175. Witches

Not every witch in history was an innocent victim. In this episode of Girls Gone Spooky, Amy digs into the Scottish Witch Trials and the strange, vivid confession of Isobel Gowdie, while Liv covers two real "witches" who were ruthless, powerful, and very much guilty of something: La Voisin, the Shadow Queen of Paris who ran a poison-and-black-mass empire under Louis XIV, and Dame Alice Kyteler, the wealthy Irish moneylender who outran the Church and vanished with her fortune.

⚠️ Content note: this episode includes discussion of torture, execution, poisoning, and the ritual harm of infants (Black Mass segment, roughly 44:00–45:15). Listener discretion advised.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold Open: The Black Mass

0:28 Welcome + Practical Magic, ACOTAR & Book Chat

4:14 Scottish Witch Trials: How Many Were Accused & Executed

5:46 The Witchcraft Act of 1563 & Kirk Sessions

6:50 King James VI, the North Berwick Trials & Geillis Duncan

8:41 Daemonologie: The Royal Witch-Hunting Handbook

10:14 Pricking, Forced Confessions & Professional Witch-Prickers

13:13 Isobel Gowdie: The Witch Who Confessed Freely

15:04 Her Pact with the Devil & the Coven of Auldearn

19:21 Fairy Mounds, Flying Straws & Shapeshifting Spells

25:30 Elf Arrows & Fairy Belief in Scotland

27:50 The Hare Spell & Theories Behind Her Confession

31:31 What Happened to Isobel? Scotland's 2022 Apology

34:29 Liv's Segment: La Voisin, the Shadow Queen of Paris

36:03 From Fortune Teller to Blackmailer

39:52 Succession Powders & Love Potions (Poison Ingredients)

42:00 The Black Mass & Abbé Guibourg

46:02 Madame de Montespan & the Plot Against Louis XIV

48:15 The Downfall: Marie Bosse, La Reynie & the Chambre Ardente

52:24 La Voisin's Execution

53:26 The Cover-Up: Lettres de Cachet & the King's Secret

56:38 Dame Alice Kyteler: Ireland's Wealthy Witch of Kilkenny

58:16 Four Dead Husbands & the Bishop of Ossory

1:00:00 The Seven Charges & Robin Artisan, the Demonic Familiar

1:03:17 The Bishop Arrested, Alice's Escape & Petronilla de Meath

1:06:12 Kyteler's Inn Still Stands in Kilkenny

1:07:44 Wrap-Up & Next Week

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