Speaker 1: Please be advised that this episode contains disturbing and graphic
Speaker 1: scenes of torture. Parental discretion is advised. Welcome to Unexplained
Speaker 1: Extra with Me Richard McClane Smith, where for the weeks
Speaker 1: in between episodes we look at stories and ideas that,
Speaker 1: for one reason or other, didn't make it into the
Speaker 1: previous show. In last week's episode, The Devil's Kiss, we
Speaker 1: ventured out into the depths of the Lancashire countryside in
Speaker 1: the northwest of England, to the sprawling country estate of
Speaker 1: Cluworth Hall. During an especially turbulent period of British history.
Speaker 1: It was there that, in fifteen ninety seven, seven individuals
Speaker 1: were said to have become possessed by demonic spirits, with
Speaker 1: the blame for their ailment being firmly placed at the
Speaker 1: feet of a man named Edmund Hartley, a local conjurer
Speaker 1: who was accused of inviting the devil into the bodies
Speaker 1: of the afflicted. Ostensibly, Hartley's crime was the practice of maleficium,
Speaker 1: an act of witchcraft performed with the intention of causing
Speaker 1: damage or injury. However, to the courts and by extension,
Speaker 1: the ruling powers of the time, Hartley's real crime was
Speaker 1: not so much that he'd endangered or harmed anyone, but
Speaker 1: simply that he'd supposedly entered into a covenant with the
Speaker 1: devil in order to do so. This act, argued the court,
Speaker 1: was a deliberate rejection of Christianity and, more specifically, for
Speaker 1: the time, Protestantism, thereby establishing Hartley as a heretic. Notions
Speaker 1: of witchcraft and sorcery had been around for millennia, however,
Speaker 1: it wasn't really until Heinrich Kramer's fourteen eighty six book
Speaker 1: Mallius Maleficarum, meaning in English the Hammer of Witches, that
Speaker 1: a framework was suggested for how its practice pertained to Christianity.
Speaker 1: Though it was rejected by a number of Christian scholars
Speaker 1: at the time, Kramer's book essentially established the idea that
Speaker 1: witchcraft was almost always committed with help from the devil,
Speaker 1: and was therefore an inherently heretical act. This book was
Speaker 1: adopted with great fervor by many European powers and contributed
Speaker 1: hugely to the brutal persecution of perceived witchcraft that would
Speaker 1: sweep the continent over the next three centuries. This persecution
Speaker 1: of supposed witches therefore was very much a political act,
Speaker 1: encouraged as a way to promote Christianity and the authority
Speaker 1: of the Church, which at the time was one of
Speaker 1: the key frameworks in which the ruling powers operated and
Speaker 1: asserted control. To be a witch essentially was to be
Speaker 1: someone operating outside the desired status quo. Despite the overtly
Speaker 1: political connotations of this assault on perceived witchcraft and those
Speaker 1: arbitrarily deemed witches, most of whom were women, for reasons
Speaker 1: we'll get far deeper into on a later episode, I
Speaker 1: should stress that for most Europeans at the time, the
Speaker 1: fear of the power of witches was very much real.
Speaker 1: Such beliefs in illusory threats are never more dangerous than
Speaker 1: when held by individuals who can also wield significant power.
Speaker 1: For the British Isles, there was one individual, more than most,
Speaker 1: whose fear of witchcraft during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Speaker 1: is thought to have almost single handedly contributed to the
Speaker 1: torture and death of thousands of innocent people. And it
Speaker 1: all began one stormy night back in fifteen eighty nine.
Speaker 1: In September fifteen eighty nine, Princess Anne of Denmark departed
Speaker 1: Copenhagen on board a ship bound for Scotland, when soon
Speaker 1: after her vessel was hit by severe and unexpect acted storms.
Speaker 1: Unable to continue, the fleet was forced to take shelter
Speaker 1: on the south coast of Norway, from where the Queen
Speaker 1: and her entourage eventually made their way to Oslow to
Speaker 1: hold up. The princess had recently been married by proxy
Speaker 1: to King James the sixth of Scotland and had been
Speaker 1: due to arrive there that month to formally complete their union.
Speaker 1: Alarmed by news of the princess's troubles, King James promptly
Speaker 1: set sail for Denmark, but was also forced back by
Speaker 1: furious storms. It wasn't until October twenty second, almost a
Speaker 1: month later, that he was finally able to depart, arriving
Speaker 1: in Oslo in mid November. Unsure about risking an immediate
Speaker 1: return journey, the couple decided to complete their marriage in
Speaker 1: Oslow instead, where they remained for a few months before
Speaker 1: attempting the return journey to Scotland in April the following year.
Speaker 1: No sooner had they set sail, however, they were once
Speaker 1: again hammered by a mighty tempest that seemed to rise
Speaker 1: up from nowhere, forcing them back to Norway. Two weeks later,
Speaker 1: they finally made it to Scotland, with Anne, formerly crowned
Speaker 1: in May. The couples soon settled into their new life
Speaker 1: together at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Back in Denmark, however,
Speaker 1: strange things were beginning to stir. After the embarrassment of
Speaker 1: the initial failed trip to Scotland, the Admiral of the fleet,
Speaker 1: Peder Monk, accused the Minister of Finance, Christophe Falkendorff, of
Speaker 1: failing to provide him with the ship suitably equipped for
Speaker 1: the weather. Eager to absolve himself of responsibility, Falkendorff quickly
Speaker 1: set about trying to build a case as to why
Speaker 1: he couldn't possibly be to blame, and soon alighted on
Speaker 1: the perfect explanation. Clearly, he argued, it had all been
Speaker 1: fault of witches with Catholic sympathies desperate to disrupt the
Speaker 1: union between Anne and the Protestant King James. He knew
Speaker 1: this because one of the witches involved had told him.
Speaker 1: In early May fifteen ninety Anna Coldings had been arrested
Speaker 1: for witchcraft and was languishing in a Copenhagen prison awaiting
Speaker 1: her execution, Folkendorf suggested to the Mayor of Copenhagen that
Speaker 1: he quiz her too about any possible involvement with disrupting
Speaker 1: the princess's fleet, and after some not so gentle persuasion,
Speaker 1: Coldings finally admitted to it, saying that she and some
Speaker 1: other women gathered at the home of fellow witch Karen
Speaker 1: Viver were together they cast a spell on Anne and
Speaker 1: James's ships. The spell, she said, had released a series
Speaker 1: of tiny demons from out of barrels on board the vessels,
Speaker 1: who then climbed up the rigging and concocted a storm
Speaker 1: above their very heads. Colding's additional confession did nothing to
Speaker 1: alter her plight, and in July she was burned at
Speaker 1: the stake. In September, two of those she named in
Speaker 1: her confession to Wolkendorf were also burned alive a few
Speaker 1: weeks later. The news arrived in Scotland. In November fifteen ninety,
Speaker 1: David Seaton, the deputy bailiff of Tranant, a town about
Speaker 1: ten miles to the east of Edinburgh, began hearing unusual
Speaker 1: stories about his servant, Gillis Duncan. It was said that
Speaker 1: she often used magical charms to cure friends and family
Speaker 1: if they became sick. After spying on her one night,
Speaker 1: Seton witnessed her taking a late night's stroll alone, which
Speaker 1: she considered deeply suspicious. Convinced she'd been communing with the devil,
Speaker 1: Seaton confronted her about it a few days later, and
Speaker 1: when she denied it, he had her arrested. One morning,
Speaker 1: Duncan was wrenched out of her cell and rigorously stripped,
Speaker 1: whereby a mark was found on the front of her
Speaker 1: throat that Seaton claimed was the mark of the devil.
Speaker 1: Duncan was then placed in a chair and asked again
Speaker 1: if she'd ever communed with Satan. When she once again
Speaker 1: insisted that she hadn't, the tips of her fingers were
Speaker 1: placed one by one into an iron vice and crushed repeatedly,
Speaker 1: but still she would not confess. Then a rope was
Speaker 1: placed around her head and pulled tort with her head,
Speaker 1: then wrenched back and forth in excruciating twists. Duncan finally
Speaker 1: confessed it was all true. She said all her cures
Speaker 1: and workings had been done with the help of the devil.
Speaker 1: Despite her confession, Duncan spent the next three months being
Speaker 1: repeatedly tortured for her apparent crimes, during which time, most
Speaker 1: likely in the hope of a reprieve, she accused eight
Speaker 1: other individuals of practicing witchcraft. Believing he now had a
Speaker 1: witch epidemic on his hands, Deputy Bailiff Seaton had all
Speaker 1: of the accused arrested and thrown in jail with Duncan.
Speaker 1: With King James already alarmed by the stories filtering through
Speaker 1: from Denmark regarding the apparent witch plot to sink his
Speaker 1: and Anne's fleet, when news broke of the arrested witches
Speaker 1: only ten miles from his home, he began to wander
Speaker 1: if they might also be involved. He started by calling
Speaker 1: for Agnes Sampson, the oldest of the accused. Sampson was
Speaker 1: brought to the Royal court and asked directly by James
Speaker 1: if she was a witch. Sampson denied it, however, and
Speaker 1: was promptly thrown back into jail. Soon after all, Sampson's
Speaker 1: body hair was unceremoniously sha, after which the devil's mark
Speaker 1: was said to have been found on her genitals. She
Speaker 1: was then fastened to the wall of her cell by
Speaker 1: a witch's bridle an iron headpiece comprised of four sharp
Speaker 1: prongs that were forced into her mouth, two pressing against
Speaker 1: her cheeks and two against her tongue, then kept awake
Speaker 1: for days on end. After prolonged sessions of head wrenching
Speaker 1: and the thumbscrew, she too eventually confessed and confirmed all
Speaker 1: the others as witches as well, and they had all
Speaker 1: participated in an effort to murder the king. Next, James
Speaker 1: called for Agnes Thompson. Unlike Agnes Sampson and Gillis Duncan,
Speaker 1: Agnes Thompson wasted no time in offering her confession. It
Speaker 1: was back on all hallows for the previous year that
Speaker 1: she and two hundred other witches from all across the
Speaker 1: local area gathered by the ocean at north Berwick, a
Speaker 1: coastal town twenty miles to the east of Edinburgh. There
Speaker 1: the witches had danced and sang all night, drinking gallons
Speaker 1: and gallons of wine, before all flying off together in
Speaker 1: large sieves to the kirk of north Berwick, where the
Speaker 1: devil was waiting for them. As they continued to dance
Speaker 1: and sing, with Gillis Duncan leading the procession playing a
Speaker 1: jew's harp. The devil beckoned them inside, where he then
Speaker 1: lay down over the pulpit with his backside in the air.
Speaker 1: One by one, the witches took it in turns to
Speaker 1: kiss the devil on the buttocks as a sign of devotion,
Speaker 1: as he loudly declared to them all that King James
Speaker 1: the sixth was the greatest enemy he ever had, and
Speaker 1: must be stopped at all costs. On the orders of
Speaker 1: the devil, said, she tried at first to assassinate the
Speaker 1: king with the venom of a black toad, but failed
Speaker 1: in her efforts. Then, having heard who was en route
Speaker 1: from Denmark, she called for her witch companions to join
Speaker 1: her at the port town of Leith, where the King's
Speaker 1: fleet were heading. Taking pieces of a dead man, she
Speaker 1: tied them to a cat and flung them into the
Speaker 1: sea as her compatriots chanted spells into the wind, whereupon
Speaker 1: a violent tempest was cast out across the waters, so
Speaker 1: devastating it even sunk a nearby ship that was carrying
Speaker 1: jewels for the king. Satisfied with her account, the King
Speaker 1: had Thompson thrown back in jail, Intrigued that only one
Speaker 1: man was said to have taken part among the two
Speaker 1: hundred witches. James then called for him to be brought
Speaker 1: to the palace. The man was John Cunningham, a local
Speaker 1: schoolmaster from nearby Preston Pans. When Cunningham refused to confess,
Speaker 1: they called for the boot, an instrument constructed of four
Speaker 1: pieces of wood crudely nailed together, which was then placed
Speaker 1: tightly around his leg. A wedge of wood was then
Speaker 1: placed between the boards and hammered repeatedly, crushing the leg
Speaker 1: inside until Cunningham could not take anymore, and he too confessed, Yes,
Speaker 1: it was all true. He said he had also danced
Speaker 1: and sang with the devil in North Berwick, and was
Speaker 1: even tasked with the responsibility for recording the oaths of
Speaker 1: all the other witches who'd participated that night. Cunningham was
Speaker 1: thrown back in jail, where he renounced his ways, vowing
Speaker 1: to be a good Christian from that day forward. A
Speaker 1: few weeks later, he managed to escape and flee back
Speaker 1: to Preston Pans. His break for freedom was short lived, however,
Speaker 1: and it was a decision he would soon come to regret.
Speaker 1: After being found in Preston Pans and re arrested, Cunningham
Speaker 1: was brought back to the King convinced that he'd used
Speaker 1: his time away to commune with Satan, James asked him
Speaker 1: once more to confess, but Cunningham refused. Very well, said
Speaker 1: the King. After being put back in his cell, Cunningham
Speaker 1: was visited once again by the King's torturers. First, his
Speaker 1: nails were crushed and split apart before being wrenched off
Speaker 1: one by one with pincers, but he would not confess. Next,
Speaker 1: under what was left of each nail, two needles were
Speaker 1: thrust into his fingers up to their heads, but still
Speaker 1: he would not confess, and so once again they called
Speaker 1: for the boot. With the contraption in place and a
Speaker 1: wedge jammed between the boards, the hammer was brought down.
Speaker 1: Cunningham screamed in agony. Then again the hammer came down
Speaker 1: and Cunningham screamed once more, but still he would not confess.
Speaker 1: The wedge was hammered so many times it is written
Speaker 1: that the bones and flesh was so crushed that the
Speaker 1: blood and marrow spouted forth in great abundance, whereby his
Speaker 1: legs were made unserviceable forever. Despite issuing no confession, Cunningham
Speaker 1: was convicted of treason and witchcraft, and in January fifteen
Speaker 1: ninety one, was placed in a cart and strangled as
Speaker 1: required by law for the crime of treason, before being
Speaker 1: thrown onto a fire at Castle Hill in Edinburgh, the
Speaker 1: required punishment for practicing witchcraft. Over a hundred women were
Speaker 1: investigated for their supposed involvement in the apparent plot to
Speaker 1: sink King James's ship, and though it isn't known exactly
Speaker 1: how many were executed as a result, Agnes Sampson was
Speaker 1: burned at the stake, and most likely Gillis Duncan too.
Speaker 1: In fifteen ninety seven, having been utterly convinced of the
Speaker 1: danger of witches at what became known as the North
Speaker 1: Berwick Trials, King James published his now infamous dissertation Demonology.
Speaker 1: In it, the King outlined his understanding of the history
Speaker 1: and practice of witchcraft, as well as his reasons as
Speaker 1: to why the persecution of witches was entirely justified in
Speaker 1: a Christian society. In what many believed to be a
Speaker 1: direct consequence of King James's obsession with witches, over the
Speaker 1: next eighty odd years, a series of witch panics gripped Scotland,
Speaker 1: England and Wales, with as many as three and a
Speaker 1: half thousand, mostly women estimated to have been killed as
Speaker 1: a result. If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to
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Speaker 1: All donations, no matter how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained,
Speaker 1: the book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never
Speaker 1: before been covered on the show, is now available to
Speaker 1: buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
Speaker 1: and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including
Speaker 1: the show's music, are produced by me Richard McClain smith.
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Speaker 1: and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts
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