E35.1 Helen Duncan: Spiritualist & Witch? (Part 1)

When we last met, we reported on the Philip the Ghost Experiment. In that story, we mentioned the Toronto Society for Psychical Research. They were the folks who were responsible for heading up the experiment. What we didn't mention was that there are Societies for Psychical Research (SPR) all over the world. The original SPR though, was formed in the UK in 1882. Today, we're going to talk about Helen Duncan, who was investigated by the SPR in 1931. This investigation was headed up by one of the best known members of the SPR in fact, Harry Price. That wasn't the end of it though, Helen Duncan also holds the distinctive title of being the last person imprisoned under the witchcraft act of 1735. So what exactly made this woman such a fascination to psychical research and someone who'd have been labeled a witch over 200 years after the witchcraft act was passed? Well, we're going to find out that and more on today's episode of idiopathic..

References
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Additional Resources
Helen Duncan, (Not) Scotland’s Last Witch |Stuff You Missed in History Class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igW7RR5bf1w
Cheesecloth, Spiritualism, and State Secrets: The Dig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJgzsifYzCU