Scotland's Last Witch Burnings: The Tollbooth Executions

In this episode of The Story of Scotland, Lucas and Luna explore the dark final chapter of Scotland's witch hunts. They revisit the 1597 North Berwick trials, where King James VI himself interrogated accused witches, and follow the brutal wave of executions that swept through the country in the 1640s and 1650s — the Great Scottish Witch Hunt. Then they turn to the last known executions: the 1722 case of Janet Horne in Dornoch, and the lesser-known 1727 execution of an accused witch in Sutherland. Lucas explains how the Scottish legal system, unlike England's, allowed routine torture and spectral evidence, and how the growing influence of the Scottish Enlightenment — thinkers like Francis Hutcheson and David Hume — began to challenge the very idea of witchcraft. The episode also touches on the role of the kirk sessions, the Privy Council, and the tragic fates of women like Lilias Adie, whose body was denied a Christian burial. It's a sobering look at a painful chapter in Scotland's history, told with care and historical precision. #ScottishWitchTrials #JanetHorne #NorthBerwickWitches #LiliasAdie #KirkSessions #PrivyCouncil #WitchcraftAct1563 #TortureInScotland #SpectralEvidence #ScottishEnlightenment #FrancisHutcheson #DavidHume #Dornoch #Sutherland #17thCentury #18thCentury #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo