WEBVTT - Ursula Kemp and the St Osyth Witches 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:06.400 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:15.520 partnership with I Heart Radio. Welcome to the first episode 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.720 of a new season of Criminalia. This season, we're going 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.680 to be talking about sorcery over the centuries and what 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.320 became of many of those who practiced. I'm Maria Tremarqui 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.400 and I'm Holly fry So. This season is going to 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.680 be all about the lives and fates of those accused 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:36.640 of witchcraft and alchemy, and just as in previous seasons, 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.400 we're continuing to try to delve in and look at 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:42.440 what really did happen and if maybe any of these 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.800 historical alleged evildoers in their activities might look a little 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.479 different through our modern perspective. In this episode, we're talking 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.760 about st Osith witches as their common referred who were 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:58.240 convicted of witchcraft in eighty two in England, and among 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.480 those so called witches was a men named Ursula Kemp. 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.280 Before we get into Ursula's life, let's talk about the 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.560 beliefs about witchcraft during the time of the st Osith, 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.480 which is, and what happened in the years leading up 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.880 to these alleged crimes back to the medieval era, Christian 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.640 doctrine denied that witchcraft and which is even existed and 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:24.360 considered the practice kind of just pagan superstition. It was 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.479 in the eleventh century when the idea of witchcraft became 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.560 a problem that needed to be wiped out. It was 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.520 a time when in the Western world, priests, the growing 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:38.720 Christianity movement, and citizens in general began to associate witchcraft 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.200 with things such as heresy and packs with the devil 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.440 to gain supernatural powers. It was also a time when 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.880 penalties for people found guilty for such activities were introduced. 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.000 So we're going to make another jump forward in time. 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:55.920 During the thirteenth century, Pope Gregory authorized that witches and 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:00.800 heretics could be executed. It was after fourteen the eighth though, 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.240 when Pope Innocent the Eighth quote gave the sanction of 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:08.840 the Church to the popular beliefs concerning witches. Basically, what 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.920 that means is that he formally declared the church to 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:16.160 confirm the existence of witchcraft, and in his declaration he 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.840 also pronounced that those guilty of practicing witchcraft should be 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:26.079 quote corrected, imprisoned, punished, and chastised. And that is when 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.720 a frenzy of witch hunting began in Ursula's lifetime. The 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:35.560 passage of the Witchcraft Act of three, which was also 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:40.800 known as an Act against Conjurations, enchantments and witchcrafts under 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.080 Queen Elizabeth the First is the first time indictments for 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:48.160 homicide caused by witchcraft began to appear in the historical record. 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:53.280 We can't overlook the influence of the Malleus Maleficarum, which 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.680 translates into English as the Hammer of Witches. It is 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.480 likely that we are going to reference this book throughout 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.080 the season. It was written by Johann Springer, dean of 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:08.160 the University of Cologne in Germany, and Imrich Kramer, professor 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.960 of theology at the University of Salzburg, Austria, and it 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:16.280 was referred to as a reference document for roughly three centuries. 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.720 Pope Innocent the Eighth issued what was then known as 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.200 the Witch Bowl. It was printed under the title the 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:27.360 Preface to the Malius Maleficarum in fourteen six, and it 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:31.480 was regarded as the go to handbook for recognizing, detaining 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:36.480 and interrogating witches. It was a legal and theological document 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:40.280 that continued to be used far into the eighteenth century. 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.400 This was kind of the ultimate witch hunting manual, and 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:48.240 it gave permission for anyone to do anything to stop them. 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.080 And in it there is a lot written about women 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.640 in general, but specifically those who were midwives and the 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.760 kinds of activities a midwife may practice. This will be 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:04.800 later on. I'm not just talking about it because midwives, 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.080 claimed at the book had the opportunity and carried out 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:14.360 terrible crimes, and especially common accusation was infanticide. It tells 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.920 of stories of the murder of newborns as well as 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:21.320 the unborn. It included examples of women's stealing and torturing 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:25.880 unbaptized children to use in spells. Children who were killed 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:29.159 in such manners were believed to be offered to the devil. 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.680 For centuries, according to the historical record, it was midwives 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.599 who were most often prosecuted for witchcraft. Often in the 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:43.320 historical record, midwives were written of as quote unwomanly and 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.400 of course not assuming all sixteenth century midwives are alike. 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:52.320 Many were considered suspicious for such things as being unmarried 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.760 or for their sexual behavior. Like we were talking about earlier, 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.359 that is going to be an ongoing theme this season. 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.280 The way is that witchcraft and midwiffery did indeed overlap. 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.960 Now we have her time and place and situations, so 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:13.119 finally let's start talking about Ursula account personally. Was born 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:17.919 in or around five in st Osip, which is a 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.680 small village in England. But here's why we brought up 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:26.760 midwiffery earlier. Ursula was a midwife and possibly also an 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.599 herbalist and an apothecary. In addition to assisting birth, she 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.039 was frequently called upon by those in town to heal 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.840 people who had become ill. But certain events and accusations 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.240 among fellow villagers caused many to begin to suspect that 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.400 Ursula may be able to heal a person, but may 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.880 also be able to injure them. We are going to 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.160 take a break here for a word from our sponsor, 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.239 and when we're back we will talk about the accusations 0:05:51.279 --> 0:06:03.359 against Ursula. Welcome back to Criminalia. So was she a 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.240 witch or just a victim of hysteria? Let's take a 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:12.760 look at Ursula's trial. Ursula's story really does tell itself 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:16.240 best through that trial. The charges brought against her had 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:21.160 quite arranged, including everything from preventing beer from brewing to 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:25.120 causing death through the use of sorcery. I found guilty. 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:29.159 She was going to be punished by execution. After she 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:33.000 was accused, arrested and charged, Ursula was put in what 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:37.719 the villagers called the cage. The cage was actually a 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:42.480 two bedroom cottage which today real estate agencies have described 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:47.200 as quote the most haunted house in Essex and possibly 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:51.760 England in two When Ursula was there, it was a 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.240 medieval prison, and Ursula and a dozen other women were 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:59.000 jailed there while awaiting trial. This is when the group 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.520 became known as the st Osith Witches. A related bit 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.480 of digression, but we found some interesting modern information about 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:12.560 the cage during our discovery phase. Modern owners have described 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:17.520 this building as being alive and of having quote relentless 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:22.160 paranormal activity. According to the UK real estate site right 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.800 Move though rest easy quote, the house has now been 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.080 cleared of the many evil residents encountered over the years. 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.560 A vision of a satanic looking goat, growling, moving shadows, 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:38.120 violent rattles, drops in temperature, and visions of ghostly figures, 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:43.520 quite often trying to push the living down the steep staircase. Okay, 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.200 so let's get out of the cage and back to 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:51.680 the witch trial. The Seat witch trial was overseen by 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.920 the magistrate Brian Darcy. Let's start with one of Ursula's 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.960 foremost accusers in this trial, a woman named Grace Thurlow, 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:04.520 who was also from St. Bosa. Grace testified that when 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.520 her son Davey fell ill, she called on Ursula for help. 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.640 Davy recovered, and Grace believed that it was because of Ursula, 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:17.400 who she also believed had cured him through her incantations. 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:19.720 But just a few months later, the two women had 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.040 an argument over how to care for Grace's infant daughter, Joan. 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.320 Some stories report that the two fought when Grace refused 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:31.520 to allow Ursula to be the infant's nurse. Soon thereafter, 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.920 Joan fell from her cradle and she tragically died of 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:39.440 a broken neck. Grace wasn't finished with her testimony, though. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.680 There's more. Grace developed a problem with her legs and 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.760 had trouble walking. When she asked for Ursula's help, Kemp 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:52.360 agreed to offer her services but for twelve pence. Grace agreed, 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:54.920 and she did get better, but when she did, she 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.560 refused to pay Ursula, complaining she couldn't afford the cost. Again, 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.840 the women argued, but this time Ursula threatened she'd get even. 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.800 When Grace began to walk with difficulty a second time, 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.319 she believed it was because of a spell Ursula had 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:15.480 cast upon her. It was then that Grace, she continued 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.200 in her testimony, filed the complaint with the magistrate, and 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:23.960 an investigation into Ursula followed. That complaint made Ursula a 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:28.559 prime target for the village's witch hunter, Brian Darcy, who, 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:32.120 as we just mentioned, was also the local magistrate. He 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.120 was her justice at her trial, so adding it all up, 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:40.199 Grace Thurlow testified that since she and Ursula had argued, 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.960 one her son had become ill, two she had become lame, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:48.080 and three her infant daughter had died. But there was 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:53.600 more testimony against Ursula. Another villager, Alice Leatherdale, testified that 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:58.319 Ursula had asked her for some abrasive cleaner or scouring sand, 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:02.360 as it would have been known, but Alice refused, continuing 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.040 that she considered Ursula to be quote a naughty beast. 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:11.920 But her testimony continued beyond that inability to share household cleaners. 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.800 At a later date, she said Alice's daughter Elizabeth fell 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:20.640 ill and died after Ursula had allegedly quote murmured in 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:26.439 her direction. Alice blamed Ursula for specifically bewitching her daughter 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:31.480 to death. Perhaps the most incriminating testimony came from Ursula's 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.880 own eight year old son, Thomas Rabbit. Thomas wasn't expected 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:39.199 to take the stand, but during the trial, Darcy persuaded 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.559 or I actually prefer the word coerced because it's probably 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.160 more accurate. He persuaded him to testify that his mother 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:52.280 practiced witchcraft, and Thomas agreed. He testified that she kept 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:57.000 four familiars in their home. Familiar in Western witchery would 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:00.360 be a small animal, often said to be an or 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.160 a black cat, or maybe a toad, which would have 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.680 been given to her by the devil or possibly also 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:12.040 another witch. Thomas described Ursula's familiars as a gray cat 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:16.800 named Tiffin, a white lamb named Tidy, a black toad 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.480 named Pygiene, and a black cat named Jack. His testimony 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.280 continued that he had seen his mother feed her familiars 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.760 and that they enjoyed beer and cake. Well, who doesn't 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.520 h he had also seen his mother feed them her blood. 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:37.560 Thomas confirmed that Tidy the lamb had indeed been sent 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.040 to kill the infant Joan Thurlough, and that Jack the 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.760 cat had been sent to kill his aunt. A note 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.760 about this aunt, though she is not mentioned much at 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.200 all in historical writings about Ursula, and we can't even 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.120 be sure if she did or didn't exist. Alma's also 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:57.560 testified that he had been present when a woman named 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.200 Alice Newman had visited his mother. He said Ursula had 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:05.400 given Alice a container that he believed was holding familiars, 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.840 although he never did actually see its contents. He continued 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:12.600 that the next time Alice visited his mother, she told 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.560 Ursula she had used it to kill a neighboring man 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.400 and his wife. Alice Newman was also one of the 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:24.320 women on trial for witchcraft here, Perhaps ironically, because we 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:28.920 know they were so often accused of practicing witchcraft, midwives 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.720 were often brought in to discover any evidence that a 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.240 woman was a witch. This was a practice that was 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:39.320 called searching. Searching could find many clues. A mole or 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.720 a birthmark, for instance, would be considered proof of a 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.400 demonic pact made with the devil. There is no record 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:50.280 that Ursula's body had any such signs that indicated her guilt, 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:56.000 but here perhaps is the most interesting part of her trial. 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:00.320 Witch Hunter and magistrate Darcy claimed Ursula had made a 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:06.400 full confession to him and in private maybe he promised leniency, 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.920 but maybe not. Maybe there was torture. We don't know. 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.360 There is no record of what happened to Ursula in 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:17.199 this private meeting. He claimed she told him that about 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.760 ten years prior, she had experienced a quote lameness in 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:25.040 her bones and had visited a local cunning woman. If 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.240 you were a cunning woman or a cunning man, you 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.760 were considered a folk healer who often practiced not only 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:35.840 folk medicine, but also folk magic and divination. There, Ursula 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.679 was told she had been bewitched, and she was prescribed 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:44.240 a ritually using ingredients that included pig manure, charnel grounds 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.040 from the remains of a dead body, sage, and St. 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:52.720 John's wort to quote unwitched herself. She recovered, and that 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.640 she had explained led her to providing healing services to others. 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.960 Darcy also claimed that Ursula admitted to keeping the four 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.960 familiars her son had testified about. He said that she 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.240 told him that two of them were male and they 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.200 were used to kill people, and two were female, and 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:14.520 they were used to bring about disease. She allegedly confessed 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.800 that she sent her familiars to cause Grace Thurlow's condition, 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.120 and that she had also used them to kill Joan Thurlow, 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:26.120 Elizabeth Leatherdale, and her maybe not on the record, sister 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:31.040 in law. In this alleged private conversation with Darcy personally 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.280 named the names of other witches, and they in turn 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:39.880 named more. In total, fourteen women the st Asath Witches 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.720 were tried for witchcraft. The accused women who stood trial 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:49.480 were Agnes Glasscock, Alice Hunt, Alice Manfield, Alice Newman, Anice 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:56.640 Heard and Swallow, Cecily Selah's, Elizabeth Bennett, Elizabeth Eustace, Joan Pesci, 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:04.160 Joan Turner, Marjorie Salmon, Margaret Greville, and Ursula Kemp. We're 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.480 going to take a break for a word from our sponsor. 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.840 When we come back, we're going to talk about the 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:22.480 outcome of this trial. Welcome back to CRIMINALLYA. Okay, let's 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:26.120 wrap up the trial and then talk about Ursula's future. 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:31.120 When the trial ended, Ursula was sentenced to death by hanging, 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.440 as was Elizabeth Bennett, who had confessed to having two 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:38.080 familiars and was found guilty of murdering four people through 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:42.920 witch craft. Ursula Kemp and Elizabeth Bennett, according to resources 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.760 at the st Asat Museum, were executed, but the fate 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.400 of the other twelve women really is not known. Some 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.760 are reported to have also been hanged. Some, it's suspected, 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.320 may have died in prison before their execution was carried out, 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.480 and others might have seeved a mixture of acquittals, discharges, 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:07.720 or reprieves. But her execution was actually not the end 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.200 of Ursula's life. She still lives on, or at least 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.600 kind of. Four centuries later, in nine a man named 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.720 Charlie Brooker unearthed the skeleton while digging in his yard, 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.440 a skeleton that his grandson Paul would later describe as 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:27.080 having quote a very long spine, pure white teeth, and 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:32.600 nails through the elbows and knees. Broker believed his discovery 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.840 was the skeleton of Ursula Kemp, but at the time 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:40.280 no scientific testing of the skeleton was conducted, and continued 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.760 Paul quote, there was a skull beneath Ursula's feet, and 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:47.720 to the right there was another skeleton. That second skeleton 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:52.640 was considered to be possibly Elizabeth Bennett. First, Charlie put 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.920 the skeleton on display, including added intrigue by adding those 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.600 iron nails to the body. They were he claimed, used 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.320 to shackle ursula. Later, his grandson would share that Charlie 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:09.160 was known to embellish things. When Charlie's house burned down 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.639 in either ninety two or nineteen thirty three, the grave 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.840 was covered up again, and this time with corrugated iron. 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.280 But in nineteen sixty three the remains were once again exhumed. 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.639 The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Cornwall, England, bought 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.560 the bones and then they were sold to the artist 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.600 and book collector Robert Lincoln, which Robert kept the skeleton 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:36.040 on display in his library. According to the Evening Harold 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.720 we Quote, the skeleton was lying inside a coffin which 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.160 was lined with blue material. The skeleton was laid out 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:45.800 in the coffin with nails laid beside it at the 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.919 appropriate points. It was at the far end of the 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.440 library on the first floor, where an index er would work. 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.600 There was nothing special about it. It was just dried 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.480 out old bones. When Robert died in two thou and two, 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:01.919 the skeleton and was released by the trustees of his 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:06.120 estate to a man named John Warlen. It's John who 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.800 was a filmmaker who discovered the truth about these remains 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:14.159 is he unraveled Ursula's story for a documentary. The skeleton 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.800 belonged to a young man, not to an adult woman, 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.880 and the remains were reburied in two thousand and twelve. 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:26.680 So there's our future of Ursula, who is actually not 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:36.560 the future of Ursula, Okay, Maria. That means it is 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.600 time for my favorite part always, because of course we're 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.840 once again going to have cocktails and mocktails this season, 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.879 and this time around we are calling our little our 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.520 little corner of the world where that happens, the cauldron. 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:53.160 Appropriate what I have bubbling in the cauldron, I actually 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:57.000 almost called it unwitch yourself, because I just thought that 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.919 was funny. But what I'm actually calling it is the cage. 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:07.520 You're making us a possessed drink. It sounds unpleasant, but 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:12.200 I find it delicious. It will trap you with deliciousness, 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:16.119 but it is otherwise harmless. However, I have a confession 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.399 to make up front. One of the spirits in this 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:24.000 concoction is kind of expensive, so I try not to 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.199 do that and I won't do it often, but in 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:31.119 this case I wanted to do something that kind of 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:36.080 linked it thematically with these concepts of both midwiffery, which 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:40.800 involved some you know, medicinal administration, and witchcraft, which also, 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.360 you know, kind of sometimes invokes the use of herbs, 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.760 and do something that was a little herbaceous. That meant 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:52.720 that I used chartreuse. If you don't know about chartreuse, boy, 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.800 are you in for a drink. It is a liqueur 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:03.320 that is said to contain a hundred and thirty different 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:11.000 herbal components. This is made by Kentusian monks according to 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:15.480 a recipe that they were given in six five, still 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.280 made the same way today, although they didn't actually start 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.600 making it until the seventeen thirties. It's one of those 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.720 things that there are very few people who know how 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:26.720 it's made. There's not a ton of it made. That's 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.320 why it's expensive. If you're like me, look out, because 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.320 you're going to really love it and then you're gonna 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.800 have a taste for an expensive liqueur. So this is 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.200 the cage. It is one ounce of vodka. I actually 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:41.760 used a potato vodka here and that was super smooth 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.919 and perfect one ounce of green chartreuse, because you can 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.399 also get a yellow version that's a little bit sweeter 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:50.560 and lighter, but go with the green here because it 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:55.240 has that heavier herbaceous flavor. One ounce of black tea 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:58.800 brewed however it is you like to do it, and 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:03.240 then one how to three ounces of vanilla syrup, depending 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.160 on how much sweetness you like, and you're gonna shake 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.359 this all together and pour it into a chilled Again, 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:14.240 it's always a chilled coupe with me. I'm very predictable. Um, 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:18.640 it's herbal and it's complex, and one of the beautiful 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:22.240 things about Chartrue's is that on your palette it kind 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:24.919 of does a little flavor shift naturally, where it starts 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.960 out with that very herbaceous kick and then different people 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:31.199 perceive it differently. But for me, it has like a 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:36.600 little um, spicy, almost smoky, earthy flavor at the finish, 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:38.679 and so you get that with all these other things, 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.520 because neither the vodka nor the black tea really mess 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:43.800 with that much. They just kind of rounded out and 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:51.160 give it some more volume. It's absolutely delicious. It's herbal 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:55.160 and complex, and that seemed for the start of our 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:57.760 season on witchcraft and alchemy, like the best way to go. 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:00.600 So that is the cage. If you want to do 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:06.080 mocktail version with no alcohol, it's a little tricky to approximate, 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:08.960 but here's what I would do. I did this myself 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:11.320 and I enjoyed it. It didn't taste quite the same, 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:13.520 but it was still yummy. I just subbed it out, 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:15.800 since it's a basic one to three of one ounce 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:18.919 of each of the components. I did one ounce of 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:22.359 black tea, and then I used two different herbal teas 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.520 in lieu of the vodka and the chartreuse, and that 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:27.800 way you're getting a few more notes. And I think 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:31.280 you can use any herbal tea you want to try. 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:34.040 I did one that was a liquorice and one that 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:36.280 was an orange and put all those together and that 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:40.159 was pretty interesting. Favors great together. The vanilla set it 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:44.120 off really nicely, so that's super yummy. You can do 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:47.479 that again. I chill it so you'll you'll brew your 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:49.719 teas and then let them cool off and then it 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.440 makes more work, but you get all those different flavors 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:54.520 coming together and having a party and it's quite lovely. 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:58.080 So that is the cage, which again hopefully only traps 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:00.359 you in deliciousness. Did I go looking to see if 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:03.720 the cage was available for purchase, Yes, of course it's not. 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:05.960 It was on the market for like eight years, but 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:08.440 then somebody bought it and it wasn't me. It looked 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:10.040 to me like it had been on the market for 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:13.040 quite a while after a woman sold it because she 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:17.200 claimed that blood seeped through the wall for no reason. Yeah, 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:19.800 you know, I mean there's a reason why she wants 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:22.199 to leave. I understand. I actually think there is a 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:25.880 reason for that, being a person whose home is currently 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:30.040 getting some updates because it is nowhere near that old, 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:33.280 but has some issues just from being a house in 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:36.760 the world. I think there's probably some mineral or something 0:23:36.800 --> 0:23:41.080 that's trapped in the walls, or even like, um, you know, 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.720 something that grows like a mildewy thing. I think that's 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:47.399 probably what's a foot. Yeah. I can't be scared by 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:49.679 the cage. I looked at it and tried to buy it. 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:51.080 I didn't really try to buy it. I don't have 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:52.960 that kind of money to throw around, but I thought 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:57.840 about it. We hope that you have enjoyed this first 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:00.760 foray into which is an alchemy. There is so much 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.480 more to come, and we will be right back here 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:15.240 next week with it on Criminalia. Criminalia is a production 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:18.000 of Shonda land Audio in partnership with I Heart Radio. 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:21.720 For more podcasts from Shonda land Audio, please visit the 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:24.920 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:26.000 to your favorite shows.