Season 1 · Episode 14
Putting the Witch Label on Trial Part 2: Permission to Burn
"Some were prostitutes, but perhaps the saddest part of the case is that some were not." That's how a prosecutor talked about the women murdered by the Yorkshire…
A podcast hosted by Xtina Rose
Investigating women who were labeled—and why.
Some episodes tell one woman's story: the accusation, the truth, and why the myth stuck. Others dig into the research behind the pattern.
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Season 1 · Episode 13
Bathsheba Sherman: The Conjuring of a Witch
In The Conjuring, Bathsheba Sherman is a Satanist who sacrificed her baby and cursed the land before hanging herself. The real Bathsheba was a Rhode Island farm wife…
Season 1 · Episode 12
Putting the Witch Label on Trial - Part 1: Making of a Witch
"All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable." A Dominican inquisitor wrote that in 1486, and over the next three centuries, tens of thousands of…
Two ways behind the label
The person—and the system
The Person
Meet the woman behind the label, follow the life that got flattened into a myth, and find out why the false version survived.
The System
Trace a familiar stereotype through history, culture, psychology, and power—and ask who benefits when it sticks.
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Explore the research behind the stories, with source lists you can read or download.
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