HeyJaredThe Thing About Witch Hunts
The Thing About Witch Hunts is the podcast of historical witch trials and modern-day violent witchcraft persecution.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 21, 2026
- Audience
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 15, 2026
Latest episodes
A History of Terrifying Women: Author Eleanor Johnson on Her New Book, Monstrous B*tch (opens the original)
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Monstrous Bitch: 4,000 Years of Demonizing Women, From Lamashtu to Modern Horror Medievalist and Columbia professor Dr. Eleanor Johnson joins us to trace the 4,000-year lineage behind her new book, Monstrous Bitch, connecting ancient Mesopotamian demon Lamashtu to Greek and Roman lamiae, medieval and early modern witch persecutions, and modern horror cinema. We follow how patriarchal cultures repeatedly weaponized a recurring “triptych” of accusations—women’s voices, sexuality or predation, and
The Craft at 30 with Abby Brenker of the Lunatics Project (opens the original)
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The Craft at 30: Witchcraft, Teen Horror, and the Satanic Panic with Abby Brenker (Lunatics Project) We welcome Abby Brenker of The Lunatics Project to dig into The Craft on its 30th anniversary, tracing why this 1996 teen witchcraft horror classic became a sleepover staple despite mixed reviews and an R rating. We explore how the film centers female friendship, anger, and power outside of romance, while portraying boys as secondary villainous caricatures, and we unpack gendered conflicts around
Salem Aftermath: Applying Behavioral Studies to Ann Putnam Jr. with Dr. Hogan Sherrow & Tom Phillips (opens the original)
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Why Did Ann Putnam Jr. Accuse? Reconstructing the Salem Witch Trials Through Behavioral Science We welcome back producer-director-writer Tom Phillips with evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Hogan Sherrow to examine why 12-year-old Ann Putnam Jr. became the central accuser in the Salem witch trials and later the only known accuser to publicly apologize. Using Sherrow’s “evolutionary behavioral reconstruction,” they combine life history, Puritan cultural context, and household pressures to consider n
World Day Against Witch Hunts: Missio in Papua New Guinea with Sister Lorena Jenal and Jörg Nowak (opens the original)
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World Day Against Witch Hunts: Sister Lorena Jenal and Jörg Nowak on Rescuing Survivors in Papua New Guinea Hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack mark August 10, World Day Against Witch Hunts, with its creators, Sister Lorena Jenal and journalist Jörg Nowak of the German Catholic aid organization Missio. Sr. Lorena, a Swiss Franciscan who has served 47 years in Papua New Guinea, has rescued more than 420 women accused of sorcery since 2012 and shelters survivors at the House of Hope, built using
Healing the Past: The Reclamation Project with Claire Standen (opens the original)
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Reclamation: Restorative Justice and a Church Returned for Scotland’s Accused WitchesWe follow the question history books can’t answer: once the harm of witch hunting is acknowledged, what does repair look like? Trauma resolution practitioner Claire Standen, founder of Reclamation, is building a Scottish community interest organization seeking reparations for the thousands prosecuted under Scotland’s Witchcraft Act (1500s–1700s), arguing apology without action isn’t meaningful. Her central deman
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