The Folklore Podcast

In the years 1645–1647, when England was embroiled in a traumatic and bloody Civil War, roughly three hundred people in the South East were accused of witchcraft. Received wisdom — and some shameless self-promotion on the part of the chief investigators — has dictated that the largest witch-hunt in English history was driven by the obsessive enthusiasm of two men: John Stearne and Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witchfinder General. Much of the scholarship surrounding the so-called “Hopkins Trials” trials has focused on these two men, placing them centre-stage in a story that affected hundreds, if not thousands, of people.“England’s Mass Witch-Hunt: A Seven County History of the Hunt” is a Leverhulme-funded Project run by Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore. The aim is to create a people’s history of the witchcraft trials of 1645–1647 and to recover the voices which were once deemed unimportant: the accused women and men, their neighbours and accusers.This 6-part mini-series produced by The Fo