Enchanted: The History of Magic & Witchcraft: Recent Episodes
Corinne Wieben
Enchanted: The History of Magic & Witchcraft features the best stories from the history of magic, sorcery, alchemy, and witchcraft. With in-depth historical research accompanied by dramatic storytelling and ambient sound, it's the perfect listening experience for fans of stormy nights, cozy blankets, and steaming cups of tea. New episodes on the first Friday of every month.
In 1865, German physician and medical writer Justus Hecker published a volume titled The Epidemics of the Middle Ages. In a footnote, he remarked on a strange phenomenon: an outbreak of meowing nuns. In this minisode, I bring you the story of the meowing nuns of late medieval France and the men who told their story.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
Sources
Primary
- Aristotle. History of Animals. Translated by d’ A. W. Thompson. In Aristotle, Complete Works. Vol. 1, 774–993. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.
- Aristotle. Politics. Translated by Ernest Barker. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.
- Hecker, J. F. C. The Epidemics of the Middle Ages. Translated by B. G. Babington. London: Woodfall, 1844.
- Zimmerman, J. G. Solitude. Vol. II. London: Dilly, 1798.
Secondary
- Bartholomew, Robert E. Little Green Men, Meowing Nuns and Head-Hunting Panics: A Study of Mass Psychogenic Illness and Social Delusion. London: McFarland, 2001.
- Bartholomew, Robert E. and Simon Wessely. “Protean Nature of Mass Sociogenic Illness: From Possessed Nuns to Chemical and Biological Terrorism Fears.” British Journal of Psychiatry 180, no. 4 (2002): 300–306.
- Mercer, Christia. “The Philosophical Roots of Western Misogyny.” Philosophical Topics 46, no. 2 (2018): 183–208.
- Penso G. Roman Medicine. 3rd ed. Noceto: Essebiemme, 2002.
- Tasca, Cecilia et al. “Women and Hysteria in the History of Mental Health.” Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health 8 (2012): 110-9.
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Haunted dolls are a cornerstone of folklore and popular culture. Our enduring fascination with them may stem from the fact that they occupy the uncanny valley, where their lifelike resemblance to humans both captivates and disturbs us. This episode brings you the stories of Robert and Annabelle, two of the world’s most famous haunted dolls.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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On June 29, 1987, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the tomb of the late president, Juan Domingo Perón, was desecrated by a mysterious group calling itself “Hermes IAI and the 13," which led some to link the act to Perón’s former minister, known for his involvement with occult groups and mystical practices. This episode brings you a story of political intrigue, violent upheaval, and the occultist who took control of Argentina’s leaders: the story of José López Rega.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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Before microscopes and stethoscopes, before hospitals and modern medicine, there were the cunning-folk, who practiced a kind of magic woven into the fabric of daily life: practical, personal, and deeply rooted in community belief. A missing object, a run of bad luck, or an unrequited love were their concerns. This episode brings you the story of the wise men and women who worked in whispers and who bridged belief and need: the cunning-folk of Britain.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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In the shadow of Puritan New England, where scripture, law, and community shaped every aspect of daily life, a different kind of visionary emerged. Drawing on European alchemical traditions, Hermetic philosophy, and Christian reformist ideals, he believed that nature itself was a sacred text, written by the Creator and waiting to be deciphered. This episode brings you a story of religion, medicine, politics, and alchemy in an age of upheaval and imagination: the story of John Winthrop, Jr.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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In 1764, Fray Juan José Toledo, the priest of the mission church in Abiquiú, New Mexico, wrote a striking letter to the local magistrate. In it, he described an extraordinary spiritual crisis: a surge of demonic possessions affecting the women in his congregation. Viewed through the lenses of gender, colonialism, and religious conflict, this event emerges as a powerful moment of Indigenous resistance, expressed through bodies and language. This episode tells a story of ritual and rebellion: the story of the witches of Abiquiú.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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In the summer of 1612, a woman named Alice Nutter walked to her death. She was not like the others who stood beside her on the gallows, gaunt women worn hollow by poverty. Alice Nutter was a woman of property in Lancashire, a woman of standing, and—most damningly—a woman who did not easily bow her head. This episode brings you a story of fear, injustice, and resistance in early modern England: the story of the Pendle witch trials.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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Morgan le Fay, the infamous enchantress of Arthurian legend, has worn many faces across the centuries: healer and villain, seductress and savior, sister and sorceress. Her story is often a mirror, reflecting the anxieties and desires of the cultures that tell it. This episode brings you the shapeshifting faces of Morgan le Fay.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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In seventeenth-century England, astrology hovered at the edges of learned society. That is, until one man predicted the Great Plague and the Great Fire, both of which would strike at the very heart of London. This episode brings you the story of the English astrologer William Lilly and his legacy.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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In the summer of 1836, against a backdrop of economic instability and fervent religious revival, Joseph Smith, accompanied by his brother Hyrum, Oliver Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon, set forth on a journey that would forever connect them to the notorious witch trials that took place centuries earlier in Salem, Massachusetts. This episode brings you the story of seer stones, witch trials, and the life of Joseph Smith.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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A bishop, a scholar, and a moral arbitrator, Burchard of Worms was a man of many roles, but it's his monumental work of church law, the Decretum, that may reveal folk beliefs about magic that persisted well into the eleventh century. This episode brings you the story of The Corrector and the folk magic of early medieval Europe.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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From ancient times to the present, cultures worldwide have celebrated the sun’s return following the winter solstice. In this episode, I bring you the story of the midwinter celebrations of ancient Rome, from Saturnalia to Sol Invictus and beyond.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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Since ancient times Avernus, an ancient volcanic crater in the Campania region of southern Italy, has been the source of legend. In this special minisode, I bring you the story of Italy’s legendary gateway to the underworld.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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If there is one thing every reader of fairy tales can tell you, it’s that you should never, ever venture into the woods alone. From the whispering willows to the ominous oaks, this episode brings you the stories of the trees that loom large in our collective imagination, exploring their sinister attributes and the cautionary tales they inspire.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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In 1584, Reginald Scot, a little-known English gentleman farmer from Kent, published a work that would shake the foundations of religious and legal authority in Europe. At a time when witch trials were sweeping through Europe, Scot’s book was a rare and radical challenge to the powers that be. This episode brings you the story of Reginald Scot and his The Discoverie of Witchcraft.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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Subscriber-only episode
The illustrious mistress of King Henry II of France was a woman whose beauty, intellect, and influence left an indelible mark on the French court. However, the very substance that promised her immortality might have been her undoing. This subscriber-exclusive minisode brings you the story of Diane de Poitiers and her potentially deadly pursuit of youth and beauty.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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Despite the inscrutability of his writings and the fact that he was only one of a number of court astrologers advising Catherine de' Medici, "Serpent Queen" of France, Nostradamus’s prophecies have found a dedicated audience in the centuries following their publication. How is it that Nostradamus and his writings have such a lasting legacy? This episode brings you the story of Catherine de’ Medici, her occult advisors, and the life and lasting influence of Nostradamus.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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In the last decades of the eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the American Declaration of Independence, began collecting documents related to the history of the Colony of Virginia. Among them was a volume of early seventeenth-century case records from the Williamsburg Courthouse. During the American Civil War, retreating Confederate forces burned the archives in Virginia’s state capital in 1865. This one volume, maintained in Jefferson’s private library, survived, and with it, the record of America’s earliest documented witch trial, some seventy years before the famous trials at Salem. This episode brings you the story of Goodwife Joan Wright and America’s first known witch trial.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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As Europeans embarked on their colonial ventures in the Americas, they also forged new frontiers closer to their homelands. In Norway's far northern territory of Finnmark, settlers from the south moved into the ancestral home of the Indigenous Sámi people, and by the end of the seventeenth century, nearly five percent of the population had been tried for witchcraft. This episode tells the story of Norway’s Vardø witch trials and their legacy.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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Despite his dedication to science and mathematics—or perhaps because of it—Pope Sylvester II has been historically linked with legends of magic and sorcery, though these stories are more myth than fact. His reputation for being involved in magic largely stems from his profound knowledge and his use of what was then cutting-edge technology. This episode brings you the story of the life and legacy of Gerbert of Aurillac also known as Pope Sylvester II.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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When Spanish colonizers and missionaries came to settle in New Mexico, the resulting cultural, religious, and class tensions between the Spaniards and their Pueblo neighbors would lead to a series of witchcraft trials overseen by the local branch of the Spanish Inquisition. This episode tells the story of colonization, resistance, and witchcraft in colonial New Mexico.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with the voice talent of Jack Krause and original music by Purple Planet.
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Some men just can't keep their promises. Of course, when that promise is to his magical wife, the consequences can be dire. This episode brings you the story of Melusine, the mythical faerie of the waters said to have founded some of medieval Europe's most powerful ruling dynasties.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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Part of the broader witch hunts that swept across Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Basque witch trials unfolded much like their counterparts elsewhere. However, these witch trials were halted by an unlikely hero: a member of the Spanish Inquisition. In this episode, I bring you the story of the Basque witch trials and the inquisitor who put a stop to them.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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The tradition of Southern Conjure is centuries old, tracing its history back to the forced migration of Africans to the Americas during the era of the slave trade. In New Orleans, Louisiana, the unique blend of Creole culture and Catholic tradition yielded Louisiana Voodoo and its undoubted queen, who served the people of New Orleans as a healer, herbalist, entrepreneur, spiritual leader, social worker, and community activist. This episode brings you the story of Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
Episode sources
For more on spiritual practices in the African Diaspora, check out Oracles of the Woods.
For more on the history of the Ursuline nuns, check out The Devils of Loudun.
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Folklore from around the world contains the stories of household gods, fairies, sprites, and other spirits who protect a house’s inhabitants or a given family. These spirits can be mischievous at times but are often downright helpful. Of course, that all depends on how they’re treated. From baku to brownies, this episode brings you the stories of some helpful household spirits from around the world.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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The experience of falling asleep only to be awakened by terror, realizing you cannot move and feeling something pressing on your chest, is surprisingly common in human experience, though the entity that one sees—or not—often depends on cultural expectations. Night-hag, demon, or invisible assailant, in this special Halloween episode and season four finale, I bring you the story of the “Night-Mare.”
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
Episode sources
For more on Lilith, check out The Serpent.
For more on witchcraft in early Scandinavia, check out Runes and Songs.
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The haunting of Ann Haltridge of Knowehead House, Islandmagee, began in September 1710. It ended with her death less than six months later. In this episode, I bring you the story of a haunting, a death, and the last witch trial in Ireland: the case of the Islandmagee witches. How does one girl's affliction shape a community's fear?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
Episode sources
The Islandmagee Project
For more on the first witch trial in Ireland, check out The Lovelorn Lady.
For more on the witches of Warboys, check out Warboys.
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In 1575 inquisitors in northern Italy discovered the benandanti, a band of self-professed spiritual warriors who claimed to send their spirits forth in their sleep to engage in ritual night battles to defend the season's harvest from witches. In this episode, I bring you the stories of two men prosecuted by the Inquisition for their witch-fighting ways. When records obscure reality, who can find the truth?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
Episode sources
For more on the Malleus Maleficarum and witch hunting on the European continent, check out The Hammer.
Give to the Italian Red Cross to help victims of the Emilia-Romagna floods:
English: https://dona.cri.it/sostienici/~my-donation
Italiano: https://dona.cri.it/alluvione-emiliaromagna/~mia-donazione
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Corinne is in Italy for the summer and has brought some of the sounds and stories of the Tuscan city of Lucca to Enchanted. In this episode, we explore the legends of saints and devils, the portal to Hell in one of Lucca's churches, and Lucida Mansi, Lucca's most famous ghost. In a city that's existed since the third century BCE, aren't there bound to be a few mysteries?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
Episode sources
Give to the Italian Red Cross to help victims of the Emilia-Romagna floods:
English: https://dona.cri.it/sostienici/~my-donation
Italiano: https://dona.cri.it/alluvione-emiliaromagna/~mia-donazione
Listen to Enchanted's season two episode, "A Desirable Disaster, " for more stories from medieval Lucca.
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Over the centuries, stories of the Pythia have been collected in texts devoted to myth, poetry, philosophy, history, and political science. In this episode, we explore the story of the Oracle of Delphi, her prophecies, and attempts by modern researchers to explain the oracle’s gift. Who was this priestess, and what power did she hold over the ancient Mediterranean world?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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In an era shaken to its core by dramatic political and social change, a nation wracked by war and looming economic disaster looked for a villain to blame. In Russia, on the eve of the October Revolution, that villain was the charismatic holy man who had seemingly bewitched the tsar and the royal family. In this episode, we explore the life and the many deaths of Grigori Rasputin. Was he a spiritual guide, a faith healer, or a wielder of occult forces?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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Before Salem came Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford. Thirty years before the famous witch trials of 1692, Connecticut became the first colony in New England to execute a convicted witch. In this episode, we explore the stories of New England's earliest convicted witches and the modern legislation that seeks to exonerate them. When injustice is clear, what do we owe the past?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with the voice talents of Jack Krause and Lenny Scovel and original music by Purple Planet.
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In Renaissance Italy, a young widow must hold herself, her family, and her lands together to survive. The answers may lie in alchemy. In this episode, we explore the life and experiments of Caterina Sforza, the Tigress of Forlì.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet. To hear more about the history of alchemy, check out Enchanted's "Philosopher's Stone Trilogy": A Flower of the Fire, The Fisher King, and Beyond Expression Bright.
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In the era of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, the real-life Cardinal Richelieu must solve a bizarre mystery: the demonic possessions of the Ursuline nuns of Loudun, who have accused the parish priest of sorcery. In this episode, we explore the trial of Urbain Grandier and the possessions at Loudun. What happens when desire becomes obsession?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
For more on the Loudun affair, check out Michel de Certeau's The Possession at Loudun. To hear more on religious tensions in early modern France, check out Episode 23: The Edges of Civilization.
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On 30 January 1540, the Mexican Inquisition's trial of Pedro Ruiz Calderón began in New Spain. Calderón was a priest accused of using magic to find hidden gold, but what if that's exactly what a Spanish colonist was supposed to do?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with the voice talent of Jack Krause and original music by Purple Planet.
For more on Fray Juan de Zumárraga and the trial of Pedro Ruiz Calderón, check out Richard E. Greenleaf's Zumárraga and the Mexican Inquisition: 1536–1543 and John F. Chuchiak IV's The Inquisition in New Spain, 1536–1820.To hear more on heresy and sorcery trials in Latin America, check out Episode 29: The Good Angel.
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In 2013 Icelandic officials ceased construction on a planned roadway. The project was halted for environmental reasons but also because petitioners argued it would disturb the natural habitat of Iceland’s elves. In this episode, we examine three stories of the Yuletide habits of Iceland’s elves. Who's ready for an elf party?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
To hear more on magic in Scandinavian lore, check out Runes & Songs.
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Enchanted is taking a quick break this month before starting season four in December. In the meantime, we're remastering some past episodes, including this re-recorded and remastered version of Episode 6, "A Golden House." A rivalry, a scandal, a woman who sacrificed everything for the love of an emperor. Empress Chen of Wu risked it all when she resorted to witchcraft to defeat her rival. In her place, would we do the same?
Researched, written, and produced by Thomas Ignatius and Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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The tumultuous politics of the late Roman Republic gave rise to a truly terrifying figure in Latin literature: the hideous and necromantic Roman witch. In this spooky season three finale, we meet Horace's Canidia and Lucan's Erictho. Poison, blood, and prophecies from the undead: what else could you ask for in ancient Rome?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
To hear Enchanted's episode on the goddesses of magic in ancient Greece, check out Love is a Curse, and for more on love, infidelity, and magic in ancient Rome, see Obsequium.
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Dogs have lived alongside humans as guardians, helpers, and companions since before the dawn of recorded history, making dogs the perfect familiars for suspected witches. In this episode, we explore animals as witches’ familiars, hear the story of Elizabeth Sawyer and her dog-familiar, Tom, and meet one of the most famous dogs suspected of witchcraft: a white poodle named Boy. Can a dog be a witch's best friend?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
To hear Enchanted's episode on Eleanor Cobham and King Henry VI, check out The Fisher King, and for more on Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, see Some Busy Men.
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Most musicians work for years to master their instruments, with no guarantee of success. To what lengths will humans go for the sake of genius? What wouldn’t we give to be talented? To be famous? To be the best in the world? In this episode, we meet four musicians rumored to have paid the ultimate price for their art.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with the voice talent of Jack Krause.
Music:
- Paganini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1 - XX. Caprice in D Major. Allegretto, performed by Jonathan Vered is from MusOpen.
- Blues guitar riffs by juskiddink are from FreeSound:
https://freesound.org/people/juskiddink/sounds/77268
https://freesound.org/people/juskiddink/sounds/58493
- All other original music is by Purple Planet.
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Magic abounded in Viking Age Scandinavia, granted to humankind by Odin himself, but seidr was gifted to women alone. Despite this, some men risked condemnation, shame, and even the loss of their masculinity to gain this power. What kind of magic tempts a man to surrender his manhood, and what does he stand to gain?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with the voice talent of Jack Krause and original music by Purple Planet.
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From enslavement to Emancipation to independence, the Afro-Caribbean community sought protection, healing, and justice from Obeah men and women, but when Obeah became a tool for resistance, it was outlawed, breaking the chain of transmission from one generation to the next. Could Obeah aid decolonization in the twenty-first century, and can its traditions be recovered?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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For more on the history of Obeah, see the Early Caribbean Digital Archive.
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Let's face it: most of the time, witches get a bad rap. Some witches, however, are famous gift-givers, protectors, healers, and liberators. In this episode, we'll travel from the first century to the twenty-first and meet La Befana, Arima, Aradia, and many of the other good witches of Italy. Who doesn't need a bit of magic now and again?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet. Special thanks to this episode's sponsor, The Haunting, Unearthly & Paranormal Stories Podcast.
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When Martin Luther throws down the gauntlet, what's a good Jesuit to do? In this episode, our story spans the lives of three men, two continents, and one hundred years as we explore Counter-Reformation Europe's most influential witch-hunting manual: Martín del Río's Magical Investigations.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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What’s in a hand? If you’re a believer in chiromancy, everything. In this episode, we encounter Oscar Wilde, Carl Jung, and even Adolf Hitler, as we explore the history of palm reading in modern Europe.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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Still curious? Check out Alexandra H.M. Nagel's recent article, "From Chiromancy to Psychochirology: The Modern Transformation of a Mantic Art," Aries 21, No. 2 (2021): 246–270.
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At the end of the sixteenth century, five sisters accuse their neighbors of witchcraft. In this episode, we examine the case against the witches of Warboys. How did a group of children gain the power to destroy an entire family, and could it happen again?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
Episode bibliography
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“It is not himself but his crimes that I hate.” You don't become pope in the fourteenth century without making a few enemies. In this episode, we explore the life, death, and posthumous witchcraft trial of Pope Boniface VIII. When church and state collide, who can stand?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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“Either the most ingenious and elaborate hoax ever played upon the public, or else... an event in human history which may in the future appear to have been epoch-making…” With these words, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, presented to the world five photographs, declared to be genuine and featuring unmistakable images of real fairies. How did the Cottingley fairies become one of the greatest mysteries of the twentieth century, and why do so many of us want to believe?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with the voice talents of Jack Krause and Lenny Scovel and original music by Purple Planet.
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To see the Cottingley fairy photos, visit the episode page. For more on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Spiritualism, check out the episode "No Ghost Need Apply."
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In the Golden Age of Islam, one twelfth-century philosopher seeks to reconcile pagan philosophy with the Quran. In this episode, we explore The Hidden Secret of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī. When polytheism meets the Abrahamic tradition, where is truth?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
Episode bibliography
Still curious? Check out Michael-Sebastian Noble’s Philosophising the Occult: Avicennan Psychology and ‘The Hidden Secret’ of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021).
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Danger more savage than any wild beast lurks in the woods. In this special Halloween episode and season two finale, werewolves face trial in sixteenth-century France against the backdrop of the Wars of Religion. In a world where violence knows no bounds, who are the real monsters?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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When women owe their ultimate obedience to men, who will avenge their broken hearts? In this episode, women in ancient Rome take matters into their own hands when their husbands' attentions wander a little too far.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talents of Kiernan Angley and Jack Krause, with original music by Purple Planet.
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At the turn of the century, modern invention meets the most primal fear. Welcome to Ipswich, where the last trial for witchcraft in the United States is about to get underway. In this episode, we meet a charismatic religious leader and watch her most devoted follower become her bitterest enemy in this saga of faith, jealousy, and mesmerism.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talent of Jack Krause, with original music by Purple Planet.
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At the dawn of the twentieth century, Sherlock Holmes' creator wants to believe. In this episode we meet mentalists, mesmerists, and mediums, the Fox sisters, and even Harry Houdini as we explore the origins of Spiritualism and the life and occult studies of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talents of Lenny Scovel and Randy Wylde, with original music by Purple Planet.
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Charlemagne's descendant, King Lothar II, is unhappy. He wants to crown his mistress queen, but, well... there's the small matter of his wife. In the scandalous divorce case that follows and Bishop Hincmar of Reims' critical reaction, morality, mayhem, and magic play starring roles. Is witchcraft to blame for the king's distress?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talents of Jack Krause and Joshua Summit, with original music by Purple Planet.
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From a Mesopotamian spirit to Adam's first wife to demonic royalty, Lilith has a long and storied past. Today's episode explores the evolution of Lilith from obscure demon to feminist icon. What do you do with a woman who refuses to lie down?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talents of Gregg Adams, Kiernan Angley, Kate Austin-Groen, Kit Baker, and Lenny Scovel, with original music by Purple Planet.
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In the midst of the English Civil War, Matthew Hopkins has given himself a new title: Witchfinder General, and King Charles I isn't the only one losing his head. In a country divided against itself, who can stand?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talent of Lenny Scovel with original music by Purple Planet.
Huge thanks to Podcorn for sponsoring this episode. Explore sponsorship opportunities and start monetizing your podcast by signing up here: https://podcorn.com/podcasters/
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A play, an opera, a film, three witches... and Benito Mussolini. Today, we examine why three twentieth-century works, Hans Wiers-Jenssen's Anne Pedersdotter, Ottorino Respighi's La Fiamma, and Carl Theodore Dreyer's Day of Wrath, were inspired by the life and witch trials of Anne Pedersdotter and why they all got her story so, so wrong.
Researched, written, and produced by Thomas Ignatius and Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talents of Joshua Summit and Sarah Tomei with original music by Purple Planet.
For more on these works, see:
Anne Pedersdotter: A Drama in Four Acts
La FiammaDay of Wrath
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On April 7, 1590 Anne Pedersdotter / Pedersdatter was burned for witchcraft in the city of Bergen, Norway. Remarkably, this was not the first time Anne had been tried for witchcraft. How did the wife of a prominent Lutheran clergyman find herself the defendant in multiple witch trials? In this episode, the first of a two-part series, we look to the Protestant Reformation for answers.
Researched, written, and produced by Thomas Ignatius and Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
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Heinrich Kramer has a problem: the powers that be don’t believe in witches. He plans to change that. In this episode we examine the author of the Malleus Maleficarum, the most influential witch-hunting manual in Europe. Kramer was essential in the creation and promotion of the early modern witch, but did he invent her, or did he just borrow her?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talent of Kiernan Angley and original music by Purple Planet.
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Plagues! Fires! Floods! Welcome to 2020 B.C. Thankfully, exorcists, amulets, and incantations abound in ancient Mesopotamia. In this episode we explore Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian magic and medicine in some of the oldest surviving texts in the world. When the gods themselves attack, who can save us?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talents of Gregg Adams, Kiernan Angley, and Jack Krause and original music by Purple Planet.
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A man’s wife has run away, but everyone knows where she is: living with the priest who enchanted her. In this episode our host digs deep into her own archival research to bring you four cases of seduction by magic in one fourteenth-century Italian city. Why were priests and women so likely to be accused of using magic in late medieval Europe, and who could resist their charms?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
For more on these cases, see Corinne Wieben, “The Charms of Women and Priests: Sex, Magic, Gender and Public Order in Late Medieval Italy," Gender & History 29, No. 1 (April 2017): 141–157.
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In our special season one finale Enchanted host Corinne sits down with Tanner Davidson of the Monster Legend Podcast to discuss medieval history, historical films, the Arthurian legends, the scariest creatures in Doctor Who, and more! We also make some announcements about the upcoming second season of Enchanted, so stay tuned!
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Modern science can’t quite shake its obsession with alchemy. Chemists have finally cracked the code and created gold, but what if alchemy had a different purpose all along? The final episode in our philosopher’s stone trilogy explores alchemy in the modern era, from Nicholas Flamel to Newton to nuclear physics and beyond!
Researched, written, and produced by Thomas Ignatius and Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talents of Gregg Adams, John Pippen, and Lenny Scovel and original music by Purple Planet. Special thanks to Librivox for the recording of Paradise Lost.
You can find a digital collection of Isaac Newton’s alchemical manuscripts at Indiana University’s The Chymistry of Isaac Newton
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The Hundred Years’ War is drawing to a close, but King Henry VI has lost his wits while his enemies gather their strength. Can England’s alchemists cure this Fisher King and save the country from war?
Researched, written, and produced by Thomas Ignatius and Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talent of Thomas Ignatius and original music by Purple Planet. Special thanks to Librivox for the recording of Henry VI, Part 2.
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With the Roman Empire on the brink of collapse, Zosimos of Panopolis has a solution: the philosopher’s stone. To discover it, he’ll need to synthesize a wealth of competing philosophical and religious traditions. Can a Greco-Egyptian alchemist cure what ails his aging civilization before it’s too late?
Researched, written, and produced by Thomas Ignatius and Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talent of Thomas Ignatius and original music by Purple Planet. Special thanks to Librivox for the recording of Julius Caesar.
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A wealthy widow, a servant girl, and a newly appointed bishop, three unlikely participants in a tragic event. Alice Kyteler and Petronilla de Meath made history by being the first women to face execution for witchcraft in medieval Ireland. When a witch-hunt is about much more than magic, who can resist the pull of the tide?
Researched, written, and produced by Thomas Ignatius and Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talent of Thomas Ignatius and original music by Purple Planet.
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A rivalry, a scandal, a woman who sacrificed everything for the love of an emperor. Empress Chen of Wu risked it all when she resorted to witchcraft to defeat her rival. In her place, would we do the same?
Researched, written, and produced by Thomas Ignatius and Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
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Tarot cards have become a symbol of the occult and divination. Over time they have inspired, enraptured, and even aided defectors. So what exactly is tarot, and where did it come from? How does a simple pack of cards hold such sway over our imaginations? The answer is in the cards.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with the voice talent of Thomas Ignatius and original music by Purple Planet.
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Aleister Crowley has earned many names—the Beast, Baphomet, The Wickedest Man in the World—and embraced all of them. This week we explore Victorian ritual magic, occult societies, and the modern culture wars.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with the voice talents of Gregg Adams and Randy Wylde and original music by Purple Planet.
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Astrology has become commonplace in modern culture, whether you check your horoscope in the newspaper or ask someone's sign while you're on a date. This week we meet one of the people responsible for astrology's popularity, Dr. John Dee, and examine his contributions, his life, and his legacy.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with the voice talents of Kiernan Angley, Kit Baker, John Pippen, and Randy Wylde and original music by Purple Planet.
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This week it's love spells and curses in ancient Greece, examining the Greek goddesses of magic, Hecate, Circe, and Medea, in epic poetry and drama. What's a girl to do when love becomes a curse?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with dramatizations by LibriVox and original music by Purple Planet.
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The king of Scotland has got 99 problems, but a witch ain’t one. This week, we dive into King James VI/I, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and the witch hunts of sixteenth-century Scotland. Can one king’s trauma cause a nation's madness?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with dramatizations by LibriVox and original music by Purple Planet.
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