The Lancashire Seven: Possessions, Exorcisms & Executions

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

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Summary

In the late 1500s, Britain was, spiritually speaking, in something of a confusing place for the average citizen. With the protestant reform in full swing, many old traditions were being unceremoniously cast aside by the officials, whilst still being clung to by the public, leading to a thriving underground trade in charms and trinkets and the quiet trade of conjurers, folk healers and those ministers willing to indulge the old Catholic rituals. In Cleworth Hall, an estate manor on the outskirts of Manchester, the owner, Nicholas Starkie was forced to dig into this deep underground market, when he found his household ravaged by a host of demons. Fortunately there was an exorcist willing to help, though with his ministry as controversial as it was, it would not be long before the officials would sweep him away with all the other traditions that they felt no longer had a place in a society that was rapidly changing, seemingly at times, without a rudder. SOURCES Darrell, John (1600) A True Narration…. The English Secret Press, London, UK. More, George (1600) A True Discourse…. Richard Schilders, London, UK. Harland, John & Wilkinson, T. T. (1867) Lancashire Folk-Lore. Frederick Warne & Co. London, UK. Almond, Philip C. (2004) Demonic Possession & Exorcism in Early Modern England. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Orchard Halliwell, James (1642) The Private Diary of Dr John Dee. John Bowyer Nichols & Son, London, UK. Young, Francis (2014) A History of Anglican Exorcism. I.B. Tauris, London, UK. Walsh, Brendan C. (2021) The English Exorcist: John Darrell & The Shaping of Early Modern English Protestant Demonology. Routledge, London, UK. ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month.------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In the late 1600s, Britain was spiritually speaking, in something you were confusing place
0:06.1	for the average citizen. With the Protestant reform in full swing, many old traditions
0:11.6	were being unceremoniously cast aside by the officials while still being clung to by
0:16.1	the public, leading to a thriving underground trade in charms and trinkets, and the quiet
0:21.8	trade of conjurers, folk healers and those ministers, willing to indulge in the old Catholic
0:27.6	rituals. In Clebirth Hall, in a state manner on the outskirts of Manchester, the owner,
0:33.9	Nicholas Starkey, was forced to dig into this deep underground market when he found his
0:38.7	household ravaged by a host of demons. Fortunately, there was an exorcist willing to help, though
0:45.4	with his ministry as controversial as it was, he would not be long before the officials
0:49.8	would sweep him away with all the other traditions that they felt no longer had a place in a society
0:55.2	that was rapidly changing, seemingly at times, without a rudder. This is Dark Histories
1:02.0	by the facts of worse than fiction.
1:05.2	Hello and welcome to Dark Histories, Season 7 Episode 20. I'm a host Ben. Today we've
1:14.6	got another kind of spooky season-esque story for you. It's all about 16th century demonic
1:21.8	hauntings, but hopefully as always, there's also a little bit more to it than that. Just
1:26.9	a quick reminder, before we start, today's episode sponsored by BetterHelp. If you want
1:30.8	to sign up for online therapy, you can do so. If you use the link BetterHelp.com forward
1:35.6	slash Dark Histories, then there's an automatic 10% off, so yeah, give that a crack if you
1:40.5	fancy a little bit of online therapy. Let's jump straight into it then. This episode
1:44.3	is called The Lancashire 7, Possessions, Exorcisms and Executions.
1:53.7	At the dawn of the 16th century, England was a Catholic nation, and the religious landscape
1:59.1	was one of relative simplicity. Before long, however, with the emergence of Protestantism
	...

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