The Thing About Witch Hunts

We head inside Roman-walled Exeter, Devon, with University of Southampton historian Mark Stoyle, author of Witchcraft in Exeter, to trace a century of quarter sessions and church-court records showing a steady trickle of cases rather than explosive mass witch hunts. Stoyle explains how Henry VIII made Exeter a county with its own justices, prison, and gallows just before Elizabeth I’s 1563 Witchcraft Act, yet local magistrates often resisted executions, sometimes banishing the accused, and most defendants were acquitted; about 30 people were formally tried, with only four executed. Stories include toad and animal familiars, harmed livestock and failed butter or beer, William Harvey dissecting a “familiar” to amuse Charles I, a boy haunted by a pig in a hat in the last Exeter case, and the Bideford witches (1682) alongside the mystery of “Alice” vs “Avis” Molland in 1685. The hosts also announce August 2026 appearances at History Camp Boston and Connecticut Witch and Culture Fest.Links
Buy The Western Rising of 1549 by Mark Stoyle: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780300276886
Buy Books on English and European Witch Trials: https://bookshop.org/lists/european-witch-hunts
CT Witch and Culture Fest: https://ctwitchfest.com/
History Camp Boston: https://historycamp.org/events/history-camp-boston/hcb-2026/
End Witch Hunts: https://www.endwitchhunts.org
The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com
The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com
Salem Witch Trials History Youtube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts

The Treaty of Watertown: Independence, Alliance, and the Fowle House Council ChamberWe step into an upstairs council chamber above a shoemaker’s house in Watertown, Massachusetts—where, on July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to a crowd that included Mi’kmaq and Maliseet representatives, and where the next day the Treaty of Watertown was signed as the first international treaty negotiated by the new United States. With historian Marilynne Roach of the Historical Society of Watertown, we trace how the Edmund Fowle House became Massachusetts’ wartime seat of government, what restoration work revealed about the L-shaped chamber and its preserved details, and how archival minutes illuminate daily Revolutionary governance. We also follow the treaty’s 1980s revival by Mi’kmaq veterans, the renewed collaboration with the Grand Council of the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet representatives, and plans for Watertown’s July 18 celebration marking the 250th anniversary.00:00 Watertown Treaty Preview01:52 Fowle House Restored05:43 Council Work In Wartime07:50 Who Led The Council09:43 Edmund Fowle Home Life13:09 Declaration Read Aloud15:51 Treaty Negotiations18:40 Forgotten Then Remembered21:12 Planning The 250th23:42 Friendship Still Binding25:00 Symbols Of Liberty26:18 Witch Trials Echoes27:13 Hidden Shoe Magic28:17 Visit And Support29:26 Closing Thanks And EventLinks
The Thing About Salem website
End Witch HuntsThe Thing About Witch HuntsSalem Witch Trials History YouTube

Episode 200: The Long Arc of Witch Hunts—From Connecticut to a Global Crisis
The Thing About Witch Hunts: We mark episode 200 by tracing the full arc of witch hunts from ancient prosecutions to early modern demonology, colonial New England, and today’s escalating global violence. We begin with Connecticut’s executions—starting with Alice Young in 1647—and the 2023 resolution absolving the indicted victims, then widen out through England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Basque country, Sweden, and Salem, emphasizing how courts, texts, and laws shaped prosecutions and how “hysteria” does not accurately describe these bureaucratic trials. We connect historic concepts like the diabolical pact, the sabbath, and “crimen exceptum” to modern accusations, banishment, torture, and killings across at least sixty nations, citing UN-documented violence, Ghana’s Akua Denteh, and contradictory legal responses. We center survivors and the accused as people, invite action, and point listeners to endwitchhunts.org and World Day Against Witch Hunts (August 10).Thank you to the 175 guests who have appeared on the podcast and to all who have viewed or listened to The Thing About Witch Hunts. And we aren't stopping with 200 episodes. Subscribe today and watch the amazing episodes coming up.
End Witch Hunts endwitchhunts.org
About Witch Hunts aboutwitchhunts.com
Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts

00:00 Episode 200 Mission
02:53 Ancient Roots
05:14 Church Turns to Heresy
09:58 Malleus and Sexism
11:36 England Goes Secular
12:23 Pamphlets and Skeptics
18:12 Laws Across Colonies
25:02 Europe Scale and Stress
27:17 England Local Panics
31:02 Scotland Burning Regime
34:50 Wales and Healing Magic
37:25 Ireland Rare Trials
40:11 Basque Hunt Split Courts
43:16 Sweden Blockula to Salem
44:40 Connecticut Before Salem
46:20 Massachusetts and Salem
51:22 After Trials Vigilantes
53:45 Modern Global Crisis
58:59 Law Patchwork Today
01:01:07 Memorials and World Day
01:03:20 What You Can Do
01:05:22 Final Call to Action

What was a witch's familiar, and why did these animal spirits sit at the heart of English witch trials? Returning guest Dr. Holly Bamford joins hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack to explain the witch's familiar, the witch's mark, and the overlooked history of male witches in early modern England. Learn what the familiar meant, how the witch's mark was used as evidence, why the witch-familiar bond mirrored motherhood, and why men accused of witchcraft were not simply feminized. Featuring Agnes Waterhouse and her cat Satan, John Bysack and his six snails, and John Palmer's familiar named Jezebel.
What a witch's familiar was in English witchcraft

Why the familiar mattered so much in witch trials

How the witch's mark was used as evidence

Who was accused of being a male witch

Why men accused of witchcraft were not feminized

How the witch-familiar bond mirrored motherhood

Why Agnes Waterhouse and her cat Satan became a foundational case

What John Palmer's familiar Jezebel reveals about marriage

00:00 Familiars in Trials
01:01 Meet Dr Bamford
02:08 Conference Paper Idea
04:14 What Is a Familiar
07:51 Pamphlets and Audiences
11:47 Counting Trials Limits
15:03 Agnes Waterhouse Case
19:21 Marks and Teats
22:56 Motherhood and Familiars
31:52 Male Witches and Snails
41:49 Humanoid Familiar Jezebel
46:27 Further Reading Wrap
48:53 Modern Meaning Outro
#WitchTrials #Witchcraft #WitchsFamiliar #WitchesMark #MaleWitches #WitchcraftHistory #EarlyModernEngland #Familiars #Folklore #AgnesWaterhouse #HistoryPodcast #WitchHunts #EndWitchHunts
Buy: Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions in Early Modern England by Charlotte-Rose Millar https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780367204549
Buy the book Cunning-Folk and Familiar Spirits by Emma Wilby https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781845190798
Register for the Magic and Witchcraft Conference June 24-25 Online & In Person
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/magic-and-witchcraft-conference-2026-nature-and-the-supernatural-tickets-1989231567166
End Witch Hunts: https://www.endwitchhunts.org
The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com

Metacom’s Resistance, Puritan Mythology, and King Philip’s War with Sarah Stewart (Partnership of Historic Bostons)
We speak with Sarah Stewart, president of the Partnership of Historic Bostons, a public history organization focused on 17th-century New England, to confront Puritan mythology and widen the lens beyond Salem to Indigenous history, enslaved Africans, and displaced peoples. We dig into why King Philip’s War, which is often skipped in schools and told through colonial monuments, Increase Mather, and captivity narratives, was a turning point that devastated Native sovereignty, reshaped New England, and fed the fear that later influenced the Salem witch trials. Sarah breaks down PHB’s “Metacom’s Resistance” series, the need for reframing the war through Indigenous voices, and the realities of enslavement, land commodification, and legal encroachment on sovereignty. 
00:00 Meet Sarah Stewart
00:50 Origins of the Partnership
01:51 Broadening the 17th Century Lens
03:21 Programs and Events
04:58 Puritans Beyond the Myths
06:51 Building Community Feedback
08:06 Why King Philip's War Matters
10:53 How the Story Got Distorted
13:22 Metacom's Resistance Series
17:49 Indigenous Voices Center Stage
20:50 Violence and Witch Trial Fear
23:59 Captivity and Enslavement
25:53 Land Commodification Clash
28:50 Land And Equality
29:31 Amplifying Indigenous Voices
33:08 Powerful Panels And Future Events
37:08 Puritans Fear And Ongoing Wars
39:11 Courts Sovereignty And Punishment
42:23 Thomas Morton And Other Paths
45:29 War Choices And Modern Parallels
46:55 Audience Reflections And Truth
52:01 Keep Learning Stay Connected
Partnership of Historic Bostons
“The Unknown War: King Philip's War, 1675-1678” (video)
“The Past is Now: An Inter-Tribal Panel Discussion of King Philp's War” (video)
“Surviving Slavery: Indigenous Enslavement in King Philip's War” (video)
“Erasure: History, Memory and King Philip's War” (video)
“What Really Happened at Turners Falls?” (video)
“The Long Legacy: The Cost and Consequences of King Philip's War” (video)
“The Slews and Hoars of Beverly: From Witchcraft to Slavery” (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GEspMnY9-o
“The Other: Understanding Witch Hunts, Part I, with Emerson Baker, Sarah Jack, and Josh Hutchinson” (video)
“Resistance: Stopping Witch Hunts, Part II” (video)
Jenny Hale Pulsipher, Subjects unto the Same King: Indians, English, and the Contest for Authority in Colonial New England
Jill Lepore, The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity
Peter C. Mancall, The Trials of Thomas Morton