Morbid - Episode 42: The Paisley Witch Trials

Episode Date: February 1, 2019

In today's Mini Morbid, Alaina has chosen to take a brain trip to Scotland to dissect their history with witch trials. This episode will give a short background on the Scottish witch trials of the 1500s -1700s but mainly focus on one trial in particular from 1696 that revolved around a bold little girl, a stolen cup of milk and some poor souls who paid the ultimate price for it. Hope you enjoy. Sources: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/paisley-witches-memorial http://www.historynaked.com/paisley-witch-trials/ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18366305 http://paisleyonline.co.uk/html/paisley_witches.html See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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because it reminds me of Charlotte York from Sex and the City who we also referenced last week. We did. Wow. Connection. Kismet. Wow. So kismet.

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Just ordered some fun pins to send you guys and I'm excited about it pins pins So I'll post a photo of them on the Instagram. They're supposed to come today actually So we'll see if that happens why aren't they here yet? It's a photo of them on the Instagram. They're supposed to come today actually, so we'll see if that happens. Why aren't they here yet? It's like, almost eight o'clock. I know, but UPS, man. Oops. So, without further ado, now that we've thanked

those amazing people, I don't know what the case is this way. You don't. We're gonna start doing that for our mini-sodes. We're gonna start the porous each other. We're gonna try. The price. So tonight's mini-sode is going to be about the Paisley witches in Scotland.

I'm so excited because I'm a witch. And I love a good witch trial. Like I love any witch trial. It's just fascinating. And Scotland has a pretty sorted history with witches. Well, where's Scottish? We are. And that's why I kind of feel like I was like connected to this in a way.

So I was like, maybe one of our ancestors is a witch. Who knows? Well, they are, because I'm a witch. Yeah. So. So, yeah. So, and I mean, Scotland is one of those plays. It's just, you know, it's different from America

in the way that I feel like it's like Europe and like, you know, across the pond kind of respects tradition and like way more than America. You know, like it's just like they like, they hang on to like ancient history and stuff. Like it's just cool. A homage. They do play, they pay so much homage.

And so I just felt like I had to dive into this because they had some pretty gnarly witch trials. Did I say homage correctly? I think you did and I'm sure if you didn't, someone will yell at us, but sandwich it within a compliment. Yeah. Don't worry about it. You can tell we're a little salty this week. Yeah guys, we got a couple of uh salty messages recently. So it made us salty. We're all just lightly salted. We're a little salted right now. I wish there was some vinegar there too,

because that's my favorite chip. Ooh, I want some of those right now. So let me start by giving just a little bit of background on Scotland's witch trials. Under the Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563, both the practice of witchcraft and even consulting with witchcraft witches were considered capital offenses. Shit.

So even if you went to some like, because they respected medicine women and medicine men at one point, like healers and stuff. But then when this all started happening, they were like, no, no. Now you went to that person. You also are being. Oh, that's my stuff. Yeah. And this act stayed on Scottish statute books until it was repealed as the results as a result of the House of Lords and

Amendment to the bill for the Post Union Witchcraft Act of 1735. So that's a long time. That is a very long time. It's like almost 200 years. So it's like how old you are. Yeah, almost. I heard her. Close. Yes. So the first major series of trials under the new act were the North Berwick witch trials, which began in 1589. These trials had King James the Six playing a pretty major role in them. And he was kind of like, he was playing a victim in them. Like he was claiming to have been bewitched. They think that his involvement actually happened because he went to, King James the Six

went to a visit to Denmark in 1589, the same year. In Denmark, which ones were already, like, pretty common, it was already happening. They think when he was there, it kind of encouraged him to kind of take an interest in the study of witchcraft and also kind of get a little spooked about like how Witches can be witch you and fuck up your life and all that good stuff They also do the good shit for you, but back then they weren't thinking that they were like no all they do is bad shit So they were psyched when they could heal them and like give them spiritual guidance But then they were like as soon as some little shit had a fit. They were like oh shit

So on his way to Denmark and on his way back, King James came into a little bad weather, some storms while he was on his voyage. And so he immediately on the way back was like, this is a result of witchcraft. Or just bad weather. I mean, one might think that. After he returned to Scotland from his visit to Denmark, he attended the North Burwick witch trials. And these were the first major persecution of witches in Scotland. Under that 1563 act, remember that. Noted. Several people, like a woman named Agnes Samson and a schoolmaster named John Fien were convicted of witchcraft in these trials because they were said to have been the ones to send storms to stop James the sixth ship.

Now what evidence was there? No idea. So they were just like you did it. You guys smell kind of funny. Yeah, you guys are weird. You can send the storms. Yeah, pretty much. You're double jointed, so guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird. You guys are weird peasant. Like this is a nobleman. A Bothwell. Yeah, he was the fifth Earl of Bothwell. Don't you mess? No. No. No. No. No. No. Don't you mess with Bothwell? Not at all. But you definitely don't mess with the fifth one. And so he started thinking that this dude was a witch. And when this Francis Stewart fifth-throw of boss, well found this out, he knows what comes with that. So he just like fled for his life like he just piece. He's like, actually, I'm busy all the day.

So I can't mark you in the calendar. Can't attend that trial. Thank you. R-R-S-P-P. Hell no. Have fun. Let me know how it goes. Tag me on Instagram. James in a He was tagged a traitor So the king on Insta yeah on Insta he was tagged

Because you said tag him a big dick. I'm screaming That wasn't even on purpose So this made the king set up a royal commission, like several royal commissions actually, just to hunt down witches in his realm. And his recommendation was to torture the people that they caught. To trick out witches. Because what else were you going to do in like 1500, so same? So same.

And King James the Six was known to have personally supervised the torture of women accused of being witches. So he was just sadistic. Pretty much. torture of women accused of being which is he was just sadistic pretty much and he and so inspired by this whole thing in 1597 he wrote something called the demonology which was something that basically it was just like a tomb that opposed the practice of witchcraft and provided actually provided background material for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Oh wow. Yeah. And fun fact, I played a Scottish witch in Macbeth in high school.

Boom. Fun fact, I didn't. I did do that in high school. And it was fun. I did not last week, though. Yeah, I followed Danielis. So James, unfortunately, James just seems like kind of a little bitch Like James the sex seems like a little bitch and his focus it focus was basically to focus fear on female Communities and large gatherings of women. I feel like James might have been rejected a few times If it's a day Will he seems like he's slightly butt hurt. I put a little bit of cash in the back. And then he became king and he was like, wait, I can fix this with my power.

So he did this focusing the fear on female communities and large gatherings of women, because he figured by doing this, he was going to ruin any political influence that women had because widespread belief and conspiracy of witches and of witches Sabbath with the devil made you like any knowledge of that and any like association with that. You weren't going to have any political influence after that. Yeah. So he was basically just smearing these women and making sure that they could not threaten his political power.

Because he was fucking scared of women. Like he just was, he was scared of women. Who was in these days? And because a cult power was supposedly a womanly trait, because women were quote, weaker and more susceptible to the devil. Or maybe... We're just bad bitches. He's just scared that woman fuck you up.

They can. I'm not weak. Now all of this, and then shortly after his publication of the demonology, his views started to become more skeptical. Why? And in the same year, he revoked the standing commissions on witchcraft

and limited prosecution. So he all of a sudden just took a step back and was like, wait, I'm starting to think this is crazy. Nobody, like nobody knows exactly, well I couldn't find exactly why I'm sure people know. But he suddenly started becoming more skeptical. Where? Yeah. And then he just started like pulling back on letting prosecutions happen,

which is like... Maybe. That's nice that you did that a little bit too late. you've already done it. He met a lady maybe and she softened his way or maybe he met a dude and he realized like okay I can be like comfortable here yeah like I can stop being angry and like denying myself who knows I don't know I mean who knows King James is six I don't know a lot about them. I know nothing I was gonna go a little more into him But I didn't want to take up too much time on him and not focus on all this because it's a many many many many many many Mulled

So an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 people Mostly from the Scottish lowlands were tried for for witchcraft in this period Holy cow. It's a lot of people That's actually a much higher rate than. That's a lot of people. That's actually a much higher rate than England, which gets a lot of the press for the witch trials. Yeah. But Scotland was like taking the cake here.

They're just like swooping in under the radar. There were major series of trials in 1590 to 91, 1597, 1628 to 31, 1649 to 50, and 1661 to 62. 75% of the accused were women. Shock. Modern estimates indicate that more than 1500 persons were executed. The way that they were executed? Most were strangled, like grotted, and then burned.

And some of them were burned alive. That did happen. That, yeah, don't love it. So in 1649, the religiously radical Covenant era regime, and I'm not sure if I'm saying that right, Covenant era, I believe, regime. Alina. Oh God, I'm getting it.

You should know how to pronounce simple words. I should know how to pronounce every word in the entire dictionary, every single dictionary you should read and learn how to pronounce all of the word. How dare you? Well, the Covenant regime passed a new witchcraft act that ratified this existing act and extended it to now deal with consultors of quote devils and familiar

spirits who these people would now be punished with death as well. So now it's like anybody who makes offering to spirits, anybody that has any kind of spirituality whatsoever. You're fucked. Damn, like all my friends would be dead. I know everybody I know would be

literally. There were three main types of court in which the accused witches were tried and Like all my friends would be dead. I know, everybody I know would be dead. Literally. There were three main types of court in which the accused witches were tried and the whole thing. First was the Court of Justiceory in Edinburgh, which took cases from all over Scotland. But they definitely had a heavy bias on the Edinburgh region,

like the local region. The second court were the circuit courts, which were provided over by judges from the central courts and held in various places all over the country. And then the third one was a series of ad hoc local courts, which were held under commissions by the Privy Council of Parliament, and they were basically run by local landowners, a privy council of parliament, and they were basically run by local landowners and just like random gentlemen from around town, which sounds really good.

And they were, that sounds like it's gonna work really well. And they were trying witches and places where they were accused. So if you were accused in this county, that's where they would hold this ad hoc court. God, it. And they would just like pull gentlemen and like local and land over owners and be like preside over this.

I'd be like, I'm busy. I feel like I asked to open a client. So based on the known outcomes now, the execution rates for those local courts were much higher than the board, because they just didn't know what they were doing. And much higher than the courts board. Yeah, because they just didn't know what they were doing. Much higher than the courts run by professional lawyers and professional law people. Weird.

The local courts actually executed almost 90% of the accused. Wow. Judiciary court court x, when do I say? Judiciary court executed 55% of the accused, and the Circuit Courts only 16%. What was the Circuit Court again? The Circuit Court was the second one. They were provided over by judges from the Central Courts

and held in various places over the country. Okay, so those ones apparently had the lowest one. In the first one that was in Edinburgh know, that was in Edinburgh was the one with the 55% and then that stupid last one that 90% right. It's interesting because Scottish Whistropped trials were notable for their use of pricking which was also used in Salem. Pricking? Called pricking. This was when a suspect's skin was pierced with needles, pins, anything sharp. And because it was believed that they would have a devil's mark. And they would always look for that devil's mark.

And that devil's mark was supposed to be not, was supposed to not be able to feel pain. So it was supposed to be numb. So they would poke them all over to see if they could find a spot that it didn't hurt. Like who came up with this? It's like the ones that they would like dunk them in the water and if you drowned you were innocent and if you lived. You know what I'm saying? I'm dead, so. Like this was all just to fuck with people.

Now, there was professional prickers that were like set to do these things. What? I think they should be called professional pricks. They included John, Kincaid, and John Dick, which is a very... do these things? What? I think they should be called professional pricks. They included John Concade and John Dick, which is a very... well this is last name again. Dick, thank you for that. These two, their actions, helped set off the outbreak of witch hunting between 1661 and 1662. And they were later exposed as frauds and were imprisoned, which helped end the trials. So these dicks were like persecuting witches everywhere, like saying that they were witches

putting like pricking them and shit. And then later were found to be doing that. And then they were put in prison. That's weird. Yeah, so this just fucked up. There's like a lot of fucked up people just doing fucked up things. Because they were given the position to. The position of power. It's like the Salem Witch Trials where we saw it was like people just started like living with loving that power. There are a couple of the other ways that they would torture witches. There was some high profile cases like one of John Fine. There's a lot of John's. John. It's like Sarah's in a sale in the Sony Sarah's.

Larry's in Elizabeth's. Yep. John Fine was one of the people accused of being a witch and of plotting the death of the king in 1590. His feet were crushed in a shin press known as the boots. Oh, I don't like that. That was one of the ones that we talked about. I think you talked about that one.

I don't like dust boots. So the good thing is cases like that, I guess, were somewhat rare. They kind of just straight up garadagee and my friend here. Just think you about that. Confessions were definitely considered to be the best evidence and they were always considered to be real no matter how they were gone. But it's not there. But it's not. They were usually extracted by something called, quote,

waking the witch, which was just keeping the person sleep deprived. After about three days, they would start to hallucinate because that's just science. And this was the thing that provided them with some really fancy fun detail for the witch trials because they would start confessing because they're hallucinating. Oh, go on. And on top of confessing, they're telling you all this crazy shit. There's an elephant crawling out of the wall over there and don't you all see it.

That's a real witch. That's scary. So, and again, like I said, in Scotland specifically convicted which is where usually strangled or grouted at the stake before having their bodies burned. And like I said, there were instances where they were burned alive. No, we didn't know that. I don't want any part of them. No.

Luckily in the late of 17th century, people started getting much more skeptical of this whole thing. It just wasn't, people weren't just buying into it as much as they were. Which I think it's like, it's like the 1600s. I feel like everywhere. Everyone was like, BAAA! Magic! Which is aaaa! And then all of a sudden it's going BAAA! Just running around. Yeah, that sounds great. The 1700s gave and they were like, Wastest guest. We were a little bit young. We were're kind of kooky back then. Let's move on a little bit We've been yelling for way too long. We've been yelling. That's crazy. Let's keep it quiet in the 17-hundreds Well, and also things like economic distress

Started to calm down which a lot of those things can bring on hysteria in which trials like we saw in So yeah, so that stuff was starting to sell a lot. Once the next witch trial. Exactly. Say it your watch. Of course there were definitely still occasional local outbreaks of witch hunting. And the last recorded mass executions were in 1706 and the last trial was in 1727. The Scottish and English parliaments merged in 1707 and the last trial was in 1727. The Scottish and English Parliament's merged in 1707 and the

Unified British Parliament repealed the 1563 Witchcraft Act in 1736. So that witchcraft act of 1735 that came after the 1563 one. That was actually still on the books until midway through this 20th century. Oh, that's weird. Yeah. It was just like, you know, maybe. But in recent years, Scotland has begun a resurgent back into like ancient pagan and Celtic traditions in wage, which is cool. Yeah, that's how it's called.

Like, they're starting to just like bring it all back again. Because that's what they do. I feel like Europe just like has it right. They do. They just have it right. It's more fun there. Like all our listeners over there, you have it right. Well, I say it's more fun there.

I've never been there. But it just seems better. Yeah, it does. I mean, America's great. It's fine. So Scotland has this huge festival in Edinburgh led by the Belting Fire Society now. One of the main aims of this festival, according to the website, is, quote, to advance the education of the general public in the traditions

of the Celtic Lunar calendar, fire festivals, and their relevance to contemporary culture. So they're trying to, like, educate the masses on the old Celtic lunar calendar. That's interesting. And just, like, show them, like like why people used it then, show them that it can be used now. Like just bringing back traditional spiritual things, which is cool. There's also things and these have become bigger now. They're called Cludy Wells.

I like that name. These are something that could have got you accused of which crap to burn up the steak. Back in the 15 to 1700s But even today they still live on in contemporary Scotland and in the UK and Ireland in England a little bit What are they so there's actually one I'll explain what they are this one in Monlocky on the black aisle and it's the most popular because it is apparently huge and super spooky in like a good way.

So a cludy well is from the Scottish word for cloth and it is a pagan tradition of offering a piece of cloth to the nature spirits for healing purposes. Oh I like that. Yeah. So the person looking for help from the spirits brings a piece of a piece of cloth to the cludy Wells and ties them on a branch of a tree. Cludy Wells are usually in the woods, like in some cool little, just like foresty area. I like that. As the rag rots, the pain and suffering is supposed to fade along with it.

So it's cool. And it's considered really bad luck to remove any of these offerings. Everybody can go in there. They encourage people to go visit them and everything, but you are not supposed to touch any of these. Forestry Commission Scotland actually actively encourages people to still offer regs to the... That's cool. Yeah, they just require the cloth to be biodegradable. Which one makes sense.

And they're also like, the nature spirits are probably going to be more pleased if you offer a biodegradable, which one makes sense. And they're also like, the nature spirits are probably going to be more pleased if you offer a biodegradable cloth actually. Instead of one that's just going to hang on forever, not aid and regrowth at all. That gives you a little bit of a background on how Scotland viewed the witch trials, how a couple of their little instances, which brings us to the Paisley witch trials, which

took place between 1696 and 1697. On August 17th, 1696, 11-year-old Christian, I believe that's how you say, a Christian Shah, who was the daughter of a local and owner, John Shah, of Bargaren. Yeah. She came into the kitchen and she saw one of her family's servants Catherine Campbell steal a drink of milk, which is rude. By steal a drink of milk, I

mean that she walked into the kitchen and saw Catherine Campbell literally just drinking a little milk. And this little shit was like, that's my family's milk. That's not some common servants milk. She didn't say that on the record, but in my opinion, that's what she said. Yeah, she sounds like a bitch right now. And that's my family's milk that's not some common servants milk she didn't say that on the record but in my opinion that's what she said yeah she sounds like a bitch right now she said it she didn't even have a Scottish accent when she said it that's fine she was she became American when she said that yeah I believe it so Shaw told Catherine that she was gonna nark on her she was like get ready and then she immediately reported her to her mom she was like nark on her. She was like, get ready. And then she immediately reported her to her mom. She was like, bitch, she's drinking our milk, she's stealing.

So, you're like, oh shit. Right, that's just shitty. Just let her have a drink of milk. Yeah, she's literally the best. You don't buy everything for you. Girl, you're a lover. She probably milks that milk. She probably got it.

So Campbell was obviously thinking what a bitch. Yeah. Right. And allegedly cursed the little girl. Straight up telling this 11 year old thinking what a bitch. Yeah right. And allegedly curse the little girl. Straight up telling this 11 year old that the devil would quote, haul her soul through hell, which I think is a so metal and two also super disproportionate as a response to like you do you Catherine. Also it kind of sounds

like you when you're having a bad day. I said I'm going to haul your soul through hell. I'm gonna start saying that to people in traffic bad day. I said, I'm going to all your soul throughout. I'm going to start saying that to people in traffic. I just love it. That's just great. So, Christian was like, yeah, okay, bitch. Then four days later, Shaw encountered Agnes Nase Smith, who was an old woman who was supposed to be a witch. She's like ran into her, which was a little weird. And first, they were like, that's weird. But then the following day, August 22nd, Shaw, Christian, became violently ill

with fits similar to the symptoms reported a few years earlier in the Salem Witch Trials in America in 1693, which is promising because we all know how legit those were, right? Yeah, totally. they were super real so yeah so scared yeah totally So after eight weeks of this shit like having fits and shit like wouldn't you have bored? Yeah, I would think so she was Committed to the cause well there's not much to do with them. Yeah exactly So she was just committed to it. I'm not doing my chores today. I'm having a fit. I mean, the Catherine told her she was going to have

the devil haul her soul through hell. She was probably one of those things to say. So after eight weeks, her parents took her to see the really well-known Glasgow physician Matthew Brisbane. He could find no cause for these symptoms, no medical cause, which is shock-alock. For eight days after her visit to the doctor,

she seemed to have been getting better, but then, quote, the fits returned with increased violence. She would become as stiff as a corpse and be senseless and motionless. I mean, snitches get stitches. Christian. I can't take you seriously saying that at all. We are like two of the most like, I can't take you seriously saying that at all.

We are like two of the most like, I can't. I'm just saying. I mean, you get you got it. Oh, you knocked. So her parents took her back to the doctor after that, after she started having these, like, having the fits and becoming stiff as a corpse and senseless and crazy. And by the time they arrived back in Glasgow, she had begun to pull out of her mouth, balls of hair that she claimed to have been put there by those who were bewitching her.

And then she began pulling other like trash out of her mouth, like straw, pins, egg shells, orange pills, excrement, and bones, coal, gravel, chicken feathers, and cinders. If she was making this shit up, that girl was t-a-a-pt. And sometimes during these crazy aspects, she would be heard talking to the Catherine Campbell, who was not there, and she would like be pleading for her to stop. Oh, no.

Let's see where this is going. When you're pulling like eggshells, I'm like excrement and bones out of your mouth. Like, you're not really committed to the cause. You're not really committed to the cause. So, those were clearly bonkers symptoms. But then she also would get violent pinch marks all over her body. And then she would fall into a trance where she would seem deaf, dumb, blind, or even dead sometimes. She would just fall into a legit trance.

What the hell? And then she would start citing theological points from scriptures and intellectual things that were way beyond her. Oh, that's weird. Yeah. And they said that sometimes, allegedly, she would successfully predict future events, like things that would happen the next day and shit. So do we really think that maybe she was, I don't know if she was her soul, I just go through hell.

I don't really know. Was it getting hauled through hell? I don't know. And then she would obviously contort her body. They said she would bend almost double upon herself. Her eyes would sink back in her head until they seemed to disappear, and she would fly across her classroom,

and would be able to pick things off the ground without the use of her hands. Totally. Which I'm like, yeah, that definitely happened. You're like, that is just talent. I mean, pictures are it didn't happen. Cirque du Soleil. Or Be Which Men, you decide.

I do decide. Now, to be honest, this seems very exaggerated. And with the magic of modern knowledge, she was probably suffering from Munchausen syndrome. Probably. And it was just pulling shit out of her mouth to be dramatic. But who knows. Now, with the Dr. Brisbane unable to give any real,

like, they still couldn't find an actual thing that was going wrong with her. Her family and their local parish minister concluded that she must be possessed and she must be being tormented by witches. Because if she doesn't have an ailment, it can't be her psychological issues. Totally. It's gotta be bewitchment. So obviously this was a common occurrence in England in Scotland and you know the sale Which trials so this was not something that's weird this airwear at this time So the church set up a weekly fast and prayer meeting at Baragoran House and Shaw's father appealed to the authorities that

those That heard that his daughter named needed to be arrested because she started naming names She obviously initially identified only Catherine Campbell and Agnes Nase Smith But then she started implicating others kind of like in the Salem witch trials when those girls just started naming names of people that they just wanted to fuck with Eventually 35 people were accused Yeah, now, how do you even know 35 people back that? I don't know your name. How do you name 35? I can't name 35 people. Right. I'm 33 years old. This is 11-year-old Jesus. So at the request of the

Presbyteria of Paisley, the Scottish Privy Council set up a commission to investigate this whole thing. And under the chairmanship of Lord Blantair, the hearing opened on February 5th 1697. Basically this commission's thing was to decide whether there was enough evidence to move forward with the trial, which I feel like in almost all cases they were probably like, yep let's go. So eventually seven people that she accused were summoned to appear before a second commission in Paisley. They were Margaret Lang, John Lindsay, James Lindsay, John Reed, Katherine Campbell, Margaret Fulton, and Agnes Nacemeth. They were all charged with formatting a number of people, including Kristiancha.

They did have an advocate whose name was James Robertson, and he argued that the prosecution had to rule out the possibility that any of these events surrounding the case could be explained by natural causes before conviction could safely be secured. So he was like, this is fine, but you guys need to prove beyond a doubt that the shit that she's experiencing isn't natural or medical. Like you need to figure this out. So Matt, Dr. Matthew Brisbane, was the one that was like, can't find any reason for this.

Uh-oh. So James Hutchinson, who is the minister of, I'm not going to say this right now, I apologize, Scottish Listeners, the minister of Kilaulan, which was about five miles north of Paisley, delivered a sermon to the commission, which was normal. Like you'd think that they wouldn't have a minister come into a trial and like deliver a sermon these days. But this was very commonplace for any like

a member of the clergy to come to the court and speak at the trials. So it was not uncommon for these members of the clergy that ended up coming to do sermons at these trials to actually be very instrumental in the conviction. Oh yeah, which is crazy now. Why though? They just a lot of there, they held a lot of weight because religion was huge back then. So their sermons held a lot of weight. This particular minister James Hutchison, he placed a lot of importance on the fact that he said there were witches marks on the bodies of the accused. And when they decided to say, you know, there's explanations for these witches marks, their birthmarks, so this is that. He decided

to cast a ton of doubt on that. So he said, quote, and however doctors may say such and such things of it, which is Mark, we know not upon what ground. It may be that they have been butted in bribe to say such things. So the jury who was now worried that and being threatened by the prosecutor that if they acquitted the defendants, they would be quote, accessory to all the blasphemies, apostacies, murders, tortures, and seductions, etc. Where of those enemies of heaven and earth shall hereafter be guilty when they get out. What's that mean?

So, basically, the jury was told, you want to make them not guilty? That's fine. That's totally on you. But you're going to be an accessory if anything happens after they leave this court. If anyone accuses them of anything, you are accessories now and you'll be put on trial. That's not fair. So of course, they found all seven of the accused. Because they were like, five.

Because they were like, nope, not doing that. So one of those convicted, James Reed, committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell, using a hanker chiff attached to a nail on the wall before he could be publicly executed. The remaining six were garotted and then burned on the gallow green and paisley on June 10th 1697. It was actually the last mass execution for witch craft in Western Europe. John and James Lindsay were brothers. They were aged 11 and 14.

Oh wow. Yeah. They held each other's hands as they were garauded together. Oh my god, no. I can't think of that. Yep. Catherine Campbell, you know, devil's gonna haul your ass through. But she was shouldn't say that.

She's like, well, she's a good stand by that you little bitch. She's like, you know what? In hindsight hindsight maybe hyperbole was not the best thing He's in that situation She was carried struggling and screaming to the execution site. She did not go easy I would neither and she quote called down the wrath of God and the devil on her accusers before being killed That's what I would do too. You're gonna die anyway You're gonna die anyway. You got a star in some shit before you leave. Margaret Fulton at this point apparently had become insane by

this whole thing. Probably. And she quote, spoke cheerfully about visits to Elfland in the abode of the fairies on the backs of magical horses. Sweet angel. So basically Margaret was a good time. Fourth, Margaret Lang admitted to consorting with the devil, but said she had renouncing and was now reconciled with God. So she was like, yeah, I did some shit with the devil back in my day, but now it grows with God. And they were like too bad. It's a little too late for that, March.

Yeah, like poor Mark. So poor Mark. Poor Mark. Oh, it was a good man. I mean poor Mark too, I guess. Agnes Nase Smith really did the damn thing. Well, she was like a legit witch. Yeah, and Agnes was not fucking around.

Which I am so on Agnes's lap. What she said. What she said. She laid a quote, dying woman's curse on every person present and all of their descendants. Fuck. Yes. So for many years afterwards, every tragedy in the town was blamed on quote the witch's curse. Fuck yeah. I 100% plan to lay a curse on some shit before I hit the road for good. Well, I would only do that if necessary, but I would do it. No, it doesn't even need to be nests.

I'm littered before I'm just gonna lay a curse on something. Go ahead. As long as it's not me or my descendant. No, it'll be something awesome, but it's gonna happen. Because it's the only time you get to do that. Is when you're hitting the dusty trail. That's true. That's the only time. So you're hitting the dusty trail. That's true. That's the only time.

So you're gonna make it work. So one account of the execution state that some of the, this is rough. Some of the condemned were still alive when their bodies were burned. No thanks. And that the executioner's birdy walking stick from someone in the crowd,

and they used it to push the victims moving limbs back into the fire. Oh God. The guy who they took that walking stick from someone in the crowd and they used it to push the victims moving limbs back into the fire Oh God the guy who they took that walking stick from oh poor mark was named mark Yeah, so I see there you go was named mark canovan and he so they went to give him back is walking stick and he was like Because not only was that gross, but he was also like no, it's coming contact with witches and I'm not touching that No, like burning witches. Yeah, not witches So there remains of these accused witches were buried at a crossing now known as Max wilton cross And a horse she was placed on top of the burial site to keep the curse casual and like at bay But it didn't

Christian on Shaw, I would love to say that she you know and I'd be coming like a vagrant, but she went on to become a pretty big force in Paisley's industrial history and she became the driving force behind the Bargarian thread company, and she outlived several husbands. Yeah, she sounds like she wanted. We said a few weeks ago that, like the worst paid for the longest. They really do. Well, and you know how she got her success?

She copied, because Paisley is known for it's like thread and cloth. That's like what they're known for. She got her success by copying spinning techniques and possibly stealing parts of machinery from the Dutch. Oh. So she cheated her way to the top. So she became successful for stealing ideas and shit after condemning people to die for stealing sip of milk.

Like cool, cool, cool. Cool, cool, cool. That's great. Christian, that's great. So weirdly, the horseshoe that they placed on the site disappeared while road work was being done in the 1960s. Oh. And after that, the economic decline in Paisley started happening since 1970 and has been blamed by some on Agnes's curse. Oh, girl. And so because of that, and because, you know,

Europe doesn't fuck around with curses, the horse she was replaced in 2018 with the dedication of a whole new memorial on the spot, which reads, I love this, quote, pain inflicted, suffering endured, injustice done. I like that.

I love that, because it's like, pain happened. We're sorry. They were suffering and injustice happened Like they weren't like justice. They recognize yeah, they recognize like this is fucked It is so Interestingly just as a final thought experts now think that the paisley witch hunt was actually modeled or inspired by the Salem witch trials That was out. Yeah, I mean where gets out? Maybe they knew what was happening over in America. Makes sense. So, and now at the site of all this,

at the site of the executions, is apparently a ton of ghost stories. So maybe in a future episode, I'll go into the paranormal bits of this. I'll cover it like I was staring. Because we'll definitely come back to Scotland for more witchy goodness, because I wanted to focus mostly on this one trial.

Those are interesting. Yeah isn't that interesting? I like so. Those are the paisley witch trials. Don't go drink and milk and people's uh kitchens. Don't do it. Don't do it. And don't tell eleven-year-old little bitches that your the devil's gonna haul their ass through hell. Well when I was a babysitter I would love to say that. I'd rather love in your olds. Who hasn't wanted to do that? So, hope you guys dug that. And in the meantime follow us on Instagram. Yeah.

At Morbid Podcasts. And send us an email at Morbid Podcasts at gmail.com. And tweet us at a morbid podcast and join our Facebook group morbid colon a true crime podcast donate to our patreon if you feel so inclined to add patreon.com slash morbid podcast and please for the love of God go check out the website created by my lovely coho Elena at morbidpodcast.com oh keep listening and keep it weird but not so weird that you drink milk and somebody else's house and then you tell her that you're gonna the hall her

double soul through the devil and then everything dies and curses. Yeah, don't do that. I Music. Download on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? Or are they made to kill? I'm Candice D long and on my podcast Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music. I share a quick 10-minute

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