The Vardø Witch Trials

History

Official website: vardowitchtrials.podbean.com

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Why did women in Arctic Norway confess to turning into whales and to meeting wolves at witches' gatherings? The Vardø Witch Trials is a new 6-part documentary series about Norway's deadliest witch hunt, which claimed 91 lives, most of them women. Lisa Williams travels to the remote places where the accused lived and works through the surviving 17th-century court records with Professor Liv Helene Willumsen, the leading expert on the trials, to find out why it went on for more than 70 years. Sound design is by Craig Edmondson (The Pitcairn Trials).

© 2026 Lisa Williams