Summary
The witch has held a place firmly in our imagination for centuries – from whispered warnings in folklore to pop-culture driven heights. But what does it mean to be a witch now?
Presenter India Rakusen, creator of the podcast 28ish Days Later, is on a journey to find out.
A common belief about the witch hunts is that they were a targeted attack on female healers and midwives. But to what extent is that true? India speaks to historians, nurses and activists to find out.
Presenter: India Rakusen Executive Producer: Alex Hollands Producer: Elle Scott Producer: Lucy Dearlove AP: Tatum Swithenbank Production Manager: Kerry Luter Sound Design: Olga Reed
Scored with original music by The Big Moon.
A Storyglass production for BBC Radio 4
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others. |
| 0:05.2 | My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland. |
| 0:11.3 | It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here, |
| 0:16.3 | but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world. |
| 0:19.6 | And because the team is such a diverse |
| 0:21.2 | range of skills and strengths, we have trained journalists, people who love digging through |
| 0:26.0 | archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice. So if |
| 0:31.8 | you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories |
| 0:37.1 | from all around the UK. BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK. |
| 0:39.7 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:47.3 | I'm Indyarackson and you're listening to Witch from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:53.3 | This is episode 6, midwives and healers. |
| 1:07.1 | An occupational hazard when making pretty much a knee programme is having to explain it a lot. |
| 1:15.2 | So it's a 13-part series about witches. |
| 1:17.9 | Yeah, so it's kind of just excluding. |
| 1:20.0 | I think there's been a lot of misunderstanding about... |
| 1:22.3 | Right, so it's a 13-part series for Radio 4. |
| 1:25.6 | So there's stories about witches. |
| 1:28.5 | There's the myth. |
| 1:36.2 | Although reactions to this series have been really varied, |
| 1:40.4 | if the person I'm speaking to isn't a total expert on the subject, |
| 1:44.5 | I found that more often than not, they respond with something along the lines of this. You know, a lot of the women during the witch trials were killed because they were midwives or |
... |
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