Our Halloween special history podcast tells the story of the Pendle witches - the most famous witchcraft trails in English history. This chilling history saw dozens of Lancashire women imprisoned with accusations of stolen babies, teeth pulled from corpses' skulls, talking dogs and crippling curses.
The Pendle witch trials are the most famous in Britain. Members of a Lancashire family were accused a crippling curse of a local peddler, summoning up fearsome talking black dogs, and bewitching a child to death.
The star witness was a nine-year-old girl, whose horrifying testimony included accusations of a triple murder.
Her older brother claimed that his grandmother dug up skulls from a churchyard, pulled their teeth out and used in them in black magic.
In this podcast, we follow the dramatic story of the trial, hear the chilling testimonies and the gruesome end to this tragic story.
We also uncover the less known story of the Salmesbury Witches. Another Lancashire family dragged up from the cells of Lancaster castle to face charges of “enchantments, charms and sorceries”.
This time the key prosecution witness was a 14 year girl, who claimed her aunt had stolen and killed a baby, then eaten its body.
Why did she make these claims? What happened to the family she accused?
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After you have listened to the Pendle witches podcast, hear our full length history of withcraft podcast here