Witchland: Inside the Book with Professor Marion Gibson

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England Witch Trials, episode, European Witch Trials, Scotland, Video

Show Notes

Witchland with Professor Marion Gibson: The Witchfinder General, Civil War Chaos, and Recovering the Accused

We sit down with Professor Marion Gibson (emeritus, Exeter University) to explore her new book, “Witchland: A Tale of Witch Hunting and War in 17th Century Britain,” a gripping, archive-driven look at the 1640s British Civil Wars and the Matthew Hopkins–John Stearne witch hunts that pursued roughly 200–300 people. Marion explains her mission to remedy a “triple injustice” by restoring the accused to history—their names, neighbors, and ordinary lives—rather than centering persecutors. We dig into how war, religious conflict, migration, and the 1604 Witchcraft Act helped fuel mass prosecutions; how “watchers,” clergy, and communities escalated sleep-deprivation interrogations; and how templates of questions produced patterned confessions about familiars, spirits, and the devil. Stories range from the nameless “Witch of Newbury” to Scotland’s pricking practices, Great Yarmouth’s transatlantic links to New England, Cornwall’s Ann Jeffries and Moses Pitt, and growing efforts to memorialize victims.

Chapters

00:00 Meet Marion Gibson
02:49 Why Write Witchland
04:43 Triple Injustice
06:48 Civil War Panic
09:17 Witch of Newbury
11:16 Law That Enabled Hunts
14:01 Familiars And Confessions
17:18 Religion And Reformers
20:48 Building A National Story
25:00 Accusations And Watchers
30:39 Templates And Scotland
40:54 Cornwall Fairies Tale
44:30 Memorials And Memory
47:18 Buy The Book Next
50:31 Final Thanks And Outro