Scottish Supernatural Beliefs: witches, ghosts and fairies in the early modern period
You're Dead to Me

Scottish Supernatural Beliefs: witches, ghosts and fairies in the early modern period

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 9, 202658 min

Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Martha McGill and comedian Marjolein Robertson in early modern Scotland to learn all about beliefs in witches, fairies, ghosts and more. Jacobean Scotland is famous for witch trials, partly inspired by King James’ obsession with witches – he even published a book on the subject, ‘Daemonologie’. But beliefs in other supernatural beings existed in early modern Scotland too. Protestant ministers discouraged and then encouraged the telling of ghost stories to reinforce the faith of their congregations. One minister theorised that fairies were halfway between men and angels. People worried that the devil might enter through...

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My name is Greg Jenner, I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster and today we are donning

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beliefs in early modern Scotland.

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0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello and welcome to You're Dead To Me with a Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously. My name is Greg Jenner, I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster and today we are donning

1:12

our fairy wings, re-reading our copy of Demonology and heading north to learn about supernatural beliefs in early modern Scotland. And to help us sift through the facts and the folklore, we have two very special guests in History Corner and also Orkney Corner.

1:27

She's a research associate at the University of Cambridge, where she researches the history of memory. She's also an expert in British supernatural beliefs in the early modern period. And you may have read her wonderful book, Ghosts in Enlightenment Scotland.

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