WEBVTT - Agnes Sampson and the Plot to Assassinate the King 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:06.400 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:15.840 partnership with I Heart Radio. In the King James Version 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.239 of the Christian Bible, which is a translation commissioned and 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.400 sponsored by King James, the first for the Church of England, 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:27.000 there is a passage in Exodus eighteen that reads, thou 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.840 shalt not suffer a witch to live. And as we'll 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.479 see while we tell the story of Agnes Sampson and 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:37.640 the North Berwick which is that James pretty much followed 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:42.320 that rule. Welcome to Criminalia, I'm Maria tram Marquis and 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:48.960 I'm Holly fry To. Witchcraft trials in north Berwick, Scotland 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.400 were touched off by the confession and testimony of an 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.760 accused witch named Galus Duncan. You might recognize that name 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:01.880 from Diana Gabaldon's fictional Outlander novels and TV series. In 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:05.720 real life, though, Gallas was a healer from Trent, Scotland 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.880 who was employed as domestic help for a man named 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:13.160 David Seaton. Seaton was the local bailiff and played a 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.319 major role in what was likely the beginning of the 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:21.520 Scottish witch trials. Seton observed a few things about Gailis 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.040 during her time in his employment. She had no schooling, 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:29.080 so how was she so well educated in the healing arts, 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.080 he wondered. He also noted that he was aware Gayless 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.600 sometimes sneaked away at night, and her whereabouts were unknown. 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.800 Seaton had grown quite suspicious of her, as we can tell, 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:45.240 and in accused her of practicing witchcraft. She was interrogated 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.680 by Seton and, according to reports quote with the help 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.120 of others, to torment her with the tortures of the 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.680 thumbscrews upon her fingers, which is a grievous torture, and 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:58.800 binding and twisting her head with cord of rope, which 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.480 is a most cruel to were meant also yet she 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:05.800 should not confess anything. Whereupon they suspecting that she had 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.880 been marked by the devil, as commonly which is are, 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.280 they searched and found the devil's marked to be on 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.000 the fore part of her throat. After this was found, 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.600 she confessed that all her doings was done by the 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.680 wicked allurements and enticements of the devil, and that she 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:27.200 did them by witchcraft. Thanks to all of that torture, 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.639 Gallis admitted her guilt, and initially she seemed to be 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.720 confessing to a meeting between Scottish witches and a witch 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:39.520 from Copenhagen, but she did then go on to confess 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.440 that she went to meetings with other witches. She also 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.600 divulged that those meetings were held at the kirk of 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:50.560 North Berwick with the Devil in their company. As her 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.480 interrogation continued, Gallis confessed the purpose of the meeting was 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.240 actually to plot how to assassinate the king, as they 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.919 were instructed to do by the Devil. She named many 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:06.239 many others during the interrogation, including two fairly distinguished people 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.960 in the community, a suspected sorcerer who was actually a 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.400 teacher named John Fion, as well as midwife and local 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:18.480 cunning woman Agnes Sampson. In fact, according to the pamphlet 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.200 that covered these events, which was called News from Scotland 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:27.359 under Torture, Galis named numerous individuals, both women and men, 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.800 including we quote Agnes Sampson, the eldest witch of them all, 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:37.560 dwelling in Haddington's, Agnes Thompson of Edinburgh, Dr Phiam alias 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:41.080 John Cunningham, master of the school at Saltpans and Lothian, 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.600 of whose life and strange acts you shall hear more 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.960 largely in the end of this discourse. These were by 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:53.440 the said Galis Duncan accused, as also George Mott's wife 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:59.080 dwelling in Lothian, Robert Grierson Skipper, and Janet Blandolin's with 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:03.120 the Potter's Life of Seaton, the smith at the brig Hollis, 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:07.240 with innumerable others in those parts and dwelling in those 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:12.120 bounds aforesaid, of whom some are already executed, the rest 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.680 remained in prison to receive the doom of judgment at 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:20.960 the King's Majesty's will and pleasure. Setons, suspicions and gallis 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:24.680 is torture driven confessions are considered to be what ignited 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:29.160 the North Berwick witch trials. We've named several accused individuals, 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.480 but there are many others whose names we just don't know. 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:37.640 According to Scottish academic and historian Christopher Smout, between three 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.200 thousand and four thousand persons accused of witchcraft may have 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:45.159 been killed in Scotland in the years to seventeen o seven, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:50.039 and although the information is not on record, experts generally 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.400 except that many of the accused actually died from the 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:58.320 injuries that were inflicted upon them during their torture. With 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:00.599 that solemn note, we are going to take a break 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.360 for a word from our sponsor, and when we return 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.240 we will talk about how authorities got confessions of witchcraft 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:20.520 from their detainees. Welcome back to Criminalia. Many of the 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:24.160 instruments of torture that were used during these witch trials 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.320 were extreme. We're now going to be talking about one 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:33.279 called the witches Bridal. Being tried and executed as a 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.760 witch in early modern Scotland often began with nothing more 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.279 than a slight or just an insult between a person 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:44.839 and their neighbor or someone in their community. Because their 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:48.279 records survived, we know as fact that four named people, 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:54.520 John phi Am, Agnes Sampson, Barbara Napier and Euphemy Mataelsian 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:59.159 were indicted for practicing witchcraft. Agnes and John were both 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:03.360 tried quickly. It's estimated that their trials probably took just 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.600 a single day each. Let's talk about these trials for 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.640 a moment. Before the suspects were imprisoned, they would have 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:14.400 been interrogated and their depositions would have been taken. The 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.320 accused and accuser were allowed to confront each other before 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.039 the trial began, and that sort of face to face 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:25.760 confrontation would often also happened during the trial. Similarly, a 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:30.120 witness could be confronted by other witnesses. While that may 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.159 not sound legit through our modern legal system, this was 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.200 part of the trial process. And when we're talking about interrogation, 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:43.159 that piece could be conducted more than once and accused 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.640 which would have been given the chance to confess before 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.760 being interrogated. But many of these confessions, though, happened under 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.680 extreme torture. It's really hard to know what was real 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.920 and what was the result of that torture. That confession 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.279 made under durest would be record it and used as 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:05.599 evidence against them in their trial. There really weren't any 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:10.240 rules or limitations on what constituted admissible evidence at a 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.360 witchcraft trial. Testimonies full of rumor and speculation, along with 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.920 a person's reputation, were weighed the same as any actual 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.000 factual evidence, maybe even more so if they were salacious. 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:29.120 During Agnes's interrogation, her torturer shaved her head and all 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.280 of her body hair, and then they fastened a device 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:36.400 called a witch's bridle to her head. You may have seen. 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.880 This referenced in other historical sources as a gossips bridle, 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:45.520 a Brank's bridle, or simply branks, whatever name you know 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:49.520 this instrument by. It was very obviously an instrument of torture. 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:52.880 It was made of iron and its framework fit around 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.880 the head of the victim. There was a bridle bit 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.720 that was roughly two inches by one inch that's about 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.000 five centimeters by two w a half centimeters in size, 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:06.080 and there were four sharp metal prongs that would slide 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.720 into the victim's mouth, making it impossible for that person 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:14.040 to talk. Two of these spikes pressed against the tongue 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:18.080 and two others against the cheeks. In this tool had 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:22.160 more than one function. It would obviously silence its wearer, 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.880 and it would also cause extreme pain. There's actually a 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.960 kind of an interesting note about this torture device. This 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:34.640 instrument wasn't just used on accused witches at this time. 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:38.080 It actually was not unheard of her husbands as a 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:41.760 form of public humiliation to muscle wives who they thought 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:47.120 gossiped or nagged too much. Some accounts include an additional humiliation. 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.000 These wives, while wearing a leash with a bell, were 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:55.120 then led around the center of town. The earliest known 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.760 use of this device is in Scotland during the sixteenth century. I. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.079 This was fastened to the wall of her cell by 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.440 a witch's bridle. She was not allowed to sleep, and 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:10.320 she was additionally restricted with a rope tied around her neck. 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.000 And it was after enduring all of this that she 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:18.440 confessed to fifty three indictments against her. According to the 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.840 transcript of her interrogation and torture, the record of which 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:26.400 was dated January, she confessed that the first time she 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:28.960 saw the Devil was after the death of her husband. 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.640 Motivated by poverty and children to feed, she said she 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.280 was taken in by his offers of riches as well 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:39.360 as revenge on any enemies. He would take care of everything, 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.520 she continued. It was then she confessed that she took 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.040 the devil as her master. She admitted she did summon 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.959 the devil to ask if a specific noble woman should 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.800 be allowed to live or die, and she described the 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:54.839 devil as appearing as a black dog in her home. 0:09:55.720 --> 0:10:00.920 The transcript continued with additional confessions. Agnes confessed to making 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.600 a spell to help a woman deal with her difficult 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:07.640 father in law. She made it was described quote a 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.880 picture of wax and raised a spirit at a water 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.880 side beside a briar bush, desiring her to enchant it 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.320 to serve for his destruction and send it to the 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.480 said woman to be put under his bed sheet or BedHead. 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:29.120 Agnes was sentenced to execution by being burned at the stake, 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.960 which was the only punishment for witches. We read that 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:37.720 the cost of Agnes's execution was accounted for as six pounds, 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:42.120 eight shillings and tenpence. Also, I want to note that 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.360 you may have noticed that we've referred to slight differences 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.320 in the date of her execution. The Treasurer's paperwork listed 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.520 the date as January six, for instance, while the transcript 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:55.920 of her interrogation was dated. As we spoke about earlier, 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.120 the trial was really well recorded, but with more than 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:03.120 four years between us and her execution dates, sometimes these 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:07.080 dates aren't exactly perfect. With that in mind, we're going 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.240 to take a quick break and when we come back 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.840 we will talk about how the North Berwick witch trials 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:15.800 were the first major trials of witchcraft under criminal law. 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.360 Welcome back to Criminalia. This is when King James the 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:31.600 sixth of Scotland starts to seriously seek out traders among 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:36.559 his people. King James the sixth of Scotland was paranoid 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:40.160 that he would be assassinated, and that made him paranoid 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.920 of the dark arts and magical spells. In nine James 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.240 and his new bride, Princess Anne of Denmark were unable 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.680 to make their trip from Oslo to their home in 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:54.719 Scotland due to dangerous storms that had developed. Party had 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.960 to turn back, and to the Danes and Ann and 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:03.280 James well, this was clearly the fault of witches. It 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:05.880 might be difficult for some of us to believe that 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.560 the king could have become so convinced that a small 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.480 group of Scottish women were to blame for conjuring the 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.040 storm that got in the way of his travel plants, 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.199 but he did. He ordered those who conspired to assassinate 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.520 him to be executed. The king became convinced that the 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:26.120 devil was his greatest enemy. In just a few years 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.920 after these witch trials came to a close, James published 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.520 a work called Demonology, in which he explored the topics 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.959 of witchcraft and demonic magic. He also always advocated for 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.760 the death penalty to be given to any individual who 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.439 has proven to practice these arts. The North Berwick witch 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.640 Trials were the first major trial of witchcraft that took 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:53.599 place under criminal law. The Act against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts, 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.960 which if you've been with us since earlier in this 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.359 season you have heard us talk about, is an example 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.800 of a high witchcraft sentiment at this time, during the 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.600 reign of Queen Elizabeth the First of England and twenty 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.439 eight years before the North Berwick witch Trials, this document 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:15.320 made witchcraft punishable as a crime. Specifically, the act of 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.480 killing or severely injuring a person with the use of 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:23.640 witchcraft was punishable by death. Lesser practices, such as causing 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:26.480 a mild injury, were to be punished with one year 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.840 in prison and to be determined on a case by 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.760 case basis a number of appearances in the public pillory 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:38.840 for a dose of public humiliation. When King James the 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.320 Sixth of Scotland also became King James the First of England, 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.200 which took place in sixteen o three, a few years 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.360 after Agnes had been put to death, he passed a 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:52.880 new law that made all forms basically ninety nine percent 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:58.840 of all forms of witchcraft punishable by execution. This act 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.880 made it illegal to kill or harm an individual with witchcraft, 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.560 and it also made it illegal to consult with evil 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.760 spirits quote for any intent or purpose. And it was 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.800 also illegal to dig up grapes in order to use 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:18.720 the dead bodies in witchcraft practices. In the Crowns search 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:22.480 for any traitors among its people, James turned his attention 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:25.280 to those who were suspicious, at least according to rumor 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:29.920 or to those who were named in criminal interrogations. A 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:33.840 man named Dr John Fion mentioned earlier, was a respectable 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:37.160 scholar and teacher, and was now accused of being the 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:40.760 leader of an assassination plot against the King. Here's how 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.080 that came to be and how he found himself on 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.400 the King's radar. So to do that, we have to 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:49.479 jump back to Galis and her testimony. Galis Duncan testified 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.520 that it was John who presided over Sabbaths that were 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:56.280 held in North Berwick. There, she testified, the witches danced 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:00.320 about the church always counterclockwise. She detailed before On let 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.600 them inside, and his key was actually really quite something. 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.480 Galis described that he entered the building by blowing into 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.920 the keyhole of the front door. Once inside the church 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.040 and in the company of the devil. The witch Is 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:16.360 planned to kill the King. The devil, as some sources 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:20.000 suggest Galis described him, was disguised as a tall man 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.560 with a rabbit's nose, a hawk speak, a long tail, 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.760 and dressed in a black robe and skull cap. According 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:32.120 to reports and testimony about John's involvement in sorcery, we 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:36.560 quote Fian confessed that by his witchcraft he did be 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.880 which a gentleman dwelling near the salt pens, where the 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.520 said doctor kept school, only for being enamored of a 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:48.120 gentlewoman whom he loved himself. By means of which his sorcery, 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:53.000 witchcraft and devilish practices, he caused the said gentleman that 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.080 once in every twenty four hours he fell into a 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:00.520 lunacy and madness, and so continued one whole hour together, 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.360 And for the verity of the same, he caused the 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.640 gentleman to be brought before the King's Majesty, which was 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.040 upon the twenty third day of December last, and being 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:15.080 in his Majesty's chamber, suddenly he gave a great screech 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:20.000 and fell into madness, sometimes bending himself and sometimes capering 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.400 so directly up that his head did touch the ceiling 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.880 of the chamber, to the great admiration of His Majesty 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:30.040 and others then present, so that all the gentlemen in 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.080 the chamber were not able to hold him until they 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.760 called in more help, who together bound him hand and foot, 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.760 and suffering the said gentleman to lie still until his 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:44.240 fury were past, he within an hour he came again 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:50.160 to himself. John was detained and interrogated. The instruments of 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.400 torture you used on him may have differed slightly among 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:57.560 the accused witches, but the outcome was the same. His 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.080 fingernails were forcibly removed and thumb screws were put in 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.160 their place. This torture was known as the pillar winks 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.600 and used to crush fingers and toes in a vice 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.920 kind of device. John was also forced to wear what 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:15.119 was called the boot, which was a boot shaped instrument 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:19.040 created to squeeze the wearer's feet until their bones shattered. 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:23.200 He did confess under torture, but he also recanted after 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.639 the torture ended, claiming, quote, what he had done and 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.199 said before was only done in said for fear of 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:33.000 pains which he had endured. John was convicted on the 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.800 King's explicit orders and the testimony of one woman that 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.159 being gay less, he was placed in a cart and 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.240 taken to Castle Hill in Edinburgh, where he and his 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.880 fellow North Berwick witches were garretted and then burned alive. 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.399 The accused were arrested and many confessed things like having 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:55.119 packs with the devil, devoting themselves to generally doing evil, 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.720 including poisoning the King and other royals, and attempting to 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:03.760 sink the King's ship. Somewhere between seventy and two hundreds 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:07.560 so called witches were put on trial, tortured and executed 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:11.840 from the town of north Berwick alone, which hysteria and 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:16.600 witchcraft trials continued in Scotland until seventeen thirty five, when 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.200 it became illegal to try a person as a witch 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.840 in both Scotland and in England. Instead of sentences that 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:28.359 included brutal torture and execution, punishment for purporting to have 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.800 the powers of a which that became fines or imprisonment 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:40.080 or both. What a terrible story, UM. I would like 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.119 to follow you into the cauldron and take take, just 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:50.480 do something else. Let this terrible story O UM I 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.640 was in trying to come up with something for this one. 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:59.480 I kind of wanted to develop something that hearkened to 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:06.600 this idea of coercing people to talk, that also had 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.840 a little bit of a bite, and so I came 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.440 up with a drink which I am calling the witches Bridle. 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.520 It is not nearly so painful as a witch is 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.280 Bridle would be, although I'm going to tell you now 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:20.400 this drink is not for everybody, and you'll see why 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:24.520 in a moment. Okay, So, first of all, the primary 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:26.720 version is for coffee drinkers, so if you're not a 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.080 coffee probably out. But I do have an alcoholic but 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.080 non coffee version that's easy enough to do. It will 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.320 start with one ounce of coffee. This is a chill drink, 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.800 so you want cold coffee. Then you're gonna put that 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:45.159 in a cocktail shaker and add an ounce of double 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:50.440 espresso vodka. I like to also throw in like a 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:54.520 dot of brown sugar or a splash of brown sugar 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:58.480 syrup or vanilla syrup. And then the crowning glory for me, 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.359 and this is where I'm going to lose people, an 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:09.120 ounce of yeager. Mister. Now, before you get weird. Let 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:12.600 me just tell you I didn't invent really this combo. 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.440 Mine is a variation on a theme. But yeager Meister 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.680 actually gets used in cocktails in really interesting ways because 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.080 if you only use a little announced it's not that much. 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.160 It kind of offsets other flavors in an interesting way, 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.320 and you actually don't necessarily get the taster association that 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.840 you have probably had if your only experience with Yeagermeister 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:35.840 is doing so many shots in college that you fall down, 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:41.160 which is I think everybody's first assumption, right, I want 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:43.040 to see it grow up, so I'm happy to see 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:45.320 that it's being used here. It's actually like a very 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:48.480 complex liqueur, right. It has a lot of ingredients, has 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:52.159 something like fifty ingredients, and they all will interact with 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:54.679 other things differently. So when you add it to something 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:58.520 that's coffee based, it has a natural sweetness to it, 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.359 but it also just brings out other interesting notes in 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:04.040 the coffee, depending on what kind of coffee you brewed. 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.520 So you just literally shake that guy up, pour it 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:11.000 and I like it just like that, strained into a 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:14.920 cold cocktail glass. But if you want it over rocks, 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:16.440 that's totally fine. You can put it in a rocks 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:18.760 glass with ice. You know, it's not a big drink, 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:21.800 it's only a few ounces. But I like the fact 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:24.680 that you get the energy jolt of coffee which might 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:28.960 make you talkative, and the jagger maister and vodka combo 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:30.919 will slap you around a little bit too and make 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.120 it a little looser to tell your your secrets right 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.600 exactly now. If you don't like coffee, you can do 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.880 this with tea, and it's easiest. Pie Maria is making 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.080 a terrified face at the thought of people not like 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:48.439 a coffee. I know people that don't do coffee, And 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:53.760 for that one, if you want to make it in 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:57.120 an alcoholic version but not a coffee version, you can 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:02.199 instead use black teeth. If you drink that, really any 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:04.960 kind of tea that has this sort of deeper, spicier 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:08.320 flavor rather than like a bright herbal. Just use a 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:11.640 plain vodka instead of that double espresso vodka, and then 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.440 you know your yeager maister goes right in again. Splash 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:16.840 of vanilla syrup will help you out. I really like 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:20.240 a brown sugar idea. Oh I love brown sugar in 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:23.280 a a little coffee because it just it's got a deeper, 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:28.120 more beautiful flavor. The mock tail for this is super simple, 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:31.439 although it does I do a little trick here too. 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:34.760 You'll still use the coffee, but instead of a coffee 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:37.080 flavored vodka, you're just gonna double up the coffee. So 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.760 two ounces of coffee or tea if you're going that route, 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:45.000 three quarters of an ounce of annis syrup and then 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.360 one quarter of an ounce of almond syrup. And that 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:51.760 isn't going to perfectly replicate what Yeager moister tastes like, 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:54.600 but it does bring out some of the key notes 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:57.360 and it makes it really interesting and quite lovely. Actually, 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:00.479 I would make this in a scaled up ounce of right, 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:02.840 I was trying to drink both of these as t 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:09.560 um or an iced coffee. It's super super emmers. That 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.360 is the witch's bridle, which hopefully reclaims that horrible thing 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:17.160 for something slightly more enjoyable that might make you talkative 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:26.000 talk but among your friends, really, right one one hopes so. Uh, 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:29.320 speaking of talkative, thank you for joining us this week 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:31.399 and listening to us talk and talk and talk. It 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:37.000 was a talkie kind of a week here. We will 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.600 be right back here next week with more Criminalia and 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:43.160 more libations, and we hope you join us for all 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:54.800 of that. Criminalia is a production of Shonda land Audio 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:58.200 in partnership with I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 0:23:58.200 --> 0:24:01.200 Shonda land Audio, please visit at the I heart Radio app, 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:04.439 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.