Our six part mini-series examining the seventeenth-century witch hunts across the eastern counties of England continues with a discussion looking at a topic not generally explored in this context: the environment.

Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore of the Leverhulme Foundation funded Seven County Witch Hunt Project join folklorist and host Mark Norman once again. Topics include the influence of the weather, farming and crops and the coastal fishing trade and how all of these have a bearing on the witch trials.

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In this episode, Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore turn their attention to the families involved in the witch hunts. Were all family members tarred with the same brush? How did dynamics work when families were accusing each other of witchcraft?

Moving on from this, we also look at the role of familiars - not necessarily the animal familiars which are more well recognized, but ghostly assistance provided from within the family and beyond, and the role of spectral evidence that emerges from this time period.

Once again, podcast host Mark Norman leads the questioning.

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Read the Seven County Witch Hunt Project blog at https://medium.com/@Witches7Hunt

In this mini-episode of The Folklore Podcast, recorded live at the UK Ghost Story Festival 2025 in Derby, UK, I chat with Professor Bob Edgar about the theme of Folk Horror.

With specialisms in scriptwriting, adaptation, music memoir and genre fiction, Bob has notably published widely on folk horror and hauntology. He is one of the editors of the Bloomsbury Academic series 'Spectres, Hauntings and Horrors'.

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