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This episode is brought to you by pbs, home of Ken Burns. Ken Burns films aren't just documentaries, they're national events. And his latest, the American Revolution, is the one you've been waiting for. When you think American Revolution, you probably picture tea crates in Boston harbor, founders signing in Philadelphia, redcoats marching into battle. But Ken Burns, along with Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, take us so much deeper. It was a revolution that was bloody, complicated and unbelievably consequential. A story of people, some you know and many you don't, who risked everything to change the course of history. Their fight for independence lit a spark for freedom that still burns today. George Washington called it the cause of mankind, and John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, posterity, you will never know what it costs us to preserve your freedom with the American Revolution. Ken Burns and his team bring us a story that's vast, human and deeply relevant. A story that belongs to all of us. Stream the American Revolution on the PBS app. I can't wait to watch.

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Colombia has a hippo problem. The hippopotamus, of course, isn't native to South America. They're actually from Africa. But these 4,000 pound masses of pure muscle have hopped across the Atlantic to terrorize an entirely new continent, taking the crown as the heaviest invasive species in history. And you might be wondering how well you can thank drug trafficker Pablo Escobar for that. You see, he had a private zoo on the grounds of his estate. It was a full on menagerie, complete with elephants, giraffes, ostriches, and of course, hippos. After Escobar died in 1993, the government took control of his residence. But nobody really knew how to tackle the hippopotamus problem. It wasn't necessarily impossible to move them, it was just dangerous and expensive. And so the hippos were allowed to stay until, of course, they escaped the confines of the estate. So, yes, there are hippos in Colombia. Australia has camels. There's even a bunch of feral parakeets in New York City. Basically, whatever your expectations are of a particular location, there are always exceptions to those assumptions. Which is why if you were to travel across the border from the U.S. into Canada, you would be limiting yourself. If you expect only maple syrup, hockey games and very polite and considerate people, yes, those things are all true. But looking through the pages of history, Canada has also had its fair share of something few people might expect. Terrifying tales of witches. I'm Aaron Manke and this is Lore. Legends. The story begins the way all good stories stories do. With a murder. On the morning of January 27th of 1763, a 24 year old named Louis Etienne Daudier was found dead. Despite being a small frontier town with a limited population, Saint Valier in Quebec was perfectly familiar with sudden deaths. 18th century Canada was as dangerous as any other untamed wilderness. And the mortality rate amongst its earliest European settlers prove that. In Dodier's case, it was a cut and dried horse trampoline. He had been discovered in a horse stable with blunt force trauma to the head and cuts all over his body. It was pretty easy to put two and two together. Dodier was buried the very next day in the local parish churchyard. And then most of the town moved on with their lives. But some people just couldn't let it go. And so they spread rumors that Dodier had actually been murdered by his own family. You see, in such a tiny town, most secrets weren't actually all that secret. And when it came to Dodier, it was a very open secret that he had a difficult relationship with his in laws. Dodier and his father in law, Joseph Corriveau, had been known to argue over money. After his son in law died, Corriveau told everyone that he believed the death was accidental. But considering the two men's contentious history, the nobody really believed the guy. In fact, the local commanding British officer, a guy named Major James Abercrombie, wasn't just unconvinced by this explanation, he was deeply suspicious of it. So following his instincts, Major Abercrombie ordered that Dodier's body be exhumed and re examined. The new autopsy revealed that in fact none of his wounds were caused by horse hooves. Instead, it looked like he'd been beaten by a sharp object. And of course, everyone knew immediately who had done it. Only one month after his death, Dodier's father in law, Joseph Corrivo was arrested for his murder. And Dodier's wife Marie Josepht was arrested as an accomplice to the crime. Now, I know that I just threw a new name at you, but Marie Josepht wasn't new to Major Abercrombie. He had been keeping an eye on her for a while. In fact, based on what he knew, it made perfect sense so that she might have been involved. You see, Dodier and Marie Joseph, to put it mildly, had a rocky marriage. Only a month before he died, his wife had petitioned the local authorities for a divorce. She said that her husband had been physically abusing her and she no longer felt safe. But her request was denied and she was ordered to return home to Dodier. And the official who forced her back into her marriage with her abusive husband was none other than Major James Abercrombie. In fact, this man had rejected petitions for Marie Joseph's safety multiple times. Only a few days before the murder, her father had asked for something to be done about the man who was beating his daughter. When Major Abercrombie didn't take action, Korovo stormed away, muttering that, and I quote, some misfortune will happen. Unfortunately, it didn't matter why Korovo killed his son in law. As far as the justice system was concerned, the only thing that mattered was that he did it. And in the end, Korovo was condemned to hang, while his daughter was sentenced to 60 public lashings. But the day before the execution, Courovo made a startling confession to the priest who came to do his last rites. He had not murdered Dodier. His daughter had. And he had volunteered to take the fall on her behalf. The very next day, Marie Josepht was brought back to the court. Now, faced with her father's confession, she broke down, admitting that she alone had been responsible for the murder. And with that, her father was released and she was sentenced to be executed in his stead. Four days later, she met her fate. After the hanging, she was not put to rest. Instead, her body was placed in an iron gibbet, which is essentially a cage in the shape of a human body. And then this macabre birdcage was hung up for everyone to see. Her caged body was hung at a crossroads for five weeks, until so many people complained of the horrific scene that the governor ordered that it be cut down. And then she, along with her iron gibbet, were buried on the outskirts of a local churchyard. And that should have been the end of her story. But it wasn't. You see, nearly 100 years later, the gibbet was uncovered during an excavation project. Apparently, there were actually still a few bones rattling around its it and so they reburied Marie Joseph's unshackled remains and then they took her cage on a world tour. At first it was just put on display in Montreal and Quebec City. But soon enough, the infamous grifter P.T. barnum got word of the gibbet's existence and he brought it to his museum in New York City. And once in America, her story spread. And as it did, she gained a new La Corriveau and a new backstory as well. According to this new version, La Corovo wasn't a battered woman. She was a stone cold killer who had murdered at least seven husbands. She had poured molten lead down their ears and danced on their graves. And most importantly, she was a witch. The mythos surrounding La Coravo claimed that she had made a pact with the devil who had taken ownership of her soul. But instead of dragging her soul to hell after she died, the witch's spirit was left to haunt the crossroads where she had been hanged. To this day, travelers have reported hearing her cage rattle in the wind and feeling invisible hands attack them. Some people have even seen her ghost. And when this happens, she usually asks travelers if they would carry her across the St. Lawrence river so that she can attend a witches Sabbath. There are no reports of anyone who has said yes. Today, La Corriveau is the most famous witch in all of Canada, despite the fact that the real Marie Josephte never so much as glanced in the direction of a cauldron. She's even been featured on a postage stamp, gibbet and all. And as for the man who beat her and the major who let it happen, their reputations of course are perfectly intact. In 1923, a teenage boy was tied up and left out on the ice to die. The incident wasn't reported until the spring of the following year. By then, of course, it was too late. 18 year old atoll was gone. When the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were finally sent out to investigate, all they could do was dig up his frozen body. The loss of a life was already devastating enough, especially when the victim was so young. But the rumors floating around about the murder were even worse. Locals said that the perpetrators believed Atoll had bewitched an old man. They had tied down the teenage boy in an attempt to drive the witchcraft out of him. But of course it had been a death sentence rather than his salvation. After only a few days of investigation, officials were able to arrest five people for the crime. There were four brothers, Dan, Jimmy Clem and Eddie Lute, along with a man named Big Alec. Apparently the Lute Brother's father was the man who had been bewitched, and Big Alec had been the one who told the siblings that Atoll was the culprit. Now, Big Alec wasn't necessarily someone that I would call trustworthy when it came to situations like this. At one point, he had actually killed several of his own dogs because he suspected that they were guilty of witchcraft. But I suppose the brothers were desperate enough to believe him because they followed through on his advice. A few days later, their sister returned home from a trip. When she learned what her brothers had done, she was horrified. She forced them to bring Atoll inside. But by then, the boy had already been out on the ice for six days. The very next morning, he was dead. The trial was held in August of 1925, and it transfixed the entire country. After all, how often do you see a witch killing in the 20th century? But it also drew attention for another, darker reason. You see, everyone involved had been a member of the Casca tribe. The Casca are an indigenous people native to British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon Territory. Technically, they were never formally suppressed the same way that most native peoples were. In fact, they had very few interactions with the white settlers, and they didn't establish a relationship with fur traders until the early 1800s. Still, that doesn't mean that they hadn't suffered at the hands of white men. Hordes of miners swarmed their territory at the end of the 19th century, overwhelming the indigenous population. And suddenly the dominant culture was no longer Casca, and they had become strangers in their own land. Despite the bomb that white settlers had dropped onto their lives, Most Canadians had never even heard of the Casca before Atoll's murder trial. Unfortunately, the trial was not a great introduction to the world stage for the Kaska peoples. During the court proceedings, it was revealed that the practice of using violence against children to force the witchcraft out of their bodies wasn't actually uncommon. One Royal Canadian Mounted Police inspector testified that he had once seen a young girl named Madeline who'd been tied up like Atoll, and the rough treatment had permanently disabled her. He also said that the mother of a young boy named Seagull had cut the tip of her son's ear off, all in an attempt to stop him from cursing his sick little brother. And a few years later, Seagull told an anthropologist that the one who had accused him of witchcraft in the first place was actually Eddie Lute, who, one of the brothers who was on trial for killing Atoll. In the end, Ettie wouldn't make it out of Atoll's trial without a Sentencing. But his punishment was significantly lighter than you might expect. In fact, he avoided jail altogether, despite the fact that he had been the one who actually bound the boy's wrists and ankles together for the crime of leaving a boy out in the elements to die. He was only given a 10 year suspended sentence. His other three brothers were let off the hook entirely. And finally, Big Alec, the one who had convinced the brothers to do the deed in the first place, was sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter. After the trial, the Canadian government decided to keep a close eye on the Kaska to ensure that nobody else was killed. In 1926, they sent a patrol of policemen and a Christian missionary to work amongst the Casca. Two years later, that missionary wrote that the people there had, and I quote, the reputation of being addicted to witchcraft. But here's the strangest part. Just a few years before all of this happened, the Casca hadn't believed in witches at all. You see, when the miners had moved in and stripped the land of all the resources the Kaska needed to survive, they were forced to trade with the white settlers. This interaction brought humiliation and as well as exposure to new diseases. It was, in a word, devastating. And they were desperate for something that could save them. And then, as the white Canadian culture overtook theirs, they learned about witches. Anthropologists have called this phenomena witch fear. It's a trauma response, plain and simple. When fear of the unknown takes over, people will do anything to regain a sense of control. And the Casca desperately needed control. And here's the thing, that reaction isn't unusual. Almost every single witch trial from Salem to Bamberg started for the same reason. People were afraid. And instead of addressing the real threat, they created one within their community that would be easier to face head on. Thankfully, the witch fear didn't last amongst the Casca. It burned hot and fast like a wildfire, consuming them all. And then it left just as quickly, leaving a charred community in its wake. The colony of New France was a scary place. The landscape was vast and there could be hundreds of miles between each town. In 1660, there were fewer than 2,000 French settlements in the entire region. Even the capital city of Quebec only had a population of 800. If you left your tiny hub of civilization, then you were truly alone and ripe for the picking. And that isn't a figure of speech. More than likely, you would genuinely be picked off. The indigenous population, all members of the Iroquois Nation, or were brutally violent in defending their territory. Many colonists died a bloody death at their hands. And if the Locals didn't get you then. Disease certainly would. Epidemics decimated entire communities, all of which were too remote for any of the colony's limited emergency medical resources to reach them in time. So as you might imagine, the white settlers of New France were living in a state of constant anxiety. When you leave something as potent as fear to fester, it does something to your brain. Locals began seeing omens of doom. Phantom comets lit up the night, and apparitions of canoes and fire floated through the sky. And at one point, a loud, thunderous voice echoed across the hills. I tell you all of this to set the scene for our story. It's important to know that New France was in a free fall, and every single person was terrified for their lives every single day. And that terror had fueled a mass belief in some truly disturbing supernatural episodes. And it was against this backdrop that Barbe Alais entered the picture. She was a teenager in the summer of 1659, but she already knew what she wanted out of life. Namely, a different life than the one that was waiting for her in Europe. So she had sailed to New France in hopes of carving out a name for herself. Unfortunately, she had already encountered a roadblock. During the long boat ride, she was harassed by a man named Daniel Vuil. He had attempted to seduce her, but she successfully rebuffed him. And soon after arrival, she found a job as a domestic servant at the Beauport Manor house, located only 6 km from Quebec. It was perfect. Or it would have been if it wasn't haunted. Soon after Barb arrived, strange things began to occur all over the house. Stones would hurl themselves against the walls as if thrown by an invisible hand. Disembodied voices rang through the hallways. Then, most horrifying of all, demons and witches began to visit Barb in her room at night. She described the demons simply as, and I quote, men, children, beasts and specters of hell. As for the witches, she was more concerned about what they did to her than what they looked like. Whenever they arrived, they forced her to choke down foul food that made her vomit. Soon, it went beyond external torment. Barr began to show signs of demonic possession. Whenever she experienced an episode, her limbs thrashed uncontrollably. Her head jerked from side to side. She would scream foreign words that were determined to come from the demon who inhabited her body. And whenever she spoke, her voice was unnaturally low and unfamiliar, as if a man were speaking through her. At least three different priests visited Beauport Manor to pray over her. Each and every exorcism that they attempted failed. And so Barb was sent to a Catholic hospital and entrusted into the care of a group of nuns. One in particular, Sister Catherine, took charge of Barb's care, trying everything from praying to sewing Barb inside a sack to keep the girl hidden from the demons. But not only did it not work, eventually the demons began appearing to Sister Catherine as well. They even beat her, covering her entire body in dark bruises. At some point, Barb Alaia revealed that demons and witches weren't the only apparitions that visited her sometimes. She also saw the form of Daniel Vuil, the man whose advances she had rejected while she was sailing to New France. Options at this point were running low, so officials did the next logical thing they could think of. They tracked down and arrested Daniel for witchcraft. And then, In October of 1661, he was executed. He is the only person to ever be given the death penalty for witchcraft in Canadian history. And it didn't help. Barb was still possessed, and the demons made no move to leave her body, despite the fact that their alleged dark master was now dead. So finally, the mistress of Beauport Manor, a stern woman in her 60s named Marie Renouard, took matters into her own hand. She stayed by Barb's side day and night for an entire year. And then, In October of 1662, something changed. Marie was awoken in the middle of the night by yet another one of Barb's possession episodes. But this one would be different, because this time, Marie was bringing the big guns. For some reason, she was in the possession of the rib of a Jesuit martyr who'd been killed by the Iroquois in 1649. Technically, it was a holy relic, but Marie used it as a weapon. She set the rib bone next to Barb, and she didn't move it. Not when the demon violently contorted Barb's limbs, and not when he begged her to take it away. That holy rib was there to stay. And when Marie told the demon as such, he howled in pain, screaming that it burned him. In response, Marie put the rib over Barb's heart. And then she invoked the names of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the saintly owner of the rib itself. And that was the final nail in the coffin. Marie saw a puff of mist pass through Barb's lips, and then suddenly, the girl was speaking with her own voice and making the sign of the cross over her body. After that night, Barb was never bothered by a demon or a witch ever again. In fact, she went on to live an incredibly normal life. She got a job as A servant in the same Catholic hospital. She had once been a patient and she married one of her co workers, had a family, and died peacefully. It would seem that for one colonist at least, fear was no longer an issue. Thankfully, Barbe Allais story has a happy ending. That is, of course, if you forget about the guy who was killed in the middle of it. Not only was Daniel Vuil executed, but he was the only convicted Canadian witch to have ever had that dubious honor. Usually they were just banished. So what exactly happened here? Well, to explain that, we have to go back to the conception of New France. You see, in 1627, the charter for the company of New France had specified that only French Catholics were to populate the new colony. No other denominations were allowed, and that included Protestants. Catholics did not consider Protestants to be real Christians and were therefore a threat to the purity of the Catholic colony. But there's a darker underbelly to that reasoning than simple religious tribalism. Most of the other New World colonies were some flavor of Protestant, and the vast majority of those settlements were also allied with the Iroquois, the indigenous peoples that posed the greatest threat to New France's survival. In their minds, because they were buddies with the Iroquois, the Protestants were an even greater enemy there in the New World than they had been in the old. And so according to New France's law, Protestants were to be treated as treasonous. And poor Daniel, as you might have guessed by now, had been raised as a Protestant. In reality, Daniel Vuil wasn't killed because he was a witch at all. He was killed because of his faith. Witch trials and executions are a topic we typically relate to Europe and a few English colonies in the New World. So I hope today's trip across the border helped you see just how far that branch of folklore actually stretched. Fear is, of course, a powerful thing, and some people will build their entire lives around it. They will commit atrocities because of it, and even murder for it. And because that's a deep well to draw from, we have one last story to share. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This episode of Lore was made possible by Simplisafe. Is your home actually safe if you have old school home security? Traditional security systems respond after somebody breaks in. Simplisafe is different because it can stop crimes before before they happen. With its active guard outdoor protection, SimpleLife uses smart AI powered cameras to detect threats while they're still outside your home and alert real security agents. And this is the game changer here. The agents take action while the intruder is still outside. 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Right now our listeners can save 60% off on a SimpliSafe home security system at simplisafe.com lore that's simplisafe.com lore there's no safe like Simplisafe. This episode was also made possible by Quince Cold Mornings Holiday Plans this is when I just want my wardrobe to be simple. Stuff that looks sharp, feels good and things that I'll actually wear. And for me, that's Quint's and the bonus. Quint's pieces make great gifts too. The season's lineup is simple but smart and Easy with quints $50 Mongolian cashmere sweaters that feel like an everyday luxury, and wool coats that are equal parts stylish and durable. Their denim nails the fit and everyday comfort all at a fraction of what you'd expect to pay. By partnering directly with ethical factories and top artisans, Quince cuts out the middlemen to deliver premium quality at half the cost of other high end brands so you can give luxury quality pieces without the luxury price tag every single day. 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It's a story of people, some you know and many you don't, who risked everything to change the course of history. Their fight for independence lit a spark for freedom that still burns today. George Washington called it the cause of mankind, and John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, posterity, you will never know what it costs us to preserve your freedom with the American Revolution. Ken Burns and his team bring us a story that's vast humanity and deeply relevant. A story that belongs to all of us. Stream the American Revolution on the PBS app. I can't wait to watch.