About This Episode
What is this episode about?
The episode "ShortHand: Big Witch Special Part 1 - The European Witch Craze" from RedHanded covers the centuries-long witch-hunting mania that gripped Europe, tracing how women believed for over a thousand years to be local soothsayers using their powers for everyday charms and spells suddenly became targets of mass suspicion. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the continent turned against these figures with the belief that they were not wholesome folk healers but part of a demonic army on a mission to cloud the world in evil. This shift in perception fueled a wave of state-sanctioned executions that, over the course of the craze, claimed more than 200,000 lives.
Released for spooky season, this installment is a redux of an earlier two-part ShortHand series, revisiting The European Witch Craze as the first half of a special exploring how fear, religion, and paranoia combined to devastating effect across early modern Europe.
Hosts and release
Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire host RedHanded, a true crime podcast examining serial killers, cults, and lesser-known cases through a cultural lens. The show runs to roughly 400 episodes, released weekly, with episodes available on Spotify and Amazon Music, and bonus content exclusive via Patreon. This installment, episode 248, runs 23 minutes and arrived on October 20, 2026, as the opener to the wider Big Witch Special Part series.
