find out if a woman was
an actual witch was called the swimming test.

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00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:30.800
The woman was tied up thrown into
the water. If she drowned,

446
00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:34.880
she was not a witch. She
was dead forever. But at least she

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00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:38.599
wasn't a witch. If she fought
and was able to unbind herself and get

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00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:43.119
out of the water, or if
she figured out how to float and stay

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00:37:43.159 --> 00:37:47.159
alive, she was a witch who
had helped to escape from the devil himself.

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00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:52.639
Now, I personally would have considered
that woman a badass if she was

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00:37:52.679 --> 00:37:57.760
able to survive, but not the
folks back then. They burned these women

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00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:01.840
at the stake. Sounds like if
you were suspected of being a witchback then,

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00:38:02.440 --> 00:38:07.599
you were damned either way. There's
some very heinous murders that presumed witches

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00:38:07.639 --> 00:38:13.280
in the world's history, for sure. In the English channels, a fight

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00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:20.239
ensued between Protestants and Catholics. Three
Protestant women presumed to be witches were tied

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00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:23.239
to a stake and led a fire. As the fire started to burn,

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00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:29.360
one of the women gave birth.
The baby was pulled from the fire at

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00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:32.639
first, but then it was tossed
back in because it was believed to be

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00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:38.400
a descendant of the devil. There
was a woman named Katharina Hanau in Germany.

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00:38:39.079 --> 00:38:44.440
Today she would be considered a successful
business woman, but back in the

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00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:52.079
early sixteen hundreds, her being assertive
was considered aggressive and manlike. In fact,

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00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:55.440
many women who came across as too
independent, they were forced to wear

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00:38:55.440 --> 00:39:01.440
a muzzle in public. This would
hinder the woman. Katharina came from a

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00:39:01.480 --> 00:39:07.960
family of successful politicians. She was
born into her behavior, and if it

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00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:12.440
wasn't in her genes, it was
a learned behavior from her family. She

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00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:16.639
was accused of being a witch in
practicing witchcraft, which she denied. However,

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00:39:16.679 --> 00:39:22.239
she wasn't believed, so she was
tortured and eventually sentenced to death,

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00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:28.079
but her jurors and judge they decided
they'd do her a solid since her family

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00:39:28.360 --> 00:39:32.239
was a prominent family in the community. They strangled her before they burned her.

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00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:38.559
Gee, thanks guys, thanks for
killing me before killing me. In

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00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:44.559
all honesty, with the exception of
Iceland who went on witch hunts for men.

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00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:51.000
Nearly all the other witch hunts in
Europe were predominantly for women, especially

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00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:57.280
in Scotland. Maud Gault was one
of these Scottish women. Maud was born

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00:39:57.360 --> 00:40:00.079
in sixteen twenty and if she were
alive today, hey, she'd be four

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00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:06.719
hundred and three years old. She's
probably happy she's not alive today. Can

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00:40:06.760 --> 00:40:10.800
you imagine being four hundred and three
years old. During a good portion of

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00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:15.440
Maud's life, Scotland was going through
what was called the Wars of the Three

478
00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:22.400
Kingdoms. This was a religious war
with England and all about the reform of

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00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:29.400
religion. Protestants, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. They all had one thing in common,

480
00:40:30.280 --> 00:40:35.119
the fear of demons, witches and
lesbians. Oh my, yep,

481
00:40:35.159 --> 00:40:39.360
I said the old word again.
Growing up, Maud knew she didn't have

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00:40:39.519 --> 00:40:45.760
any attraction for boys. She liked
girls. In order to live her life

483
00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:50.079
and her truth, mod always knew
she would need to be creative. To

484
00:40:50.159 --> 00:40:54.400
do this, she married a man
named John Dickie to be or beard her

485
00:40:54.440 --> 00:41:00.960
cover up her disguise. Although it's
unknown whether John knew he was a spouse

486
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:07.079
of convenience. John was a right
w rght, which is someone who is

487
00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:14.000
skilled in making wooden objects, and
I guess that made him mister Wright.

488
00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:19.880
He must have been pretty successful at
his job because the couple was wealthy enough

489
00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:23.599
to have servants. Maud and John
never had any children, but as I

490
00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:29.079
stated, they did have a couple
of servants. One of these servants was

491
00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:35.639
a maid named Agnes Mitchell. Maud
was highly attracted to Agnes, and since

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00:41:35.719 --> 00:41:39.599
Maud was considered an assertive woman who
went after what she wanted, she could

493
00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:45.360
be very persistent in her ways until
she got what she desired. Some might

494
00:41:45.440 --> 00:41:50.960
even call her abusive in how she
obtained her goal. Maud persisted with Agnes

495
00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:54.079
until she got her way, and
the two would have sexual encounters together.

496
00:41:55.199 --> 00:42:00.159
After a while, Agnes decided she
just couldn't take what Mod was doing to

497
00:42:00.199 --> 00:42:06.400
her anymore, and she approached what
is called the kirk sessions. The kirk

498
00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:13.480
sessions is simply local churches holding court
and proceeding over alleged criminal acts. It's

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00:42:13.519 --> 00:42:19.239
a process that still goes on today
in Scotland. In Agnes's kirk session,

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00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:24.519
she spilled all about the axe her
employer Mod was performing on her, including

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00:42:24.719 --> 00:42:30.960
using a clay phallic piece to penetrate
her. We call them dildos today,

502
00:42:30.039 --> 00:42:37.000
and thankfully they're no longer made from
clay. Agnes actually brought this clay dildo

503
00:42:37.119 --> 00:42:42.079
in to show the people in the
kirk session. The church was astounded when

504
00:42:42.159 --> 00:42:46.239
Agnes passed around the clay phallic to
show the court. Agnes claimed the shame

505
00:42:46.320 --> 00:42:52.159
of the injury done to her prevented
her from reporting these acts to the proper

506
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:58.320
authority sooner. The church court felt
that Maud was being sinful, trying to

507
00:42:58.400 --> 00:43:04.559
counterfeit a man by reps illocating his
genitalia for a woman's pleasure. This had

508
00:43:04.599 --> 00:43:09.000
to be witchcraft, damn it.
You all know that means ninety nine point

509
00:43:09.079 --> 00:43:15.159
nine percent of all women today practice
witchcraft. Agnes went on to tell the

510
00:43:15.239 --> 00:43:21.239
court Maud not only raped her,
but other servants as well, including servants

511
00:43:21.280 --> 00:43:25.920
that worked for her neighbors. For
the church, witchcraft was much easier to

512
00:43:25.960 --> 00:43:31.440
cope with than lesbianism, they dropped
the allegations of rape that Agnes brought forth,

513
00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:37.519
and they decided to do their own
investigation into Maud being a witch.

514
00:43:37.719 --> 00:43:43.679
Now, the end of Maud's story
is very surprising and anti climatic. I'm

515
00:43:43.719 --> 00:43:49.719
afraid I fully expected her to be
staked and let on fire for her supposed

516
00:43:49.840 --> 00:43:54.840
sins, but it seems the church
court dismissed her case. Maud lived to

517
00:43:54.920 --> 00:44:00.599
be a ripe old age of fifty
in Scotland. I know that doesn't seem

518
00:44:00.760 --> 00:44:06.599
very old, but given it was
the sixteen hundreds and back then the average

519
00:44:06.679 --> 00:44:12.920
lifespan was only thirty five years old, fifty was ancient. I hope you're

520
00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:16.920
all enjoying dark Cast Network's Wicked Week. This has been CJ from Beyond the

521
00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:22.679
Rainbow, true crimes of the LGBTQ, plus reporting from my Sea Breeze studio

522
00:44:22.840 --> 00:44:30.440
stables. And remember it's not a
crime to be gay unless you're a murderer.

523
00:44:32.760 --> 00:44:37.159
Thank you for listening to this episode
of dark Cast Network's Wicked Week.

524
00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:44.880
We hope you enjoyed dark Cast Network's
witchy episode. Remember life's a witch and

525
00:44:44.960 --> 00:44:50.639
then you fly. We'll be back
tomorrow with another great episode. This has

526
00:44:50.760 --> 00:44:55.760
been your host, Jasmine of hands
off my podcast. And remember the magic

527
00:44:55.840 --> 00:45:00.360
within us is always greater than the
magic around Ess