Digital Event Type: Zoom Lecture

The Witches of St. Osyth: Persecution, Betrayal and Murder in Elizabethan England – Prof Marion Gibson

The Witches of St. Osyth: Persecution, Betrayal and Murder in Elizabethan England

Prof Marion Gibson will discuss her recent book – an emotive, haunting story of a community torn apart, the Essex witch accusations and trial of 1581-2 are, taken together, one of the pivotal instances of that malign and destructive wave of misogynistic persecution which periodically broke over early modern England. Yet, for all their importance in the overall study of witchcraft, the so-called witches of St Osyth have largely been overlooked by scholars. Marion Gibson now sets right that neglect. Using fresh archival sources – and investigating not just the village itself, but also its neighbouring Elizabethan hamlets and habitations – the speaker offers revelatory new insights into the sixteen women and one man accused of sorcery while asking wider, provocative questions about the way history is recollected and interpreted. Combining landscape detective work, a reconstruction of lost spaces and authoritative readings of crucial documents, Gibson skilfully unlocks the poignant personal histories of those denied the chance to speak for themselves.

An emotive, haunting story of a community torn apart, the Essex witch accusations and trial of 1581-2 are, taken together, one of the pivotal instances of that malign and destructive wave of misogynistic persecution which periodically broke over early modern England. Yet, for all their importance in the overall study of witchcraft, the so-called witches of St Osyth have largely been overlooked by scholars.

Speaker Bio

Marion Gibson now sets right that neglect. Using fresh archival sources – and investigating not just the village itself, but also its neighbouring Elizabethan hamlets and habitations – the author offers revelatory new insights into the sixteen women and one man accused of sorcery while asking wider, provocative questions about the way history is recollected and interpreted. Combining landscape detective work, a reconstruction of lost spaces and authoritative readings of crucial documents, Gibson skilfully unlocks the poignant personal histories of those denied the chance to speak for themselves

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

Witchcraft History in 13 Trials – Professor Marion Gibson – Zoom

Witchcraft History in 13 Trials

Salem, King James VI, Malleus Maleficarum. The world of witch hunts and witch trials sounds antiquated, relics of an unenlightened and brutal age. However, ‘witch hunt’ is heard often in the present-day media, and the misogyny it is rooted in is all too familiar today. A woman was prosecuted under the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 1944.

Drawing on her recent book using thirteen significant trials to explore the history of witchcraft and witch hunts. As well as investigating some of the most famous trials from the middle ages to the 18th century, it takes us in new and surprising directions. It shows us how witchcraft was decriminalised in the 18th century, only to be reimagined by the 1780s Romantic radicals. We will learn how it evolved from being seen as a threat to Christianity to perceived as gendered persecution, and how trials against chieftains in Africa stoked anger against colonial rule.

Significantly, the the talk tells the stories of the victims – women, such as Helena Scheuberin and Joan Wright – whose stories have too often been overshadowed by those of the powerful men, such as King James VI and I and “Witchfinder General” Matthew Hopkins, who hounded them.

While this will be a history of witchcraft, the subject cannot be consigned to the history books. Hundreds of people, mostly women, are tried and killed as witches every year in Africa. ‘WITCH HUNT!’ is as common in our language today as ever it was, and witches are still on trial across the world

Speaker Bio

Marion Gibson is Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at the University of Exeter, UK. She is the author of nine books on witches in history and literature: The Witches of St Osyth (2022) and previously Reading Witchcraft; Possession, Puritanism, and Print; Witchcraft Myths in American Culture; Imagining the Pagan Past; Rediscovering Renaissance Witchcraft; Witchcraft: The Basics and, with Jo Esra, Shakespeare’s Demonology. Marion has also edited five books for publishers such as Routledge and Ashgate, and published around twenty chapters and articles. Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials is her most recent work.

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Following Lilith – tracking a demoness through time – Dr Sarah Clegg

Following Lilith – tracking a demoness through time

The monstrous Lilith has some popularity in the modern day, both as a demoness appearing in literature, TV and film, and as a feminist symbol. In most modern tellings of her story, she is the first wife of Adam, cast out of paradise when she refused to have sex with her husband, and is often represented as a seductive, child-killing creature. But where does Lilith come from? Tracing her back for over 4000 years, this talk will examine her origins in the child- and mother-killing demoness Lamashtu from ancient Mesopotamia, and Lamashtu’s contemporary, a rather sad species of virgin ghost called Lilitu. It will follow her through Aramaic incantation bowls, kabbalist literature, Christian folklore and Victorian art, looking not just at how she’s changed over the millennia, but what drove those changes – how she combined with cultures, movements and interests to become the monster (and feminist figure) that she is today.

Bio

Sarah Clegg has a PhD in ancient history from Cambridge University; she was part of the 2020/21 London Library Emerging Writers Programme. Her first book — Woman’s Lore: 4,000 Years of Sirens, Serpents and Succubi — was published by Head of Zeus and traces a group of seductive, child-snatching demonesses through folklore from ancient Mesopotamian to the present day. It was shortlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown Award 2023.

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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The Strange Case of the Feejee Mermaid – a Zoom talk by Prof Sarah Peverley

Japanese Merfolk and the Strange Case of the Feejee Mermaid

The strangest and most hideous mermaids in the historical record are the fake mummified mermaids that were exhibited across the world in the nineteenth century and which can still be seen in temples, museums and private collections today. Originating in Japan, where they were frequently bound with the origin story of a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine, the mummies were (and in some cases still are) revered as religious relics. Made from dried fish skins, papier-mâché and simian jaws, they were unsightly creatures made to imitate the unique merfolk of Japanese folklore, known as ningyō (‘human-fish’). Their initial function was to provide tangible evidence of the world’s unseen supernatural forces and generate revenue for the religious sites that cared for them. But when Dutch sailors encountered them in the early nineteenth century, the mummies were thought to be real, dried specimens and were quickly purchased and exhibited across Europe and America.

This talk charts the history of the mummified mermaid from the oldest (alleged) example surviving at the shrine of Tenshō Kyōsha on the slopes of Mount Fuji, to the infamous ‘Feejee Mermaid’ that cost a Boston sea captain his ship, became a Ward of Chancery, and made P. T. Barnum a small fortune. Join Sarah for an illustrated walk through the fascinating history of Japanese merfolk and an exploration of what happened when the cultures of the East and West collided in the body of the mermaid.

 

Professor Sarah Peverley is an academic, writer and broadcaster who divides her time between being immersed in the depths of mermaid history and lost in the medieval world. As professor of medieval literature and culture at the University of Liverpool she teaches across English and History and regularly speaks at festivals and heritage events. She has consulted for organisations like Guinness World Records, and has written, presented or appeared in over eighty TV, radio and press features. She is currently writing a cultural history of the mermaid. For more information see www.sarahpeverley.com.

Your curator and host for this event will be the writer Edward Parnell, author of Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country. Ghostland (William Collins, 2019), a work of narrative non-fiction, is a moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – as well as the author’s own haunted past; it was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley 2020 prize, an award given to a literary autobiography of excellence. Edward’s first novel The Listeners (2014), won the Rethink New Novels Prize. For further info see: https://edwardparnell.com

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[Image: the infamous Feejee Mermaid.]

Britain’s Last Witch – Hellish Nell – Prof Malcolm Gaskill – Zoom

Hellish Nell: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in Interwar Britain
One of the last criminal trials using the 1735 Witchcraft Act was, improbably, in London in 1944. The accused was Helen Duncan, a middle-aged Scotswoman. This is her extraordinary story.
Known since childhood as ‘Hellish Nell’, for her uncontainable nature, Mrs Duncan was one of the most popular mediums of the twentieth century, holding seances around the country where she was believed to manifest visibly the spirits of the dead. She also attracted the attention of psychical researchers, eager to prove to disprove her gift, and indeed the existence of ghosts.
What happens when we die? It was the question of the age for a generation which had endured one world war and now was living through another. Mrs Duncan’s seances offered an answer. But when she started foretelling naval disasters, she also attracted the unwelcome attention not only of psychical researchers but of the secret service. And so just weeks before the Normandy landings, absurdly, anachronistically, she was prosecuted for witchcraft and jailed. Was Nell a conjurer, a martyr or a security risk?
Professor Gaskilll’s ‘Hellish Nell’ was first published in 2001 to widespread acclaim and was longlisted for the Whitbread Prize. In a revised edition published in 2023, it remains a fascinating window into the unsettled spiritual and psychological mood of the times: a sensational tale of spectacle, credulity and cruelty, and the life of woman many people remember as Britain’s last witch.
Speaker Bio
Malcolm Gaskill is Emeritus Professor of Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. Before joining the School of History at UEA, he was Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Churchill College, Cambridge. Prior to that he was a lecturer at Keele University (1993-4), Queen’s University, Belfast (1994-5), and Anglia Ruskin University (1995-9). He left UEA in 2020 and is now a full-time writer. His interests are mainly in British social and cultural history, particularly the history of mentalities. He has written extensively about the history of witch-beliefs and witchcraft prosecutions, and the supernatural in the twentieth century, especially spiritualism and psychical research. His bestselling 2021 book The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World, was a Sunday Times History Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize.
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The Story of Wicca: An illustrated talk – Dr Julia Phillips – Zoom

The Story of Wicca: An illustrated talk

Modern Pagan Witchcraft, better known as Wicca, emerged publicly in England during the 1950s. Partly the timing was a result of Europe moving forward from the trauma of World War II, and partly owing to the repeal of the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which was replaced with the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951, but its story began much earlier, during the fin de siècle at the end of the 19th century.

The talk examines the influence of characters such as Charles Godfrey Leland, Sir James Frazer, and Margaret Murray, and reviews the roles played by Cecil Williamson and Gerald Gardner as Wicca made its wat from the shadows to public consciousness.

Speaker Bio

Julia Phillips is Hon Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol. She received her PhD for her research examining how witches and witchcraft were featured in newspapers in Victorian Britain. Her primary research interests are the study of witchcraft in the nineteenth century and the development of modern pagan witchcraft in the twentieth century.

Recent publications:

Phillips, Julia. 2021. ‘Madeline Montalban: Magus of the Morning Star.’ In Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses, edited by Amy Hale, 229-254. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Phillips, Julia. ‘The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic: Toward a New History of British Wicca.’ Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, vol. 16 no. 2, 2021, p. 173-200. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mrw.2021.0028.

Houlbrook, Ceri and Phillips, Julia. ‘For All of Your Protection Needs: Tracing the “witch-bottle” from the Early Modern Period to TikTok.’ Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft (2023, volume 18.1).

Curated and Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Serial Killers in the Ancient World – Prof Debbie Felton

Serial Killers in the Ancient World

Did serial killers roam the ancient world? This talk argues that serial homicide is not unique to modern times. Many stories from Greek and Roman literature describe mutilation murders that will sound familiar to anyone who has heard about Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and other notorious serial killers. This talk presents stories from classical mythology and history that are not for the faint of heart: here you will find tales of torture, sexual deviance, and cannibalism, among other horrors.

Bio:

Debbie Felton is Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she teaches ancient Greek and Latin as well as various courses in translation, such as “Fairy Tales in the Ancient World” and “Magic in the Ancient Mediterranean.” She specializes in folklore in classical literature and has published on various folklore-related topics including ghosts and witches. She is the author of Ghost Stories from Classical Antiquity (1999) and Serial Killers in Classical Myth and History (2021). She has also edited several volumes, including The Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth (2024).

image (caption: Theseus fighting Prokrustes, Attic kylix, c. 440-430 BC. British Museum).

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

Dear Father Christmas’: Tracing the history of a folkloric custom – Dr Ceri Houlbrook

‘Dear Father Christmas’: Tracing the history of a folkloric custom

In the 19th century, a London journalist noted that children continued to use the ‘most utilitarian of inventions as a means of communicating with their patron saint’. By this, they were referring to letters written to Father Christmas. This talk traces the history of the folkloric custom of writing such letters. When and how did it start? Where is it practiced? What folklore surrounds it? What becomes of the letters once they are posted? And, through this custom, what can we learn about the beliefs and desires of children, so often absent from the historical record? Fortunately, enough of these letters found their way – via the North Pole, of course – into archives, and this talk draws on these precious collections not only to explore the folklore of Father Christmas, but also to give voices to children over the decades and around the globe.

Bio:

Dr Ceri Houlbrook is a Senior Lecturer in Folklore and History at the University of Hertfordshire, and Programme Leader of the Folklore Studies MA. She is also a Council member of the Folklore Society and editor of its newsletter. Ceri is primarily interested in contemporary adaptations of historic customs and creations of folklore, having published books on coin-trees, love-locks, concealed objects, and witch-bottles. In 2023, Ceri published her debut novel, based on her archival research into letters to Father Christmas: Winter’s Wishfall, published by Bonnier Books.

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Italian Witchcraft and Shamanism – Dr Angela Puca – Zoom

Italian Witchcraft and Shamanism
Dr Angela Puca will discuss her new book.
Shamanism is thriving as an exotic import and a hidden native tradition in Italy today. This ethnographical work uncovers two faces of Italian shamanism. The first is trans-cultural shamans who creatively adapt rituals and beliefs from indigenous cultures worldwide. Second, extensive fieldwork shows how regional folk magic practices of segnatoriand segnatrici constitute a little-known but enduring form of native Italian shamanism. By documenting these parallel worlds, contemporary magic workers appear to be the heirs of ancient local healing traditions. Offering rare insights into vernacular religion, this book vividly portrays shamans’ past and present on the Italian peninsula.
Bio
Dr Angela Puca holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in philosophy. In 2021, The University of Leeds awarded her a PhD in Anthropology of Religion, which will soon be published with Brill.
Her research focuses on magic, witchcraft, Paganism, esotericism, shamanism, and related currents.
Author of several peer-reviewed publications and co-editor of the forthcoming ‘Pagan Religions in five Minutes’ for Equinox, she hopes to bridge the gap between academia and the communities of magic practitioners by delivering related scholarly content on her YouTube Channel and TikTok ‘Angela’s Symposium.’
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Women still die? What did I get myself into?!’: A Survey of Contemporary Folk Beliefs Surrounding Pregnancy in North American Culture – Sarah Shultz

‘Women still die? What did I get myself into?!’: A Survey of Contemporary Folk Beliefs Surrounding Pregnancy in North American Culture

This presentation will analyse present day folk beliefs surrounding fertility, experiences of being pregnant (including pregnancy cravings), and delivery in North American culture, drawing on in-depth interviews with roughly fifteen North American women who have been pregnant, covering a range of experiences in terms of age and stage of life during pregnancy. This paper will explore what interviewees had heard about pregnancy before getting pregnant, their experiences of being pregnant and giving birth, and what they had heard or believed about the meanings of these experiences based on both official health advice and informal friend and family networks. The presentation will explore three different areas of folk beliefs surrounding pregnancy: beliefs surrounding fertility, predicting the sex of the baby, and alleviating birth pains passed down from ancestors, folk ideas reflected in current popular culture about pregnant women’s bodies as out of control, and the beliefs and concerns about sifting through the vast and often contradictory range of advice available for pregnant people during this moment in time.

Bio

Sarah Shultz is an independent folklorist based in New York City. Her research and teaching interests include foodways and expressions of individual and group identity, culinary tourism, the folklore of pregnancy, the role of food traditions in the construction and contestation of white supremacy, personal experience narrative and expressions of gender identity, folk belief, and supernatural folklore. She received her MA in Folk Studies from Western Kentucky University and her PhD in Folklore from the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.

Image title

Birth on the birth stool. Anonymous woodcut from the year 1513. From Rösslin: The swangeren women and midwives rose garden.

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day