The Treaty of Watertown: Independence, Alliance, and the Fowle House Council ChamberWe step into an upstairs council chamber above a shoemaker’s house in Watertown, Massachusetts—where, on July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to a crowd that included Mi’kmaq and Maliseet representatives, and where the next day the Treaty of Watertown was signed as the first international treaty negotiated by the new United States. With historian Marilynne Roach of the Historical Society of Watertown, we trace how the Edmund Fowle House became Massachusetts’ wartime seat of government, what restoration work revealed about the L-shaped chamber and its preserved details, and how archival minutes illuminate daily Revolutionary governance. We also follow the treaty’s 1980s revival by Mi’kmaq veterans, the renewed collaboration with the Grand Council of the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet representatives, and plans for Watertown’s July 18 celebration marking the 250th anniversary.00:00 Watertown Treaty Preview01:52 Fowle House Restored05:43 Council Work In Wartime07:50 Who Led The Council09:43 Edmund Fowle Home Life13:09 Declaration Read Aloud15:51 Treaty Negotiations18:40 Forgotten Then Remembered21:12 Planning The 250th23:42 Friendship Still Binding25:00 Symbols Of Liberty26:18 Witch Trials Echoes27:13 Hidden Shoe Magic28:17 Visit And Support29:26 Closing Thanks And EventLinks

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Episode 200: The Long Arc of Witch Hunts—From Connecticut to a Global Crisis

The Thing About Witch Hunts: We mark episode 200 by tracing the full arc of witch hunts from ancient prosecutions to early modern demonology, colonial New England, and today’s escalating global violence. We begin with Connecticut’s executions—starting with Alice Young in 1647—and the 2023 resolution absolving the indicted victims, then widen out through England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Basque country, Sweden, and Salem, emphasizing how courts, texts, and laws shaped prosecutions and how “hysteria” does not accurately describe these bureaucratic trials. We connect historic concepts like the diabolical pact, the sabbath, and “crimen exceptum” to modern accusations, banishment, torture, and killings across at least sixty nations, citing UN-documented violence, Ghana’s Akua Denteh, and contradictory legal responses. We center survivors and the accused as people, invite action, and point listeners to endwitchhunts.org and World Day Against Witch Hunts (August 10).Thank you to the 175 guests who have appeared on the podcast and to all who have viewed or listened to The Thing About Witch Hunts. And we aren't stopping with 200 episodes. Subscribe today and watch the amazing episodes coming up.

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00:00 Episode 200 Mission

02:53 Ancient Roots

05:14 Church Turns to Heresy

09:58 Malleus and Sexism

11:36 England Goes Secular

12:23 Pamphlets and Skeptics

18:12 Laws Across Colonies

25:02 Europe Scale and Stress

27:17 England Local Panics

31:02 Scotland Burning Regime

34:50 Wales and Healing Magic

37:25 Ireland Rare Trials

40:11 Basque Hunt Split Courts

43:16 Sweden Blockula to Salem

44:40 Connecticut Before Salem

46:20 Massachusetts and Salem

51:22 After Trials Vigilantes

53:45 Modern Global Crisis

58:59 Law Patchwork Today

01:01:07 Memorials and World Day

01:03:20 What You Can Do

01:05:22 Final Call to Action

What was a witch's familiar, and why did these animal spirits sit at the heart of English witch trials? Returning guest Dr. Holly Bamford joins hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack to explain the witch's familiar, the witch's mark, and the overlooked history of male witches in early modern England. Learn what the familiar meant, how the witch's mark was used as evidence, why the witch-familiar bond mirrored motherhood, and why men accused of witchcraft were not simply feminized. Featuring Agnes Waterhouse and her cat Satan, John Bysack and his six snails, and John Palmer's familiar named Jezebel.

• What a witch's familiar was in English witchcraft

• Why the familiar mattered so much in witch trials

• How the witch's mark was used as evidence

• Who was accused of being a male witch

• Why men accused of witchcraft were not feminized

• How the witch-familiar bond mirrored motherhood

• Why Agnes Waterhouse and her cat Satan became a foundational case

• What John Palmer's familiar Jezebel reveals about marriage

00:00 Familiars in Trials

01:01 Meet Dr Bamford

02:08 Conference Paper Idea

04:14 What Is a Familiar

07:51 Pamphlets and Audiences

11:47 Counting Trials Limits

15:03 Agnes Waterhouse Case

19:21 Marks and Teats

22:56 Motherhood and Familiars

31:52 Male Witches and Snails

41:49 Humanoid Familiar Jezebel

46:27 Further Reading Wrap

48:53 Modern Meaning Outro

#WitchTrials #Witchcraft #WitchsFamiliar #WitchesMark #MaleWitches #WitchcraftHistory #EarlyModernEngland #Familiars #Folklore #AgnesWaterhouse #HistoryPodcast #WitchHunts #EndWitchHunts

Buy: Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions in Early Modern England by Charlotte-Rose Millar https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780367204549

Buy the book Cunning-Folk and Familiar Spirits by Emma Wilby https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781845190798

Register for the Magic and Witchcraft Conference June 24-25 Online & In Person

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/magic-and-witchcraft-conference-2026-nature-and-the-supernatural-tickets-1989231567166

End Witch Hunts: https://www.endwitchhunts.org

The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com