Ham-Handed Justice
from So Random & Weird Podcast Hosted by Sheena Olszewski Sarah Leitham
Medieval Europe did not just punish people for crimes - it put animals on trial. A pig in men’s clothing. Rats served with a legal summons. Cats executed as agents of Satan. If you think history is boring, this episode will change your mind fast.Sheena and Sarah unpack the bizarre, surprisingly structured world of animal trials across France, Switzerland, Italy, and beyond - where courts treated pigs, rats, roosters, and even insects as if they could be legally responsible for murder, crop destruction, witchcraft, and plague. Along the way, they reveal the strange logic behind these cases and why a defense attorney for rats was not as absurd to medieval minds as it sounds today.
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