The documentary is about the witch hunt fever of the 16th century, so not Medieval.
Although, like so often, the middle ages seem to be connected to the subject and gets blamed for the burning of witches a lot.
But it was the modern era lot who are to blame!
It is fascinating to hear individual stories of the healers and local wise folk who had been part of life for centuries.
As rational and down to earth as I like to think I am, I will try this curse, draw an eye, stab it & the thief you're looking for will have eye pain!
Some of the objects in the Boscastle Witchcraft museum @witchmuseum are truly terrifying, so much inspiration for horror movies.
It is amazing how King James himself became so obsessed he interrogated Agnes Sampson the healer himself.
Putting staged re-enactments in documentaries is a risky thing to do, after all it only works when done really well.
I think the scenes here look pretty good.
It's still insane to me that people believed for such a long time that torture for confession worked, sadly some still do.
Scotland executed 2500 people for witchcraft, a higher proportion of its population than almost any other European country!
This graph is pretty shocking;
This King James fellow, has he been cancelled yet?
What a nasty piece of work.
The story of Alison Device, of the Pendle witches, is pretty horrific, her poor sister Jennet, 9 years old, giving evidence that resulted in the hanging of her family.
Whatever became of her?
There's a bit about a recent archaeological dig in Cornwall is very exciting.
They've found pits with what appear to be ritual offerings.
That white bit, that's a skinned swan...
This is how scary films begin...
Pins, fabric, human finger nails...
More than 40 of these pits have been found so far, often lined with animal skin.
One is lined with a skinned cat.
The last one dates to... the 1970s...
So it seems that witches have survived all the horrors of their persecution, good for them.
When done well, like here, it is an amazing experience and as close to time travelling as possible.
For historians and history addicts, it is quite sublime.
I've been to many events like it, it's always fantastic.
Butcher's shop in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, 1920s-30s.
Quite shocking to modern eyes of course and unhygienic.
But they did this every year, around Christmas, most of these birds and rabbits would probably already be reserved.
Many of them would be gone pretty soon.
Seems the building was properly covered with some sort of fabric or paper before the animals went up.
And it was winter, which helped.
No butcher would risk wasting his wares, if any of the meat would spoil he'd risk losing money.
He knew what he'd be able to sell.
Of course this kind of display would also bring extra publicity and custom with a bit of luck.
Alphonse Bertillon (1853 – 1914) was a French police officer and photographer who developed the first scientific system used by police to identify criminals and is credited with inventing the mug shot.
Here is some of his work, don't worry, I left out the dead bodies.
Found this old folder of 'bedstedes' or box-beds, as I plan to get one for my farm.
They're sort of cupboard beds, nice and cosy, warm, and privacy even when you don't have lots of rooms.
Enjoy the random pictures.