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Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope, Halloween Special, 欢迎回来《闲话英伦·万圣节特辑》。

Hello，安澜。

Hello everyone. Hello and Happy Halloween.

Basically, one of my favorite festivals, last year we were doing superstition in the UK, so we're gonna talk about today.

Well, I thought for Halloween it would be nice to do something a little bit historical and also a little bit creepy. So I thought today we can talk about witches.

Oh, witches 就是女巫, ok, actually I have a quite a lot of background knowledge in this.

I know, so that's why I thought it would be good if we can talk about witchcraft in Britain.

Do you know that in university I actually wrote a paper on Witch Hunt.

Really

Yeah, always been a fascinating topic, like 安澜 was saying it's not just a fantasy or supernatural topic, it has a lot of history behind it.

First things first, when you talk about witches in British culture in British history, were they always evil? Were they always like an evil presence?

Not really, no, back in medieval times, and also early, they've always been witches and a lot of them were generally seen as good.

They were seen as good? So what did they actually do?

Well, they were known as cunning folk.

Cunning folk.

Yeah, a man could be a witch back then, they would help to cure people, help the crops to grow, woman to have children. It was a type of folk belief.

It's a little bit like 巫医 that sort of ideas, like witch doctor almost.

Type of thing.

But obviously if you read a lot of stories in the West, in Britain which they were hunted, they were seen as really, really evil.

That was from around the 15th century.

15th century.

Yeah.

How did they turn from the cunning folk which is harmless helpful neighborhood people to this evil presence?

Basically, it was caused by two kings, so Henry the 8th actually made witchcraft a Capital Offense.

Capital Offense, 就是要杀头的罪。

Yeah.

But why?

Because he was worried about the influence of these witches on society, it was also about the church as well, but it was actually another king, a Scottish king who then became king of England, James the First.

So King James the First was someone who was really scared of witches.

Yes, that's because he believed that witches were attacking his family.

That paranoid?

A little bit, but he was kind of educated king, so what he did was he wrote a book about finding witches.

Finding witches so that they can kill them.

Pretty much, and this actually started a witch hysteria when ordinary people started to believe that witches were dangerous.

‘Witch Hysteria’就是这种群体性的恐慌, and people were scared of witches.

Yes.

Because they were convinced by their king, of course, it's interesting that you talk about that he wrote an entire book about how to find witches.

So how to find witches, what were witches like, you said they were men and women?

You could have some male witches, but generally they were older women.

Older women?

Yeah.

Ok, from based on what I've heard, there are older women usually living alone.

Yes, so they were outside of the community, normally an older argumentative woman as well.

Argumentative, meaning they like to fight with others.

Pretty much, so they were seen as outsiders of the society, they didn't quite fit in.

It's kind of just… it just feels like it's the older woman in a neighborhood that shouts at everyone and nobody likes her.

Pretty much.

But what other features do they have?

Well, a witch would normally have a familiar.

Familiar is an animal, right?

Yep, a familiar is an animal, it can be a cat, so you think of the black cat, but it could also be any animal. So called witches had familiars that were fox.

其实这个familiar就有点像魔法师或者说巫师的这种魔宠。They are animals but they are not pets in that way, they also have magic.

Yeah

They have a bond as well.

Yeah, they were like type of servants or it was a type of demon or it could actually be the witch themselves. They will turn themselves into animals.

So these were the features of witches, but how did they find them? And after they found them, what did they do?

Well, anyone could be accused of being a witch.

Um…that's dangerous.

Well, it's very dangerous.

If your neighbors don't like you,…

Pretty much, or if your neighbors wanted maybe your house or your land…

They say you are a witch and then people would join in, chime in.

Exactly, they would look for witch’s mark like a mole or a wart.

Oh, on the body of the witch.

Yep

所以身上带什么痣或者什么瘊子啊那种都会被视为是女巫的一个象征。I have a couple of moles, you make me worried.

Everyone has a couple of moles here or there.

If you truly want to accuse them of being witches there are so many ways, but after they suspected someone of being a witch or witchcraft, what did they do? They sort of torture them, didn’t they?

In a lot of cases, they tortured them, yeah. It could be quite mild torture like just not let them go to sleep, sleep deprivation; but sometimes it could be very, very serious, and one of the most common ways was to throw the witch into a river.

Oh, this I’ve heard, you put them in a cage, you threw them in a river, if they floated like if they didn't sink, they were a witch because normal people would just drown, so if they floated, they were seen as a witch and then you would kill them.

Yeah.

Have them executed, but if they didn't, they just drown, either way they will die.

Well, if they sunk, then maybe that someone would be able to put them out, but yeah generally.

What it sounds like, there's no way out really once you're accused, pretty much that was it.

That's the thing, quite a few witches who were arrested, they were released. This is actually what the king wanted to try and do, he wanted to make it into legal scientific process.

Let me guess, so the king wrote a manual on how to find witches, and there were all these steps as in how do you torture witches. So I bet they were people who were professionally doing it.

There were, the most famous person was a man called Matthew Hopkins, who was known as the Witchfinder General.

I've heard of this, the Witchfinder General, it's kind of like the most professional guy, the top guy in finding witches.

Yep, it was just during the English civil war, so lots of people are fighting. Everyone was scared, and he was paid to find witches, and in just 14 months, he was responsible for the death of around 300 women.

Basically, he was a mass murderer.

Yes, He was a conman as well, he was just trying to get money, in the end they arrested him.

I hope they executed him as well.

I can't quite remember.

Um, but did he get paid? Obviously he got paid.

He got paid a lot of money.

But when did it stop? Did it stop right after I don't know… like Middle Ages?

Not quite, actually the last witch was arrested and convicted, she went to prison in 1944.

20th century?!

Yes.

1944, you would think with all the technology, all the scientific development, why would people still believe in that?

Well, they didn't quite believe in it.

So what happened?

It was a medium. A medium is someone who is able to speak to the dead.

噢，就是灵媒.

So her name was Helen Duncan, and she would have séance.

Séance is a gathering where people would gather around the table and they would try to call out the medium, they tried to call out the spirit.有点像我们那什么笔仙碟仙那种叫降灵会，séance.

Yep.

And it was during one of these séances, that she's announced that one of the biggest battle ships in the Royal Navy had sunk, because the soul of a dead sailor appeared.

And back then the news didn't even make it to the UK yet.

It was wartime, so the government knew, but they didn't release the news. It was the Second World War.

So they really believe that she got it from a spirit rather than that she got the military secret from someone else?

Well, she lived in a port, so she probably heard rumors, and the fact that she announced this, the government was so worried, they actually arrested her for witchcraft.

For witchcraft, and that was still in the law.

That was still in the law, and she went to prison for nine months.

I'm a bit surprised that they didn't just arrest her for divulging or leaking military secret.

Well, there's nothing against the law saying that if a dead person tells you a military secret, you can't say to people.

That's true, so witchcraft, but nowadays, I hope you have taken that out of your legal system.

Well, yes, 1950s actually.

1950s, so nowadays if a person says I can perform witchcraft, practice witchcraft, he or she will not be persecuted, will not be charged.

No, actually according to the latest census, there are 11,000 witches.

11,000 witches?

In the UK, or Wiccans as they called now.

Wiccans are just white witches, harmless witches, that would be another episode maybe we can do later.

But you asked when did it stop? Technically it never really stopped.

Never really stopped.

This is why even nowadays sometimes we describe like a… let's say a massive paranoia where you think everyone's guilt, you still call it a Witch Hunt.

Yes.

So that actually was something from the history that was kept in the language.

Yeah.

But it would be honestly from my perspective it would be pretty cool if you claim your profession is witch.

A lot of people do.

All right, on that note, I think we're gonna wrap up. If like me, you're also into stories of witches or witchcraft, leave us a comment in the comment section, and we'll see you next time. Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone.

See you.

Bye