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This episode of The Strange History Podcast was lovingly crafted with the help of ElevenLabs.io — the magical technology that gives Amy her time to sleep, eat, work and spend time with her dog Jack. While some might say she sounds too good to be true, we assure you, Amy is absolutely a real person… who just happens to have access to studio-grade AI vocal cords and an unnatural ability to pronounce “necromancy” without flinching. Any resemblance to an AI is purely coincidental — and mildly flattering. Dan the announcers name is really Bill and Patrick, the fake ad guy who thinks he is funny? well he is questionable at best. So yes, AI was used but the people are real and the shinanigans are.... well.... shinanigans.
Episode Transcript
Welcome back, travelers. Our broom has carried us out of
Europe's courts and caves, across deserts, jungles, and oceans. Witchcraft
isn't a European monopoly. Every culture has wrestled with unseen power, misfortune,
and the temptation to bend reality. So let's spread our wings.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Middle East and North Africa, gin sorcery and sacred words.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
In Babylonian and Talmudic writings spells against disease and envy,
mixed with prayers to archangels. Early Islamic law treated seer
sorcery as real but morally dangerous. The Qur'an mentioned Solomon
commanding gin with divine permission, proof that magic could be
holy or heretical, depending on who signed the contract. Cairo's
(00:48):
medieval markets sold love filters, protective amulets, and gin inviting bowls.
Moroccan storytellers spoke of witches writing hyenas. Yemeny folk tales
described sorcerers using knots and winds to lure spirits.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Need reliable gin containment, lamplock keeping mischievous spirits sealed since
nine hundred and fifty CE.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Africa south of the Sahara power, morality, and mystery.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Across Africa, witchcraft explains fortune and calamity, shaping community ethics.
Among the Yoruba, Aja is a female spiritual power, dangerous
if abused, but also protective when honored. The river goddess
Assun blesses healers who channel wisdom with care. The Azondae
of Central Africa describe mangoo, an inherited essence that can
(01:41):
harm unintentionally when envy flares oracles, sometimes using poisoned chickens
help decide if someone's mangoo is out of hand. Colonial
powers often misunderstood these systems, branding everything witchcraft. Yet local
stories still cast witches as moral referee. They remind society
(02:02):
to behave or else.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
This morality moment is brought to you by envy begone,
ethically sourced talismans for keeping jealousy in check.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
South Asia spells spirits and village justice.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
India, Nepal and Sri Lanka team with stories of Dayan's
seductive women turned malevolent and chew Dale's ghosts with backward feet.
Rural councils sometimes punished suspected witches, especially during outbreaks or
cattle deaths. Alongside tantric healers offered countermagic chanting mantras over
(02:38):
fire or drawing diagrams on packed earth. Medieval court records
tell of royal astrologers jailed for whispering treason to the stars.
Even now, village healers blend Sanskrit prayers with folk remedies
to protect newborns from the evil eye.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
China, fox spirits and imperial crackdowns.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
China's witch history is a tapestry of philosophy, folklore, and policy.
Early chronicles praise wu spirit mediums, but emperors occasionally launched
purges against sorcery. Societies worried about rebellion, cloaked as ritual
literature gave witches sly charm. Liao jaiji. Seventeenth century Strange
(03:22):
Tales features Houli jung fox spirits who seduce scholars or
repay kindness with treasure. The line between which and spirit
friend was thin and sometimes romantic.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Protect your scholarship from sly foxes with scroll shield now
with anti seduction coding.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Japan and Korea mountains foxes and shamans.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
In Japan, Yama Uba haunt lonely peaks, offering stew before
possibly making you the stew Kitsunitsuki fox masters gained wealth
through sly familiars. Courtapo pointed on myoji, calculated auspicious dates,
and deflected curses with star charts and chants. Korea's Mudang
(04:07):
shamans bridged worlds with drums and dance, blessing households or
if accused of ill will, earning the label witch. Jose
On elites sometimes outlawed ecstatic rights, but commoners kept calling
mudang for weddings, healings, or even pest control.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Indigenous Americas shape shifters and spirit allies.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
North America's peoples carried their own witch lore. Among the Navajo,
Ye Naldlushi, skin walkers were witches who donned animal skins
to stalk the night, feared as traitors to community harmony.
In New England, Algonquian stories warned of winter spirits like
the wendigo, born of hunger and taboo. Spanish America fused
(04:52):
indigenous beliefs with Iberian Bruhia. Nahua texts described Nahuales shamans
who could become owls or jaguars. Colonial officials baffled folded
them into witch categories. In Haiti and the Caribbean Obia
and Vodu practitioners, mixed African ritual, European charms and rebellion
(05:14):
against slavery, and of course Salem, Massachusetts sixteen ninety two,
a tense stew of Puritan dread, land disputes and adolescent theatrics,
ending with twenty deaths and centuries of cautionary tales.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Planning a moonlight shape shift. Don't forget pelt Care keeps
your fur silky through every curse.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Magic, morality, rebellion, and healing. The world beyond Europe is
a kaleidoscope of witch stories, whether through chicken legged huts,
gin lamps, or foxes with questionable flirting skills. People everywhere
have tried to name the forces just beyond sight. Next
we'll watch witchcraft fade from the gallows but linger in
(06:00):
memory and then burst back in new guises, Romantic villains,
feminist icons, and even TikTok trendsetters,
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