Broads You Should Know

Walpurga Hausmännin - The Infamous German Babykiller

Germany in the 1500's was a pretty risky time to be a midwife - even a really good one. And so it was with poor Walpurga Hausmännin when 20 years of brilliant midwifery and healing was snatched away by a stupid rumor and some very unfortunate circumstances, leading to her arrest and subsequent witch trial.

However, her story turns bizarre at her trial, when she confesses (under torture, of course), to countless instances of infanticide, vampirism, and even repeated s*x and malicious deeds with a demon named Federline. Of all the witch trials we've learned about so far on this podcast - this one is sure the most disturbing, both due to her extensive confession, and the absurdly long, incredibly horrific manner in which she was killed. This episode is not for the weak of stomach or the faint of heart. Listen on at your own risk!

Before the episode gets too gnarly, though, Sara takes a few minutes to recap some of the super interesting facts we've learned about witch trials so far in this series - especially in light of all the misinformation she's been hearing lately. Turns out a lot of people don't know what the bleep they are talking about.

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

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Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

Anacaona - Haitian Queen Who Led with Peace & the BYSK THANKSGIVING CHALLENGE!

While history marks the first Thanksgiving as being in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, it turns out that when Christopher Columbus (and his *sshole brother, Bartholomew) first land in modern-day Haiti in 1492, they were warmly welcomed and assisted in a similar fashion by today's Broad, Anacaona!

A powerhouse leader of the Taino people, Anacaona led her people NOT into war, as so many neighboring tribes had done, but with a true matriarchal vision of peace and prosperity for all, she tried to erase division between the Spanish and the Taino through intermarriage, which was a remarkably effective strategy...until Nicolas de Ovando arrives from Spain as the new Governor.

Join us for this remarkable and heartbreaking story AND take part in our special Thanksgiving Challenge to donate your Thanksgiving expenditures to Indigenous Tribes which once resided on the land which you now live. Find out your local tribal information at native-land.ca.

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

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Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

Indestructible Women — Joy Andrew, Margery McCall, & Richmodis von Aducht [Chloe Skye]

Sara has been busy MOVING this week, and didn't have time wrap up her research on some GERMAN WITCHES (come back next week!!), so today enjoy this throwback episode with Chloe bringing us the story of not one... not two... but THREE broads you should know, and they're together in this episode because they all have one thing in common: they were indestructible.

Joy Andrew is likely turning 100 this year. And one thing's for sure—it was not an easy journey. She was almost assassinated. Her plane crashed into the desert. She beat COVID. And that's not even the whole story!

Check out the episode to hear about Joy, Margery, & Richmodis, why they were indestructible, and why they're most definitely Broads You Should Know.

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

—

Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

odern Eyes with Skye and Stone" & "Skye and Stone do Television"

Sam's short: "Dickie & Bea"

www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com web design by Sara Gorsky

Email us: BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

 

Produced by Chloe Skye & Jupiter Stone; Edited by Chloe Skye

Ana Koldings - ”Mother of the Devil” in Danish Witch Trials

When King James IV of Scotland (later James I of England) has his grand wedding plans thwarted by bad weather in 1590, an investigation is launched as to the cause. Instead of discovering the gross incompetence of the men in charge of outfitting the royal fleets, they find a much more sinister cause - WITCHES who conspired to send tiny devils in barrels across the ocean to cause the storms and prevent James' marriage!

Historians can't tell us very much about Ana Koldings because not much documentation of her witchcraft trial exists, but when Ana confessed to these crimes against the crown, she became not only a dangerous, but also a celebrity witch dubbed "Mother of the Devil".

Hear the full story of how this strange trial came to be and how it inspired James to ignite the witch trial fires in Scotland for centuries to come.

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

—

Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

The Night Witches — Elite All-Female WWII Russian Air Force Unit

Taking a break from the heavy-hearted witch trial content for a minute - we revisit one of our favorite BYSK episodes about a different kind of witch - THE NIGHT WITCHES! Dubbed the nachthexen by the german troops who heard nothing but a WHOOSH before their camps went up in flames - The Night Witches were a hastily trained, poorly equipped, all-female Russian Air Force unit who struck fear into the hearts of Nazis and turned the tide of World War II. They were fearless and brilliant and their story will take your breath away.

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

—

Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

Beatrix Leslie of Dalkeith - 84-Year-Old Victim of the ”Great Scottish Witch Trials of 1661-62”

Beatrix Leslie is an 84-year-old midwife living just outside Edinburgh, Scotland in 1661, which happened to be a very bad period of time to be a disliked elderly woman in the community because it was smack dab in the middle of the Great Scottish Witch Trials of 1661-1662.

During a span of literally 16 MONTHS over 660 people were publicly accused of witchcraft in that neck of the woods, and Beatrix, unfortunately, was one of them. Listen now to learn exactly what she was accused of, and how the way her trial went down made it utterly impossible for true justice to be rendered. (HINT: John Kincaid is one of the biggest *ssholes of all time).

You're also going to learn a whole lot about the Scottish Witch Trials - how they became the some of the largest, most deadly witch trials in human history, and how the government (who caused this fiasco in the first place) was able to break the witch fever that had such an insane hold on the region.

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

—

Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

Hypatia - Ancient Genius & ”Martyr of Philosophy”

Hypatia is widely (but incorrectly) thought to be the first female mathematician in the world and is considered to be one of the foremost intellectuals and philosophers in the entire Roman empire. So how come we don't list her name when we talk about Plato and Aristotle? Also, why does her name come up when you google search for "witches in history"?! Unfortunately, politics, as usual.

In her home of Alexandria, religious and political tensions had reached a fevered pitch, and her unique position of wise advisor ends up putting her in the crossfire between fighting parties. Unfortunately, the reason Hypatia makes the history books is because of her brutal murder at the hands of the Christian mobs. Even though her murderers tried to erase her from history, enough of her astounding work survived through the letters and journals of her students and colleagues and we now know the extent of her genius. A few historians even think that she beat Kepler to it discovering the laws of planetary motion! Though the evidence for that is slim - it's pretty cool to think about.

Hypatia's story is definitely one that you won't want to miss!!

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

—

Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

The Broads of the Salem Witch Trials

This week Sara dives into the most well-known incident of witch hysteria in North America - the Salem Witch Trials! While many of you may be familiar with the story from your history classes and Arthur Miller's popular play-turned-Daniel-Day-Lewis-Winona-Ryder-movie The Crucible, Sara's research turns up some VERY interesting truths about the motivations of the the girls and their parents - who (not surprisingly) influenced, puppetered and corroborated the "accuser girls'" testimony.

The second half of the episode we look more closely at the 13 individual women who were accused, tried, found guilty and were hanged for witchcraft at these trials; Who they were, why they were persecuted, and some of the specifics of their trials including the most ridiculous witness testimonies you could ever imagine.

Buckle up for this episode chock-full of Puritan insanity and mind-blowing legal proceedings that almost make the current court system look good. Almost...

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

—

Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

Half-Hanged Mary — The Woman Who Survived Multiple Witch Accusations and a Puritan Lynching Attempt [Caitlin Parrish]

This week, special guest Caitlin Parrish tells us the story of "Half-Hanged" Mary Webster. Accused of witchcraft more than once in her lifetime, she does not escape the noose - but you'll have to listen to find out the rest! Her story predates the Salem witch trials by several decades and she is an ancestor of Margaret Atwood's, inspiring her poem "Half-Hanged Mary" and one of the dedicatee's of The Handmaid's Tale.

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on iTunes
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

—

Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye

Women They Called Witches and ”The Most Important Femicide in the History of Mankind”

Today Sara brings us a new Series for the fall (to the delight of spooky season lovers everywhere): Women They Called Witches!

Throughout the entire world, and pretty much ALL of recorded history through TODAY, women have been accused of being witches and paid the price for it with their lives. One historian notes that the witch trials served as "the most important institutionalized femicide in the history of mankind"

Sara gives us a very brief overview of the history of the "witch trials" to lay the foundation for what's coming in the next few months, including the REAL story of what caused the Salem Witch Trials (hint: it wasn't Goody Osburn with the devil). We've got a good feeling that this is going to be our best series yet!

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A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world!

3 Ways you can help support the podcast:

1. Write a review on Apple Podcasts
2. Share your favorite episode on social media / tell a friend about the show!
3. Send us an email with a broad suggestion, question, or comment at BroadsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com

—

Broads You Should Know is hosted by Sara Gorsky.

IG: @SaraGorsky

Web master / site design: www.BroadsYouShouldKnow.com

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Broads You Should Know is produced by Sara Gorsky & edited by Chloe Skye