In the midst of the English Civil War, Matthew Hopkins has given himself a new title: Witchfinder General, and King Charles I isn't the only one losing his head. In a country divided against itself, who can stand?

A play, an opera, a film, three witches... and Benito Mussolini. Today, we examine why three twentieth-century works, Hans Wiers-Jenssen's Anne Pedersdotter, Ottorino Respighi's La Fiamma, and Carl Theodore Dreyer's Day of Wrath, were inspired by the life and witch trials of Anne Pedersdotter and why they all got her story so, so wrong.

On April 7, 1590 Anne Pedersdotter / Pedersdatter was burned for witchcraft in the city of Bergen, Norway. Remarkably, this was not the first time Anne had been tried for witchcraft. How did the wife of a prominent Lutheran clergyman find herself the defendant in multiple witch trials? In this episode, the first of a two-part series, we look to the Protestant Reformation for answers.

Heinrich Kramer has a problem: the powers that be don’t believe in witches. He plans to change that. In this episode we examine the author of the Malleus Maleficarum, the most influential witch-hunting manual in Europe. Kramer was essential in the creation and promotion of the early modern witch, but did he invent her, or did he just borrow her?

Plagues! Fires! Floods! Welcome to 2020 B.C. Thankfully, exorcists, amulets, and incantations abound in ancient Mesopotamia. In this episode we explore magic and medicine in some of the oldest surviving texts in the world. When the gods themselves attack, who can save us?

A man’s wife has run away, but everyone knows where she is: living with the priest who enchanted her. In this episode our host digs deep into her own archival research to bring you four cases of seduction by magic in one fourteenth-century Italian city. Why were priests and women so likely to be accused of using magic in late medieval Europe, and who could resist their charms?

In our special season one finale Enchanted host Corinne sits down with Tanner Davidson of the Monster Legend Podcast to discuss medieval history, historical films, the Arthurian legends, the scariest creatures in Doctor Who, and more! We also make some announcements about the upcoming second season of Enchanted, so stay tuned!

Modern science can’t quite shake its obsession with alchemy. Chemists have finally cracked the code and created gold, but what if alchemy had a different purpose all along? The final episode in our philosopher’s stone trilogy explores alchemy in the modern era, from Newton to nuclear physics and beyond!

The Hundred Years’ War is drawing to a close, but King Henry VI has lost his wits while his enemies gather their strength. Can England’s alchemists cure this Fisher King and save the country from war?

With the Roman Empire on the brink of collapse, Zosimos of Panopolis has a solution: the philosopher’s stone. To discover it, he’ll need to synthesize a wealth of competing philosophical and religious traditions. Can a Greco-Egyptian alchemist cure what ails his aging civilization before it’s too late?

A wealthy widow, a servant girl, and a newly appointed bishop, three unlikely participants in a tragic event. Alice Kyteler and Petronilla de Meath made history by being the first women to face burning for witchcraft in medieval Ireland. When a witch-hunt is about much more than magic, who can resist the pull of the tide?

A rivalry, a scandal, a woman who risked everything for the love of the emperor. Empress Chen of Wu risked it all when she resorted to witchcraft to help her defeat her rival, Wei Zifu. In her place, would we do the same?

Tarot cards have become a symbol of the occult and divination. Over time they have inspired, enraptured, and even aided defectors. So what exactly is tarot, and where did it come from? How does a simple pack of cards hold such sway over our imaginations? The answer is in the cards.

Aleister Crowley has earned many names—the Beast, Baphomet, The Wickedest Man in the World—and embraced all of them. This week we explore Victorian ritual magic, occult societies, and the modern culture wars. 

Astrology has become commonplace in modern culture, whether you check your horoscope in the newspaper or ask someone's sign while you're on a date. This week we meet one of the people responsible for astrology's popularity, Dr. John Dee, and examine his contributions, his life, and his legacy. 

In this episode, it's love spells and curses in ancient Greece, examining the Greek goddesses of magic, Hecate, Circe, and Medea, in epic poetry and drama. What's a girl to do when love becomes a curse? 

The king of Scotland has got 99 problems, but a witch ain’t one. This week, we dive into King James VI/I, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and the witch hunts of sixteenth-century Scotland. Can one king’s trauma cause a nation to go mad?