It’s spring 1663, and we’re in what Professor Liv Helene Willumsen calls "the most cruel of the panics in Finnmark". An intricate web of denunciations threatens to engulf the women of Vardø and the neighbouring villages.

In this episode, I go searching for what happened to a woman who vanishes from the court books, and I ask Liv Helene and Anya Bergman, author of The Witches of Vardø, what might have driven Anna Rhodius.

Then Professor Jennifer McNabb explains what happens when a witch hunt goes too far.

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vardowitchtrials/

Sound design by Craig Edmondson.

Featuring Professor Liv Helene Willumsen of UiT The Arctic University of Norway, novelist Anya Bergman, Professor Jennifer McNabb of the University of Northern Iowa and Isa Maline Isene of Vardø Museum.

Anya Bergman’s novel The Witches of Vardø: https://anyabergman.com/the-witches-of-vardo/

The court records in this episode were transcribed by Professor Liv Helene Willumsen.

Voices by Olivia, Anne Mali Sæther, Ingrid, Anne Elizabeth and Jon Erik.

Written, hosted and produced by Lisa Williams.

When a new governor, Christoffer Orning, and a well-born Danish exile, Anna Rhodius, arrive in Vardø, a darker idea takes hold: once the Devil has a foothold in a family, he will not let them go. Now the young daughters of accused women are brought before the court.

I finally go to Mount Domen, long believed to be the entrance to Hell, where the women were said to hold their witches’ gatherings. Then I visit the long-feared witches’ hole.

Along the way, Professor Liv Helene Willumsen guides us through the court books to find out how the chain of accusations came to reach the girls.

And I talk to Anya Bergman, author of The Witches of Vardø, about her own reading of Anna Rhodius.

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vardowitchtrials/

Sound design by Craig Edmondson.

Featuring Professor Liv Helene Willumsen of UiT The Arctic University of Norway, novelist Anya Bergman and Isa Maline Isene of Vardø Museum.

Anya Bergman’s novel The Witches of Vardø: https://anyabergman.com/the-witches-of-vardo/

The court records in this episode were transcribed by Professor Liv Helene Willumsen.

Voices by Olivia, Anne Mali Sæther, Ingrid, Anne Elizabeth and Jon Erik.

Written, hosted and produced by Lisa Williams.

In the winter of 1654, a young woman called Karen Jonsdatter is a long way from home, in a fishing village near Vardø. As well as working as a maid, she has a little business on the side, selling potions and charms to the men in the community.

But in these small villages, everyone is watching and listening, and for a woman, gossip and slander are a constant threat. Once she had been called a witch, what could she do to fight back? And when it came to it, would the men who bought her wares protect her?

Back in the archive with Professor Liv Helene Willumsen, we find Karen’s case in the court book. Professor Jennifer McNabb weighs in on the legal realities for women in the 17th century.

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vardowitchtrials/

Sound design by Craig Edmondson.

Featuring Professor Liv Helene Willumsen of UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Professor Jennifer McNabb of the University of Northern Iowa and historian Rune Blix Hagen of UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

The court records in this episode were transcribed by Professor Liv Helene Willumsen.

Voices by Klara Blooma Mohn, Anne Mali Sæther, Sven Conradi and Marianne Gathe.

Written, hosted and produced by Lisa Williams.