Welcome to a brand new season of criminelia. I'm Maria Tramarki.

And I'm Holly Fry. If you have been with criminelia for our previous seasons,

you have heard a lot of stories about lady poisoners, as well as stalkers,

a bunch of brazen imposter and, most recently, the most treacherous and cunning pirates

who ever set sail on the seas. This season is going to be all about witchcraft and alchemy.

They both involve magic. Alchemy is essentially a combination of medieval science and philosophy

that was practiced with the overall goal of the transmutation of base metals,

such as a metal-like copper, into precious metals, such as gold.

Witchcraft, on the other hand, is basically defined as the use of supernatural powers.

The practice has, over the years, been considered useful to both good and evil.

Usually, witches, though, were accused by those who believed it was used to cause

harm and misfortune to others. This season expect to hear about people like

an alchemist named Dr. William Butler, who pretended to discover the philosopher's stone,

which was the thing believed to transform base metals into gold.

We're also going to talk about how not all of those accused of witchcraft were women.

Stedelin was one of the first people on record who was tried for malevolent sorcery and

diabolism. We will also talk about some of the more sizable and sometimes more well-known

witch trials, such as the flowers of Botsford, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Pendle Witches.

There will be more, but we can't give everything away, can we?

We're rolling right from the use, scourge of the seas directly into stories of what it was like

to be accused of witchcraft and alchemy throughout history.

Join us on criminelia as we tell the tales of alleged witches and alchemists over the centuries,

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