RedHanded Podcast – DAY 6: The European Witch Craze 1 & 2
ShortHand’s 13 Days of Halloween | October 23, 2025
Episode Overview
In this two-part ShortHand special for their 13 Days of Halloween, hosts Ash Kelly and Alina Urquhart tackle the fraught and terrifying history of the European witch craze. Spanning from ancient origins through to its disturbing peak in Europe and the British Isles, Ash and Alina peel back centuries of superstition, torture, and misogyny to reveal how witch hunts weren’t curious anomalies, but world-shaping panics—whose echoes remain in society today.
The first episode (Part 1) explores the origins and spread of witch hysteria across continental Europe, while the second (Part 2) examines how it crossed to the British Isles, the notorious witch trials in Scotland and England, and why the “witch” became almost exclusively synonymous with women.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Ancient & Biblical Origins of Witch Belief
- Historical Roots (03:29, Alina): Witchcraft’s first mentions appear as early as 330 BC in Ancient Greece—with Thessaly as a hotbed of magic. The Old Testament warns against witches (the Witch of Endor; Exodus’s “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”).
- Social Function: Witches once served as local healers and soothsayers—“People might visit them for spells to increase their wealth, or concoct a love potion…” (04:54, Alina).
- Shift to Menace: By the 16th–17th centuries, the idea of witches morphed from neighborhood oddity to agents of Satan, threatening Christian civilization itself.
2. The Theological and Political Machine Behind Witch Hunts
- Church Policy Flips: For centuries, the Catholic Church dismissed witchcraft as superstition, but suddenly reversed course:
“In just 200 years, the position was completely reversed and the Pope himself sent a decree encouraging witch hunters…” (07:50, Alina). - Societal Anxiety: The Black Death and wars exacerbated distrust and scapegoating. The infamous inquisitions targeted “others”—in Spain, Jews were often scapegoated; in the rest of Europe, it was witches (08:48, Ash).
3. Key Figures, Texts, and Tools of Terror
- The Malleus Maleficarum: Authored by Heinrich Kramer, this “Hammer of Witches” gave step-by-step instructions for identifying and executing witches, and spread rapidly thanks to the printing press (10:21–11:31).
- Torture as Proof: Confessions extracted via hideous tortures (thumb screws, stretching racks, witch chairs, sleep deprivation) became the “evidence” for widespread witch networks (17:34–19:37).
- Quotable Moment – The circularity of it all:
“If you go looking for the devil, you’ll find him.”
(15:53, Ash)
4. The Witch Craze Explodes: Mass Hysteria and Its Logic
- Religious Friction Fans Flames: Rivalries between Catholics and Protestants exploded into mutual accusations and mass executions—particularly in Germany and France. “Both sides took the existence of witches as an incontrovertible fact.” (19:37, Alina)
- Justice Perverted: Judges who tried for leniency found themselves accused, tortured, and executed—exemplifying the self-devouring nature of the panic (22:57, Alina).
- Scale of Madness: European witch trials killed thousands—dwarfing the infamous Salem events (21:13, Ash).
5. Witch Mania in the British Isles
- Arrival in Scotland: The North Berwick trials (1590) kicked off the British version of the craze, purportedly as witches tried to conjure a storm to drown King James VI (30:20–32:22).
- King’s Obsession: King James was superstitious and propagandized the alleged plots against him, even writing Daemonology, which influenced Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” (33:56, Alina).
- Torture-Driven Testimonies: “Gillis Duncan gave over a hundred names and every single one of them were hunted down and tortured.” (36:17, Ash)
6. Gender, Societal Upheaval, and Witch Prosecution
- Why So Many Women?:
- Economic and social shifts left many women (spinsters, widows) vulnerable and stigmatized.
- “Up to 40% of the women under 44 were unmarried. That is staggering.” (48:47, Alina)
- Symbols of Domesticity: Household items—broomsticks, cooking pots, pets—became evidence of witchcraft, reinforcing suspicion toward women (49:22, Ash).
- International Differences: In places like Normandy, Estonia, and Iceland, men sometimes predominated among witch victims—showcasing local variations in the logic of persecution (47:12, Ash).
7. Matthew Hopkins: The Witchfinder General
- Hopkins’s Reign: Exploited the chaos of civil war for profit, his “swimming test” ensuring that the innocent died as surely as the “guilty.”
“If they drowned, they were innocent but dead. If they floated, they were treated as witches and killed anyway.” (54:13, Alina)
- Profiting from Panic: He made over a thousand pounds while sending 300 Englishwomen to their deaths (55:05, Ash).
8. The End (and Endurance) of the Witch Craze
- Gradual Decline: Witch trials waned as social order stabilized, first in Protestant lands, then across Europe (56:15, Alina).
- Legacy of Conspiracy Theories:
“Stories of clandestine evil powers gathering in groups to worship Satan, eat babies and use their powers to disrupt the status quo have lasted throughout the centuries.” (56:49, Alina)
- Modern Parallels: The hosts draw sharp lines to present-day moral panics like McCarthyism and QAnon:
“We haven’t evolved at all since this was happening.” (58:22, Ash)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
On the toxicity of torture-based confessions:
“If you go looking for the devil, you’ll find him.”
— Ash Kelly (15:53)
On mass hysteria’s self-perpetuation:
“Every witch that was interrogated would, under threat of torture, reveal the names of 15 or 16 other witches...”
— Alina Urquhart (26:47)
On fabricated satanic orgies:
“The witch’s mass includes kissing a goat on the bum hole.”
— Alina Urquhart (28:45)
On the gendered roots of witch prosecutions:
“All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women.”
— Quoting Malleus Maleficarum (46:54, Alina)
On the role of the printing press:
“...the printing press did directly, indirectly lead to thousands of people being killed. And there is an interesting quote that these days we have a new technological advancement coming into society on the level of the printing press almost every few months. And how we are not adequately equipped… to not let that lead to more and more panic and craziness.”
— Ash Kelly (58:22)
On the continuing relevance of witch hunts:
“You can sort of scoff and look at these people and be like, oh my God, weren’t they stupid? But like, we haven’t evolved at all since this was happening.”
— Ash Kelly (58:22)
Timestamps for Essential Segments
- Ancient Witch Beliefs & First Mentions: 03:29–05:34
- Church Attitudes & The Canon Episcopi: 07:10–08:12
- Black Death & Social Upheaval: 08:12–09:17
- Papal Decrees & The Malleus Maleficarum: 09:17–11:31
- Details of Torture Methods: 17:34–19:37
- Catholic vs Protestant Witchcraft Wars: 19:37–22:25
- Notorious German Witch Trials: 22:57–25:05
- North Berwick Witch Trials (Scotland): 30:20–33:56
- King James, Demonology & English Witchcraft: 33:56–39:15
- Witch Sabbaths & Ritual Myths: 39:15–44:01
- Women as Targets & Social Context: 47:12–50:15
- Matthew Hopkins & English Witch Mania: 50:15–55:05
- The End of the Witch Craze & Modern Parallels: 56:15–59:15
Tone & Style
Ash and Alina balance thorough historical analysis, dark humor, and frank reminders of the brutality involved. Their conversational, sometimes irreverent style (“kissing a goat on the bum hole”; “This is all just Bible fanfiction!”) makes the grim facts digestible without sugarcoating the horror.
Final Reflections
The European Witch Craze, as dissected by RedHanded, was driven by religious, social, and gendered anxieties, weaponized by those in power and perpetuated by new technology (the printing press). The hosts connect historical panic to present conspiracies, warning that the logic of the witch hunt is never far from the surface.
Summary by RedHanded Podcast Summarizer