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Hellish Nell

Last of Britain's Witches

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Hellish Nell

By: Malcolm Gaskill
Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

One of the last criminal trials using the 1735 Witchcraft Act was, improbably, in London in 1944. The accused was Helen Duncan, a middle-aged Scotswoman. This is her extraordinary story.

Helen Duncan - known since childhood as 'Hellish Nell', for her uncontainable nature - was one of the most popular mediums of the twentieth century, holding seances around the country where she was believed to manifest the spirits of the dead.

What happens when we die? It was the question of the age for a generation which had endured one world war and now was living through another. Mrs Duncan's seances offered an answer. But when she started foretelling naval disasters, she also attracted the unwelcome attention of the secret service. And so just weeks before the Normandy landings, absurdly, anachronistically, she was prosecuted for witchcraft and jailed. Was Nell a conjurer, a martyr or a security risk?

Hellish Nell was first published in 2001 to widespread acclaim. It remains in this revised edition a fascinating window into the unsettled spiritual and psychological mood of the times: a sensational tale of spectacle, credulity and cruelty, and of Britain's last witch.

©2023 Malcolm Gaskill (P)2023 Penguin Audio Great Britain Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts Women Witchcraft Magic Users
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Interesting History of Attitudes To Spiritualism

Great book and well read. The author (who doesn't read it) is one of the leading British experts on witches and the history of witchcraft. This book however covers Spiritualism and the shifting approaches, popularity and battles around its authenticity in late 19th and mid 20th century's in the UK through the prism of medium Helen Duncan. Hellish Nell does what all great history books should do. It opens the door to a forgotten world that makes you want to find out more about the subject matter. A wonderful piece of cultural history.

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