Podcast Summary: After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

Episode Title: The Deadly Arctic Witch Trials
Original Air Date: January 15, 2026
Host(s): Anthony Delaney (Mattie), Maddy Pelling (Maddie)
Guest: Professor Marian Gibson

Episode Overview

This episode takes listeners deep into the frozen, remote far north of 17th-century Norway, to the island of Vardø, for a chilling exploration of one of Scandinavia's deadliest witch trials. Host historians Maddy and Mattie are joined by Professor Marian Gibson, a specialist in witchcraft history, to investigate how a catastrophic Christmas Eve storm led to the mass blaming, persecution, and execution of women—particularly indigenous Sami—under accusations of weather-witchcraft. The conversation weaves broader discussions of gender, colonialism, skepticism, and cultural encounters, making for an episode that’s as thought-provoking as it is haunting.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Arctic Norway and Christmas Eve, 1617

• Location and Context
  • Takes place in Vardø, far northern Norway, inside the Arctic Circle—"the kind of place where it gets dark all day at certain times of the year and is very light at other times" (Professor Gibson, 02:34).
  • Indigenous Sami people share the land with Danish-Norwegian settlers.
• Trigger Event
  • On Christmas Eve 1617, a sudden, violent storm claims the lives of at least 40 local fishermen, decimating the community both emotionally and economically.
  • "The wind isn't just cold, it's a killer... Every third family is plunged into sudden, hopeless poverty." (Narrator, 00:03)

2. Witchcraft and Cultural Contexts

• Norwegian Witch Beliefs
  • Early 17th-century witch beliefs echoed broader European ideas—"People think of it as a nasty practice that harms your neighbours, a practice which is related to the devil." (Gibson, 04:36)
  • Scandinavia had unique features; witches there were particularly associated with weather magic and were often suspected of drawing magical power from the Sami.
• Colonial Dynamics
  • The region was a frontier for settlers from Denmark and Norway, creating cultural and political tensions with the indigenous Sami.
  • "This is part of colonialism...extending your power as far as you possibly can, even if you have to take power and land from other people." (Gibson, 22:38)

3. The Vardø Witch Trials: Accusations and Confessions

• Scapegoating in the Wake of Disaster
  • Community and magistrates (notably John Cunningham, a Scottish settler connected to earlier witch hunts) search for human targets to blame for the storm.
  • Women—especially a Sami woman, Kari Edisdatter (aka "Kari the Finn")—become focal points of suspicion.
  • "The finger of blame is going to land on local women, and it's also going to land in particular on a Sami woman..." (Gibson, 08:23)
• Torture and Forced Confessions
  • Kari Edisdatter confesses under threat—“As far as we know, she confesses primarily because they threatened to throw her into the sea.” (Gibson, 11:44)
  • Women often confess to elaborate magical crimes, sometimes including transformations into animals or sea creatures—reflecting both indigenous beliefs and Christian projections.
• Broader Patterns
  • Another accused, Kirsten Sørensdatter, a Danish settler woman, is also targeted—showing both marginalized and community-embedded women can become victims.
  • "Really, there's no way for women to be safe in this environment." (Mattie, 16:46)

4. Punishments and Spectacle

• Executions by Burning
  • Many of the accused are executed by being burned at the stake—not just a death sentence, but a public message to the entire region.
  • "They would be tied to a stake and logs would be piled around them... and they would be burned to death." (Gibson, 20:04)
• Landscape and Liminality
  • The Arctic landscape—its harshness, weather, and “magical” features like the northern lights—deepens the atmosphere of fear and otherness.

5. Sami Cosmology and Shamanism in Focus

• Rune Drums and Shamanic Practice
  • Discussion of Sami “rune drums,” used by shamans (noaidi) for divination and trance, painted with intricate cosmological symbols (26:26).
  • These objects were seen as both central to Sami religion and threatening from a Christian outsider's view.
• Targeting of Sami Men and Women
  • Initially, Sami women like Kari are accused, though later Sami shamans (e.g., Anders Paulsen/Olsson) are targeted, sometimes murdered before trial due to deep suspicion and fear.
  • "He's murdered in prison ... it does demonstrate the depth of suspicion, doesn't it?" (Gibson, 32:20–32:42)
• Everyday Interactions vs. Elite Suspicion
  • While the elite viewed Sami practices as diabolical, daily life could be more integrated—“At the everyday level, people just live together, really. They cooperate...” (Gibson, 29:38)

6. Gender, Power, and the Perpetual Search for Scapegoats

• Women as Perennial Suspects
  • Norwegian witch trials, like those elsewhere in Europe, disproportionately targeted women both marginalized and empowered, often regardless of their actual authority.
  • "What’s projected onto both these women is a kind of power." (Gibson, 19:37)
• Broader Lessons: Then and Now
  • Current social scapegoating and "divide and rule" politics are compared to those of the past: "We are in very similar situations ... [even if] it's not directly comparable." (Mattie, 33:43)

7. Scale and Legacy of the Witch Trials

• Numbers and Memorialization
  • Hundreds accused and executed in northern Norway over the 17th century. The Steilneset Memorial now commemorates roughly 120 confirmed victims (34:55).
  • The memorial features individual stories and a symbolic "flaming chair," evoking the fire of the executions.
• Resonances and Remembrance
  • Witch hunting was not an isolated fluke, but a systemic series of persecutions with modern echoes and global counterparts.

8. Skepticism: Was Everyone a Believer?

• Questioning Witchcraft
  • The idea that all early modern people uncritically believed in witches is challenged: "Skepticism is really important, but I think also asking questions about what belief means is really quite important." (Gibson, 37:05)
  • Legal (and social) skepticism slowly grew, eventually leading to the abolition of witch prosecutions in the 18th century.

9. Further Reading & Resources

• Professor Gibson recommends her own book Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials (39:53), and work by Liv Elaine Williamson.
• The episode encourages visiting the Steilneset Memorial virtually or in-person for deeper engagement.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Spark of Violence:
  “It's very easy to blame someone, isn’t it? Particularly if you live in a culture where you tend to blame witches for bad weather.”
  — Professor Marian Gibson [07:51]

• Confession Under Threat:
  “She confesses primarily because they threatened to throw her into the sea. This, of course, you know, being winter, [there is a] very low chance of survival.”
  — Professor Marian Gibson [11:44]

• Power and Persecution:
  “What’s projected onto both of these women is a kind of power... Even if they're none of those things, somebody is going to think, ‘yeah, but they have a secret source of power.’”
  — Professor Marian Gibson [19:37]

• On Burning at the Stake:
  “It’s just this incredibly hideous punishment ... they're taken out onto a headland near the place where they've been imprisoned in a fort and burned to death.”
  — Professor Marian Gibson [20:04]

• Landscape as a Factor:
  “It's really important. It's marginal, it's liminal in all sorts of ways... there were things like the northern lights, which really even to us still seems like a magical thing, doesn't it?”
  — Professor Marian Gibson [21:19]

• Rune Drums and Perception:
  “They're these really powerful artifacts ... tell us a lot about the kind of magical world of the Sami, which to them is a religious world. But to people looking in, of course, looks magical, looks deeply threatening. Looks like it might in fact be witchcraft.”
  — Professor Marian Gibson [28:48]

• Modern Parallels:
  “We always see, well, we're so far removed from this, we're so civilized now. We would never believe in witchcraft... take two steps back. We are in very similar situations. It's not directly comparable, but it's something there.”
  — Mattie [33:43]

• On Skepticism:
  “Belief means is really quite important. You know, if you have empirical evidence of something that is definitely true, you don't need to believe in it. So the element of doubt is always there in belief.”
  — Professor Marian Gibson [37:05]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Topic / Quote | |----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:03 | Introduction to the 1617 storm and devastation in Vardø | | 02:34 | Professor Marian Gibson describes Arctic Norway and Sami presence | | 04:36 | Witchcraft beliefs and weather magic | | 06:25 | Christmas Eve storm and its impact | | 08:23 | Accusations begin; Sami and settler women targeted | | 11:44 | Kari Edisdatter’s coerced confession | | 14:23 | Animal transformation in confessions and Sami shamanic beliefs | | 17:37 | Discussion of empowered vs. marginalized women accused | | 20:04 | The sentence: burning at the stake | | 21:19 | The impact of harsh Arctic geography on the trials | | 22:38 | Witch trials as tools of colonial dominance | | 26:26 | Sami shaman drums explained | | 29:38 | Everyday coexistence and mistrust between settlers and Sami | | 32:20 | Sami shaman Anders Paulsen murdered before trial | | 33:43 | Modern resonances: scapegoating and societal division | | 34:55 | Scale of prosecutions and the Steilneset Memorial | | 37:05 | Skepticism within 17th-century society | | 39:53 | Further reading and resources |

Resources, Recommendations & Further Inquiry

• Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials by Marian Gibson
• Work by Liv Elaine Williamson on Norwegian witchcraft trials
• The Steilneset Memorial (for victims of Vardø and Finnmark witch trials)
• Professor Gibson highlights that witch hunting is not just a thing of the past, and encourages listeners to consider global and modern parallels.

Episode tone:
Atmospheric, intellectual, and reflective, blending documentary precision with empathy for historical victims and nuanced discussion of belief, power, and the dangers of othering. The conversation is engaging, inquisitive, and at times haunting—befitting the "dark corners" focus of the podcast.