All Episodes

November 20, 2025 71 mins

From the witch trials in Valais, Switzerland, to the coerced confessions of Pendle and Salem, this episode uncovers the long arc of misogyny cloaked in religious fervor and legal authority. We trace how accusations of heresy & witchcraft can come as a result of moral corruption and political instability — and have been wielded to control women, the poor, the different, and the defiant throughout history. With voices lost to fire and rope, and others silenced by shame or forced to flee, this isn't just a story of the past. This is a ritual the patriarchy never quite stopped performing.

In part 2, we follow this ritual as it evolves—from the Puritan gallows to the propaganda of Nazi Germany, from Cold War suspicion to today’s backlash against inclusion. The targets may change, but the hunt remains the same.

 

greatinthesack@gmail.com

www.instagram.com/@greatinthesacktruecrimepodcast 

www.tiktok.com/greatinthesackpodcast

www.tiktok.com/neurodivergentfeminist 

 

show sources:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-21/girl-brutally-tortured-in-png-after-accusations-of-sorcery/9168876

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/women-witchcraft-papua-new-guinea-b1863343.html 

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-latin-american-womens-literature/women-cronistas-in-colonial-latin-america/5E27EA2D8B80D9441CA470E3CCD21F1F 

https://www.thecollector.com/inquisition-cases-colonial-mexico/ 

https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Ferdinand-and-Isabella/353119 

https://www.thoughtco.com/european-witch-hunts-timeline-3530786#:~:text=The%20European%20witch%20hunts%20lasted,and%20more%20susceptible%20to%20witchcraft

https://www.irss.uoguelph.ca/index.php/irss/article/view/5801/5957 

Kieckhefer, Richard (2013). "The First Wave of Trials for Diabolical Witchcraft". The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070813092734/http://www.lclark.edu/~schoen/weyer.html 

https://scandinavianhistory.org/2021/06/20/the-witch-trials-of-dalarna/ 

https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/swedish-witch-trials-dark-heritage 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_early_modern_Scotland 

https://www.worldhistory.org/Salem_Witch_Trials/?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAoULJ02Zg_XnLF-mUWXgvP6pYSvk8&gclid=Cj0KCQjwt8zABhDKARIsAHXuD7aBBG_K_lNYrPir26w76fTEEkCrE9Lr6-k8KuWm7GSupKx0Pacuj9kaAsehEALw_wcB

 

 

Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics

Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics

Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.