RedHanded - Morbid Caught RedHanded: The Witches of Long Compton

Episode Date: April 16, 2023

It’s finally happening – the Morbid X RedHanded collab! And to get everyone’s witchy juices flowing, we took a trip to the sleepy Cotswold village of Long Compton.Long Compton looks every bit the bucolic British fairytale. But for hundreds of years, stories of black magic, sorcery, necromancy and brutal murder have haunted its villagers. It’s said that in Long Compton, “The influence of witches goes and comes like the full moon.”Join Ash, Alaina, Hannah and Suruthi to uncover the blood-stained, satanic secrets of this unassuming hamlet. Then head over to Morbid’s feed to check us out on their episode where we learn all about the horrors of Six Mile House…Special thanks to Ash and Alaina from Morbid for joining us today! Listen to Morbid wherever you get your podcasts, or listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music: https://link.chtbl.com/RedHandedMorbidSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Red Handed early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Saruti.

I'm Hannah. I'm Ash. And I'm Alayna. Sorry, we did not prepare you for that. Context clues, you know. I was like, I think I go Ash. And I'm Alayna. Sorry, we did not prepare you for that. Context clues, you know. I was like, I think I go now. But yes, in case you listener are also confused as much as our guests were just then, welcome to Morbid Court Red-Handed.

Yes. I like that. I love that. I like it a lot. So we are in Boston in what we have now very affectionately named. What was it you just called it when we walked in? Oh, I called this room Satan's butthole. That's it.

That's it. Because it is hot in here. Real hot. It is very warm. Just in a big vault. Yes, we are in a very, very cool bank vault studio in Boston. Yeah. It's beautiful.

We're having a great time. It's a very clever idea for a recording studio. It is, isn't it? Don't. This is what she does all the time. She's like, shall we? Why don't we start this business doing this? And I'm like, with what time? I don't think I could know.

You sound like Elena. And I'm like, with what time? That's a great idea. She's like, I know I'm writing this, but maybe I could write more. But yes, guys, we are here. We are on tour at the very penultimate leg of our tour. We were passing through Boston and we know a couple of cool ladies who hang out in Boston. Let's go do an episode with them.

So if you haven't already heard, if you head on over to Morbid's feed, you can listen to the first part of this collaboration where we learned all about highway women. Yeah. Maybe America's first serial killer female version, but probably not. Probably a super hot couple. Definitely. Yeah, let's be real. An olden timey alleged BDSM dungeon. Yes.

And Mulan. Yep. Shang was there. Shang's the safean. Yep. Shane was there. Shane's the safe word, baby. It was great. So if you want to listen to all of that, head on over to Morbid's feed

and you can check that out there. But here, we'll be there. They will be. And so will we. But here, we're going to talk about some other things.

Tonight, today, whatever time you're listening to this. Who knows? We're in a bank vault. We don't have windows. We have no sense of time. It could be the middle of the night. We have no idea. Honestly, sometimes we're in venues, like getting ready, and we'll be like in the dressing room for like hours,

and then I'll go outside and be like, oh, it's still daytime. Wait, what? Who knew? But it may or may not be daytime. No, no, no, it's evening. I've just checked the script. It is evening on the 15th of September. Ooh. 1875. No, no, no. It's evening. I've just checked the script. It is evening on the 15th of September. Ooh. 1875.

Oh, my favorite time. Just trying. Time traveled. It is a good time. Love being in the 1800s. Everybody ready? Because we spend the entire episode there. Oh, I'm ready.

Is it cold there? It's September, so like, it's a jacket weather. Okay. Okay. I'm in. A thick cardigan. That'll do. And probably wearing a thick cardigan, 79-year-old Anne Tennant set off from her home that evening

to pick up some bread for dinner. 79 in 1875 is good going. I know, right? That is. I know. It's like, it's very tragic when then... And then we're going to find out why. I was going to say, she's killing it.

So on her way back from picking up this bread, Anne saw some farmers returning from their day's work in the fields. Very olden timey, very appropriate, all of that. Always coming upon farmers. And one of these farmers, a man named James Haywood, had been her neighbour for over 30 years. But when Anne saw him that day, James's eyes flashed into pure anger oh and then out of nowhere

he sprung at ann raised his pitchfork to the sky because he's a farmer and then savagely attacked her holy shit and tenant died that night she was 79 and that's how she... Come on. She had just bought bread that she didn't get to eat. No, I know. That's the worst bit. Pissed. At least let me eat this bread.

Wow. Right? What could drive a man to commit such a frenzied attack on his neighbor? Well, in James Hayward's mind, he had no other choice, friends. Because, and tenant, was a witch. I knew it. Witch! Witch, witch.

Anyway, he lived to 79. I read this really interesting article, actually, about how witches being always depicted as old, haggard things is all to do with menopause and how women are useless after they can't have babies anymore, so they become wise women. Love that. No, it's really interesting

anyway that is interesting and we learned about that when we were doing our shorthand on the European witch hunt which you can go and listen to on shorthand

basically for a few hundred years murdering witches was all the rage in Europe it really was we killed a lot more we killed a lot more than you guys did yeah you did the damn thing

everybody thinks Salem but I'm like hey hey hey you're like oh we killed way more you got the numbers we just got better PR over here we did we did I think it's all the little pilgrim outfits yeah help which is you know the crucible came out and it was like interesting again. I wholly blame Arthur Miller. Exactly. How did she get to marry Marilyn Monroe? It makes no sense. It's wild. It was just the author thing.

She really loved him too. He was like, I write books. And you're like, hot. All right. Whatever. So, yes, we did murder a lot of witches. But we didn't always in the 14th century and before witches are just sort of like folk healers wise women just cool stuff and they could help cure

your rickets give you good luck or even attract a sexy lover oh do a little love spell yeah exactly which apparently you're not allowed to do as a witch. It does seem very unethical. It fucks with consent. Yeah, because, oh, yeah. That is not the vibe. So I've done a love spell before. Did it work? She's not lying.

It went terribly. Shut up, tell me everything. It went terribly. So I was like 17, 18. I'm getting a little red. I remember this vividly. And I did a little love spell I like really liked this guy at the time and then he became like fully obsessed with me

showed up at my place of work yeah called me 17 times to the point where I locked myself in the bathroom and called Elena yeah I was like I don't know what to do he's here like I have no idea what to do and I was like what did you do like what is going on i was like damn what did the love spell entail she's a powerful witch over here i mean i believe it now okay so i got these candles from this very witchy store in our town love candles and then i think i was burning incense of course i lit the candles on my lana del rey cd because like love because like love you know like love, you know. And then I just like looked into them. I think there's like these little scripts that you get when you get the candle and it's like a little spell.

And I said that and I like looked into the flames and then I let them burn on my Lana Del Rey CD cover. And then, you know, the next thing I knew, homeboy was at my place of work trying to find me. And I can confirm this. This is like real and you knew him before and he had never previously had a mad undying frenzy no no so we we had gone to high school together and we were like somewhat part of the same friend group but like we didn't

really talk very much and then we ended up connecting like after high school and i was like he was we were supposed to like go on a date or something and I was like this is it like he was he was kind of popular in high school so I was like oh and then that happened and I was like how did you break the love how did you because you stopped it somehow I don't even remember I I really just remember him at my work and me in the bathroom that's like my most prominent memory of just being like how the fuck do I get I was genuinely concerned I was genuinely concerned. I was like, whoa, this is like the craft. Yeah. Like something's wrong here. We need to bind him. Yeah. He kept coming back for a while. I was I worked at like a pub and he would always get takeout there and he kept coming back and I

would send somebody else out to give him his back because I was like, he's going to murder me probably. Yeah. And then I don't know if he he moved away i actually don't know what became of him to be honest i'll tell you his name off there well definitely don't go back to 1875 because they will murder you yeah exactly absolutely fucking hell crazy that is crazy that's because in between the 14th and the 17th centuries everyone including the most powerful people in the church and the state which are the same thing then thought that there was a very real satanic conspiracy taking hold and no one would stop until the whole world was given over to satan via all of these witches that have to die like you that's the most metal shit i've ever heard isn't it just like the whole world's gonna be taken over by satan they had so much time back then to like figure out what was happening they didn't have tv That's the most metal shit I've ever heard. Isn't it just? It's like the whole world's going to be taken over by Satan.

They had so much time back then to figure out what was happening. I mean, they didn't have TV and stuff. Do you know what, though, guys? We can all sit here on our high horses laughing at these people in whatever fucking century, but we did also do an episode on the connection between how the satanic panic never actually went away. It just turned from the satanic panic into QAnon. And I am Susie QAnon here to tell you that that is the fact. I'm here to tell you. So yeah, the legacy lives on.

Sure does. But let's stick with this particular time period. So during the witch trials of Europe, hundreds of thousands of people were tortured and executed. We took this very seriously. Though eventually, those in charge did calm down. However, not everyone changed their minds about those sneaky, sneaky witches. Of course not. I'm looking at you. No way. I know, I'm a little scared.

I'm looking at you. Look at me with the eyes. You have a pitchfork under that chair? I don't want to get caught in any crossfire. She's a witch too. The grand finale of this episode. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show American Scandal.

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Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery Plus. And this kind of belief in witches stuck around well into Victorian times. And villages in the quieter parts of the country, around England, Scotland, Wales, etc., were still very much on high alert for black magic and all sorts of crazy, witchy, whatnot, well into Victorian times, which blows my mind. Truly. It's like usually pastimes kind of die out a little bit. You'd think so. Like my house is a Victorian house and I'm thinking like when that was being built, people walking around thinking that witches were still real. Yeah. That is wild. Truly. My favorite Victorian England fact is that people took the tube to the last public execution in London. That is interesting.

Those two things get dissected. That is a good one. That's dissected. That is a good one. That's really wild. That is a good one. That is a good one. That's a really wild one. So our story today is heavily related to a long compton. Now, we have built in questions into our script that we would love to ask you guys about.

So what do you think a long compton might be and the way in which i phrased the question may or may not be fair oh no okay you're like a little riddle over there makes me think that a long compton is not like a thing but maybe a person perhaps can you say the sentence in which you said Longcompton again? I actually tricked you quite a bit because I'm just like, our story is heavily related to a Longcompton. To a Longcompton. I'll say instead. I'll be more fair. Our story today is heavily related to Longcompton.

Oh, OK. Is that a place? Yes. Oh, shit. I got it. That's good. That's why I had to trick you. Yes. Longcompton is in the county of Warwickshire

Which Americans do have some trouble with But you don't because you're from Massachusetts and you know Hell yeah Because what would the others would say? Warwickshire Warwickshire That's terrible I hate that a lot

Yeah no Yeah we do sure here Sure As you well should As you should So yeah it's in Warwickshire Yeah, no. Yeah, we do sure here. Sure. As you well should. As you should. So, yeah, it's in Warwickshire, which also has Stratford-on-Avon where Shakespeare was born. And it also has Leamington Spa, where Alistair Crowley was born.

Oh, shit. Oh, damn. You guys got all kinds of cool stuff. Oh, those are fun. You do have all kinds of fun stuff. We don't have shit around here. We have Salem. I mean, I do love Salem.

That's what we've got. I would love to go to Salem. It's pretty. Next time you come back, we're all going. Yeah. We're in. We're in. We'll take you to Warwickshire.

Hell yeah. All right. Longcompton itself dates all the way back to the Saxon times. So as a settlement, it's more than a thousand years old. Damn. Damn, yeah. But today, it's more than a thousand years old. Damn. Damn, yeah. But today, it's pretty boring. It's just basically just like if you think of like quaint British village on Chocolate Box, it's like that. That's delightful to me.

Just warmed my heart. And only about 800 people live there now. Wow. Cute. And it's full of small thatched cottages. Oh, I love that one. And has an ancient church. And everything is built out of sandy colored Cotswolds stones.

It says in my script, pics? I think there was originally a link in there. Have you guys been to the Cotswolds or seen the Cotswolds? No, I've seen a picture. So I just went to the Cotswolds just before Christmas. And it is as enchanting as you might think it is. Let's see it. Oh, hell yeah.

Yes. I want to go to there. I stayed in this little village. I need that. Yeah, it's so cute. I stayed in this little village called Burton on the Water. Stop. Burton hyphen on hyphen the hyphen water.

Absolutely. That's the only way that I would accept that. That is precious. And they just had all these like signs everywhere being like, we were in the doomsday book. And I would accept that. That is precious. And they just had all these signs everywhere being like, we were in the Doomsday Book. And I'm like, this place is old. I'm like, damn. It's so cute.

Damn. I love that being like a flex. There's a town near where I grew up that's a Doomsday Book town. And I grew up knowing that, but I didn't actually understand that the Doomsday Book is actually just a very boring census, and it's not actually cool at all. It's just not a great name. It's so cool.

Just more good branding. Yeah, truly. You guys have Salem. We have the Doomsday Book. I don't know. That might be better. Yeah, that's pretty great. I'm not going to lie.

So that's what it looks like. Oh, tell them about the secret room. The secret room. Oh, my God. I love the secret room the secret room oh my god with the alarm oh my god this upsets me so when i love an alarm so when i went to the cotswolds i was like it's going on a little cute romantic pre-christmas holiday and they booked a tiny little cottage which was far too short for my male boyfriend my gentleman of questionable affection he now has scoliosis um but yes so we we we went there very cute very adorable and i had obviously just booked it for the two of us plus one dog and i didn't realize it was actually a two-bedroom house because the second bedroom was like behind a secret doorway shut up that led into like the

roof of this cottage when you look at it from the outside it doesn't even look like it possibly could have an attic because it was so short so anyway that's magic i mean some witchy magic because first night we stayed there fine next morning we got woken up by this sound and there was a church in the village so my partner got woken up and he was just like what is that noise and both of us were freaking out because it was this repetitive noise he was like i think it's the church bells and i was like it's not it sounds like something else and also it's such a random time for a church bells we going off so went back to sleep next day same thing happens we're starting to like freak out because nobody i checked the airbnb reviews no one had complained because we were getting more get woken up at like four in the

morning what the hell that's rude and i was like somebody else would have complained if the church bells went off at four in the morning and woke you up while you were on a holiday it's me i would complain yes and so then one day i was like right where is this noise coming from went and tried to find out and then heard it coming from behind this secret door shut up no but it was still quite dull and I was like, ooh. Went up there. Breathe. Well, I didn't go up there.

Made him go up there. Okay. Open the door, go up. There's a secret room upstairs and somebody had just set an alarm on the alarm clock up there. Oh my God. So there was just an alarm going off in a secret room. Every single night in the secret room. That's really spooky.

That is so spooky and you know i only found out it was there because i was reading the airbnb reviews and some woman had written uh we loved staying here it was perfect my daughter loved it so much especially the secret bedroom she might still be in there and i was like oh my god and you're like that's her alarm wake up gf damn i was like who the fuck came here and left at four in the morning my goodness anyway scary times yeah and it's perfect for it because it was like foggy the entire but i'm looking like a thick fog where you can't see your hand oh like smoke like victorian smoke there you go queen of the segue over here there you you go. Circle. Boom. That was a good segue. Right back into it.

And we've got more, more scary stuff because Long Compton might look nice, might look quaint and pretty. But I bet it's not. But if you believe the locals and what they have to say,

behind the picture-perfect scenery lies a long, sinister history of black magic, sorcery, necromancy, and murder. Whoa, that escalated so quickly. I want to go to there.

And they have a saying in Longcompton, which is, the influence of witches goes and comes like the full moon. Oh my god, I fucking love that. Damn. That's awesome. I had a feeling you would be into talking about the moon. I take the moon very seriously. So do I.

I love that about you. I think we just became best friends. I really feel like there's a convergence here. Whenever there's two people, we can always find ourselves in the opposite people. I love it. Every time. I love it.

Yeah, don't fuck with the moon. No. I wholly agree with that. She knows everything. But she will fuck with you. Yeah, she will. And so will I. If you fuck with the moon.

Or if I want to fuck you listen it was one time shut up so before we get back to poor old antennit oh my god i forgot about it don't worry we've got plenty of time to uh talk about antennit but before we get back to her let's look at some of the other spooky myths that surround this place of Longcompton. And it started in the year 604. Holy shit. Wow. Before we went quadruple digits. And it was then that St. Augustine, is that how I say it? St. Augustine. St. Augustine.

I think Americans might say Augustine. I was going to say we say Augustine, is that how I say it? St. Augustine. St. Augustine. I think Americans might say Augustine. I was going to say we say Augustine. Yeah, I would say Augustine. I like that a lot better. Augustine. Let's just say something different every time I say it, which is usually how I do it. Remix.

So, St. Augustine, he comes to town. And apparently, he was there to do some banishing. And when he banned a landowner from mass for refusing to pay his tithes, which is like the money you pay your church. Apparently, one of the stone slabs on the floor of the church exploded. Holy shit. You got to immediately rectify that mistake. You're like, all right, well, that was not good. It gets so much worse, Elena, because then a skeletal corpse burst out of the earth.

And they said, Satan. The devil. The devil. They suddenly got American Southern. And they were like, the devil. It's here. Brought it to a place in South Carolina. Or Charleston.

So, guys, question round. Another question we've got for you what do you think saint augustine augustine whatever you pick your pick your flavor what do you think he might be the patron saint i was thinking about it's three things we've got down here he is the patron saint of? Zombies. Protection. Is that even, is that a choice? Someone might be, but he's not. He's the patron saint of making a mistake. You should have phoned a friend. We'll give it to you guys because it is hard.

But brewers, printers, and theologians. Yes, I thought that was the next thing I was going to guess. There you go. Who was the patron saint of mental illness? Me. I'm always happy to be. Catherine, the wheel, Catherine. Yeah, yeah, that's my girl.

Yeah, there we go. We go way back. Love it, love it. Or maybe it was somebody else, I don't know. I think it was her. That was a past episode. Okay, so this corpse that burst out of the ground. Oh, that one.

It now spoke. Yeah, it did. And it told the congregation that he, when he was alive, had also been excommunicated. And it happened 150 years earlier. And it also happened because he had not paid his tithes. And he had been burning in hell ever since. Oh, that's rough. So for some reason, St. Augustine felt bad for this corpse, even though he has just banished another man for doing the same thing. So what do you think he did to help this corpse? He did two things. What do you think he

did? He gave him the wine and the bread. Oh, that would be nice. That would be nice. He'd be peckish. Yeah, you know, it's been a while. 150 years burning in hell. The body of Christ. Here's some wine. I'd be like, can I have some water? I've been burning for 150 years. This is Jesus's hot blood. it's just gonna dehydrate me i think he gave him a proper burial both of those answers are really nice none of them are correct he gave him a scourge to whip away his guilt oh it is a scourge i believe it's some sort of whip okay to whip away your guilt of course that's. Hannah, do you have any more biblical answer to what a scourge is? I was just trying to think.

I mean, Catholics are very, they love a flagellation. Self-flage. That's very true. So it's probably to hurt yourself to make the shame go away. Okay. Which is how I live my life. But imagine feeling sorry for somebody and be like have this whip it's fine

it'll get better beat yourself a few times and I think this will all go away maybe that's where like don't beat yourself up but no but do beat yourself up let me help you though he's also a skeletal I don't know if that's going to do what you think

it does Augustine but that's what he does he gives also a skeletal i know like so i'm like i don't i don't know if that's gonna do what you think it does really isn't it augustine exactly but that's what he does he gives him a whip and then he went and found the grave of the priest who had excommunicated oh we're getting petty i like this man yes let's go let's go to the source let's go and so we went and found this priest's grave and raised that priest from the dead also. Holy shit. Because why not? Why not?

So when the zombie priest came back, he absolved the reanimated guy's sins. That's nice. And the sinner crawled back into his grave and crumbled to dust, presumably now going to heaven. Now, in return for having done this nice deed, St. Augustine offered the priest his life back on earth, said, you can come back, hang out with all of us in 608 or whatever the fuck. Come on back. But the priest took one look around the room, decided that they were all sinners,

and said that he liked in heaven absolutely fine, thanks. And then he crumbled into dust. Incredible. He said, y'all are crusty. That's the first mic drop. He was just like, nope. And then it was just like dust. Can you imagine how far against what they're telling everybody in that church it would go if he was like, yes, please, let me come back. I want to come back. It sucks up there.

It was a test. And I think this also might be another sneaky little old and timey branding story because. Possibly. On seeing all of this the first guy you remember the guy who hadn't paid his tithes well he decided to pay up after all yeah he didn't want to fuck around and find out no and then we have a field up the road from the village where the church is and we have a man who is said to have sold his soul to the devil. In a field, not a crossroads. Odd choice. I also love that tweet that's like,

of course I need to have children. I need a firstborn, because otherwise what else am I going to trade with the devil? I liked that the third just did it in a field. There was no reason for it. It's scenic. It's Wednesday. And here's what he did. He drew a circle in the earth and recited the Lord's scenic. It's Wednesday. And here's what he did.

He drew a circle in the earth and recited the Lord's Prayer backwards. Ooh, that's tough. Can you do it? I can't do it forward. I don't even know the actual Lord's Prayer. You don't know it? I've seen so many exorcism films, I feel like I should know it off by heart. Do you not know it?

I mean, only from exorcism films. Is it the Daily Bread one? Yeah, Our Father Who Art in Heaven. Oh, there it is. I love you, that name. Well, no one accidentally say it backwards. No, no. Yeah, don't do that. only from exorcism films is it the daily bread one uh yeah our father who wasn't having oh yeah well no one accidentally say it backwards no no don't do that i don't want to go back to convent school we'll get the devil in here the devil okay so if you were the devil just for a day who says I'm not who already live in his butt what would your morbid fans have to do to summon you

from beyond the grave oh bitch I think with me they would have to play Gilmore Girls up until the 7th season while also playing every Ghost Records. Yeah, I would need a lot of Starbucks, a lot of Bravo, and maybe a Louis Vuitton.

And you'd have to offer me potatoes in any form. Oh yeah, I want food too. Oh, sushi. I'd like some sushi. Oh, I mean, mine would easily be big bed electric heat pad popeye's chicken 90 day fiance yes we're pretty similar in that regard yeah and then just draw a little a little pentagram just for fun oh yeah i would like that for the for the branding yes what about you hannah hannah h Hannah I don't know I was thinking about this the other day in our hotel rooms they have like

you know in like Marriott's or whatever and they just have this like constantly playing loop on the TV of just like this is how lovely our hotel is they have this thing on the ceiling which is like a pattern and I know this for a fact because I did my dissertation on it it's the pattern that you draw in the sand to bring forth the Haitian god of love.

Ooh. I am Marriott. And, like, the... Have you been tired hallucinating? I will take a picture of it. And I was like, I know what that is. And because when I first saw it, I, like, showed it to everyone.

I was like, do I want to get this tattooed? And then I, like, researched it, and they were like, no, the fuck you don't. You end up with an Ash Stalker situation. The point of drawing them in the dirt is that you can wipe them away and they're not permanent. So that Marriott's haunted to fuck. I was going to say, damn.

Yeah, no, horrible choice. That's risky. That is risky. It's like the whole ceiling. Well, I'm not going to stay there. Yeah, I know. Wow. Those bloody Mormormons we found

out the mormons are in the marriott's so what are they up to with the haitian god of love i know can't remember above the bed too her name begins with an e i can't remember yeah just one of those i'll do me that'll that's it you're taking her place but you've got to go and draw it or etch it into the ceiling of a marriott yeah you have to go to a marriott because what if you show up and the haitian god of love shows up and you're like it's a walk-off well i've never seen you two in the same room at the same time he shows up and he says it's a walk-off that would be sick i'd be there i'd be drawing that shit all the time just to hear that excellent oh my god right let Let's leave Haiti behind and go back to much less exotic Longcompton.

Because there's also a lane where at night you have to watch out for a headless horseman driving a carriage pulled by four headless horses. Oh, that is wild. And they can bomb down that lane whenever they want. Where do you cut off a horse's head? Is it at the base of the neck or is it at the head here and then they've got the long bit? This is like the question of how do dogs wear trousers.

Exactly. Sorry, go on. No, I think the godfather is like where that chest is. Yeah, I would say where that chest is. That's what it looked like. You need the neck. You need the neck for yeah I would say where that chest is that's what it looked like you need the neck you need the neck for the full effect

yeah sure a friend of mine lives up on the Yorkshire Moors and there's a very depressing town near where she lives

and there's this pub that's called The Silent Woman it gets so much worse and the picture on the like what are they called the

outside that's not the right word the swingy things they're out on you know oh yeah and so the one of that is just a woman with her head cut off and i was reading about it and apparently the man who owned the pub killed his wife by cutting her head off and horses won't go down there holy Holy shit. And he just branded that. I'm literally obsessed with that story. That is so messed up. She said, thank you for bringing that forth. Oh my God.

You're welcome. We've got loads. Wow. And my friend has horses. I was like, we should definitely take the horses down there. And she was like, get to fuck. I'm not doing that. Like, can I take the horses down there?

Did you say get to fuck? Yeah. I love that. Does that mean like fuck off? Yeah. Get to fuck. I'm never going to stop saying that. Because we just say get fucked. I like get to fuck? Yeah. I love that. Does that mean like fuck off? Yeah. Get to fuck. I'm never going to stop saying that. Because we just say get fucked.

I like get to fuck. But I like that. Get to fuck. I think the Scottish say it quite a lot. Oh, we're Scottish. There you go. It works out. There you go.

You can have it back. Got a castle. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Radin was found dead

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You don't believe in ghosts. I get it. Lots of people don't. I didn't either until I came face to face with them. Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits, and the unexplained have consumed my entire life. I'm Nadine Bailey. I've been a ghost tour guide for the past 20 years. I've taken people along with me into the shadows, uncovering the macabre tales that linger in the darkness,

and inside some of the most haunted houses, hospitals, prisons, and more. Join me every week on my podcast, Haunted Canada, as we journey through terrifying and bone-chilling stories of the unexplained. Search for Haunted Canada on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Right, so you've got the horses, they've got no heads, or necks, and they bomb down that road whenever they want. And then up the hill, there are these things called the Rollwright Stones. What do you think they might be? Rollwright Stones? Bear in mind, this is a Saxon settlement.

It doesn't have to be. So let me think. It just means it's old as shit. It's super old. You're clear for the evening. It's Saxon. I was like, well, that's like if the stones roll right you're so close i like your thinking all right you know i'm not gonna go because that was so

close because i'd be like don't go over there that's where the roll right stones are and if you don't do this then they don't roll right I like it I like it well legend has it that all the way back in the Iron Age a king and his men were walking to the village of Longcompton and a witch told them this prophecy

when Longcompton you shall see you shall king of England be ooh so he was actually king of a territory he's like a clan leader When Longcompton you shall see, you shall King of England be. Ooh. Mm-hmm. So he was actually King of a territory. He's like a clan leader, but he wanted to be the first king to unite the whole of England. And do you know what England was called before it was called England? No, I don't.

I actually don't either. Albion. Albion? So in like some of Shakespeare's plays, like King Lear, for example, has like, and then the realm of Albion shall be led to great confusion or something like that. I was going to say, because that sounded familiar. And I was like, why did I hear that somewhere? No, it's in quite a lot of, because King Lear is just a fairy tale.

Oh, that's so interesting. Yeah. That is cool. Albion. Right. So he hears this. It does, doesn't it? Yeah.

Better than England. It's the French. They just ruined everything with their stupid language damn it it is funny though when you're in like saxon areas of the uk like the words do get like so much more german really yes like noticeably yeah the place names and stuff oh yeah because for ages the like aristocracy and royalty all spoke french and all the peasants spoke english which is why we have we're one of the only languages that has different words for the animal and the meat that comes from it so like the meat is based on the french word and

the english word is the animal so like cow and beef for example that's so cool i never yeah ever thought of that yeah i didn't even think of that yeah it's because we had like our passports are in french as well like it's still like yeah yeah that's wild damn look at this this is really fun i like this a lot i know i'm literally like i'm like i am gonna listen to you all the way home now too like shit all right so we've got the prophecy and he wants to be the king of all of england and albion and then just as he was approaching longcompton the witch made a mound appear in front of this would-be king and then she said so he can't see longcompton because she's made this magic mound she said say yeah exactly and she said as longcompton thou can't not see king of england thou shalt not be rise up stick and stand thou stone for king of england thou shalt be non that doesn't rhyme it doesn't thou and thy men or stones shall be and i myself an elder tree and she turned the king and all of his men to stone. Oh, shit. Oh, my gosh. That started off so awesome.

And then did such a bummer. Why did she do that? I'm just witch stuff, you know? Freaky shit. So those stones? Uh-huh. That's the king? The king and all of his men?

And all of his men. Is that what the song's about? Humpty Dumpty? No. The king and all of his men. Couldn't put Humpty together again. There you go. again you know do you know what I'm talking about yeah I do what's the band oh I don't know what band that is I'm so bad at that it's a good song so yeah they're still there in stone damn that's wild and loads of spooky shit happens around yeah those stone so I would make so much spooky

shit happen if I got turned into stone. Are they in the shape of anything or are they just literal stone? Let's have a look. I think they're just sort of like blobby stones. Okay. Just blobby stones. Blobby stones.

Roll right stones. That's what I'm going to look up right now. They're in the cotswolds. They look like that. Yeah, it's not very impressive. No. Very stylized. You know what?

I believe that's king. I think so. I get it. Well, good, because all of that, all of those stories give you an idea of what sort of place Longcompton was. It sure did. Painted a picture. Yeah. And Anne Tennant, our poor pitchforked witch, had lived there for all 79 of her years of life.

She was born there. She married a man named John Tennant. Yes, she did. Yes, another John. Johnny Boy. You need to listen to the episode on Morbid's Feed to understand what we're talking about. And these two, after they got married,

proceeded to have seven children. Holy shit. And 57 grandchildren. Whoa. She was living life. They all were. Top shagger. And they all lived in a place called hell's lane

and their neighbor for more than 30 years was of course fork happy farmer james haywood oh dear me james i know come on so haywood like we said he was a farm laborer who was raised with a very deep and real fear of witches eekek. His parents, I believe in a very toxic trait, would apparently blame everything wrong in his life, their life, or anything bad at all on witchcraft. Very toxic. Let's talk about accountability, guys. So yes, nothing was ever James' fault.

Big no-no on how to raise kids. And it would always just be some sort of hex or bad spell that was holding him back it was never his fault if he ever had any aches or pains or a bad day's farming witchcraft stubbed his toe witchcraft bad hair day witchcraft the other thing we need to know about james hayward is other than blaming every single thing in his life that was wrong on witches he also loved cider i didn't think that's where we were going he was a big old drunk all right so maybe that's what was wrong i think that maybe related maybe contributed so long story short the adult james haywood who sadly wasn't the most successful character in town basically spent quite a lot of his time pissed in a corner ranting about how witches were constantly fucking him over.

Yeah. Oof. Which would be the natural conclusion to the life he's led. Absolutely. I think a lot of people in Salem are doing that in 1692 too. I think they had that in common. Yeah. And then one day, James Hayward decided that he was going to do something about these witches.

So he went straight to the local cunning man and the water doctor can you guess what those people might do for livings so the cunning man gives you advice because he's smart he's cunning and i thought you were gonna say something else everyone's thinking it someone had to be the first to say it. I thought you were going to do it. And the water man makes you... The water doctor. The water doctor. The water doctor. He makes you a potion.

Does he cleanse your soul? Purify? Hydrate? Does he birth children? No. Close with hydration. Hydration. Does he create tonics?

He drowns people. That will. You know what the water doctor does sorry i thought it was going to come to me just naturally i thought if i said that it would just roll out you know sometimes you think that'll work it didn't work no i think he makes tonics of some kind that hydrate you almost almost the opposite awesome Awesome. Nearly good. So I'll help you. I'll help you. So the cunning man is like a more acceptable face of magic than a witch.

So they're like reading grimoires and like making tonics and things like that. So they're like the counter witches, right? Okay. Yeah. They're like the vampire slayers. And they also make people fall in love. So you might be a cunning man. It didn't work really well.

It did work. You're a cunning man it didn't work really well it did work you're cunning worked too well and a water doctor claimed to be able to diagnose everything that was wrong with you by looking at your wee oh they should have called him a urine doctor or they should have called him a pee reader a urologist and in long compton the cunning man was also the water doctor and just like sharon madonna he went by one name which was manning oh very manly man and he had a catchphrase if you will it's all in the piss uh he thought that absolutely everything was to do he would say He would say that, though. It's in quotation marks under his name. You know, all in the pit. A lot of it is.

He's not wrong. He was onto something. We've been doing a lot of adverts for Pretty Litter. It is all in the pit. All in the pit. Yeah, relatable. True. Manning told James Hayward that he could fix all of his problems, including the witches,

and all he had to do was wee into a bottle and then turn it upside down presumably two things James Hayward's pee is exclusively cider and secondly hopefully he did close the bottle before he turned it upside down

so he turns it upside down and he was told by Manning that if the bubbles in his urine rose to the top well then my friend you are bewitched uh oh so if anyone wants to try that at home.

I was just going to say. Piss in a bottle. Let it snow. Turn it upside down. I just, I don't think I have particularly bubbly wee, though. I mean, I. That's kind of what I was thinking. I know.

Well, maybe if you. I think that might be a man trait because they're peeing from a higher elevation. Oh, okay, yeah. Which causes. But they always rise to the top. Yeah. Yeah, it's like cream. Like the witch floating thing where they're like,

if you drown, then you are the witch. You're listening at home, so we just shook a water bottle around for a bit. And it wasn't filled with my piss. Mostly. Just to be clear. Not entirely. So Hayward obviously did what he was told.

He probably really needed a wee after all of that cider. Absolutely. And I think cider goes through more quickly than most drinks. Yeah. Very liquidy drinks. So he did what he was told. And of course, because everything is the witch's fault, he was bewitched. But Manning was going to help him out.

He wasn't going to leave him high and dry. He was like, I can fix your problem. Because he is the cunning man and the water doctor. Yeah. So Manning told Heywood, to break a witch's power over you, there was apparently only one way. And what do you think that way might be? Kill her. Well, not far off.

Draw blood. Yeah. That is how you do it. So watch out. I i know i'm scared that guy's scary i don't know whatever became of him y'all oh no are you listening i'm gonna be looking around so hayward now had it confirmed to him by these magic bubbles that he was indeed under some sort of dark witchy curse and that all of his misfortune was because of a witch it's what he suspected all along of course and he now became

obsessed with the idea that there was a whole coven of witches at work in long compton because it couldn't just be one no he was far too unfortunate it had to be a coven some of us do ride solo and apparently this coven of witches with all their infinite power they had nothing better to do than you know make his crops grow slightly worse every year just despite him just despite not even die just just a bit slightly off a poor. I think that might be the soil, my dude. Yeah. Or your skills. Or your skills as a farmer, yes. So he decided to draw up a list of 16 names. People from the village that he just knew were witches. Wow. And among these 16 sorcerers that he had conjured up out of seemingly nowhere, that were all apparently obsessed with him was of course his neighbour, 79-year-old Anne Tennant. Like, no. It wasn't Anne. The thing is, there's like a couple of hundred people in this village

and he's like, I'm going to write down 16 names. I know 16 people. Yeah, exactly. Went through his Facebook friends. So for now, let's get back to the night of the Pitchfork attack. Hayward had a bad day at work. Presumably most of his days were bad. And then when he came upon Anne Tennant having the absolute audacity to walk home with her loaf of bread,

he ran up to her, like we told you, and pitchforked her to death. Because he wanted to draw blood from her to break his curse, he stabbed her repeatedly in her 79-year-old legs. And once he started, he stabbed her repeatedly in her 79-year-old legs. And once he started, he just couldn't stop. He went into a frenzy, stabbing Anne in the temple and beating her over the head with the handle of the pitchfork. Oh my god. I know, he's got real problems. Yeah. He's probably pissed. You just needed a little blood, my guy. Just a little dab will do ya. Seriously. And then a nearby farmer heard Anne screams and ran over. He managed to stop Haywood and take Anne to her daughter Elizabeth's cottage. And there

they also held Haywood until the village police constable and a doctor arrived. I'm amazed that they have either of those things. Same. Me as well. They didn't just bring the water doctor. No, no. Or the coming man. He's all in the piss, my guy. Yeah, I know you've been pitchforked to death, but please we in this episode. We'll determine what the cost of death is. So obviously this is 1875

in a tiny little village in the Cotswolds. And I can tell you that in 2022, when I went to the Cotswolds, there was one bus a day. Who didn't have that village? So things have not changed. Things have not changed. So back then they couldn't just phone 999 when they needed this constable and a proper doctor to turn up. The nearest doctor was all the way in Chipping Norton, which is another town four miles down the road. It's very nice. It's very nice. It sounds nice. I nice I like it It's nice I think you would like it So basically

someone had to go all the way there get the doctor in their horse and carriage and then bring him back Oh no So the doctor got there at 11pm

several hours after Anne got pitchforked That's helpful Somehow though Anne 79 year old Anne was still alive

Witch The So she was barely conscious. And when the doctor got there, he found a puncture wound in her left temple, a wound behind her right ear from the fall, two puncture wounds on her right leg, because remember he really went to town on there, and also three below her left leg. Oh my gosh. But before the doctor could finish

dressing anne's many many wounds anne died from blood loss oh probably because she'd waited three hours for the doctor to arrive most likely man i wish anybody else had thought to wrap up her life hey it's crazy that all that blood's running out maybe we should uh just wait for the doctor to get here i guess they're like god this sucks they just just wait for the doctor to get here. Someone's just drying their hands with a rag. They're like, God, this sucks. They just spent all their time trying to get to piss in a bottle so they could shake it. Folding all their linens.

Just hanging linens on the line. They're like, wow, someone should stop that blood. Hope the doctor gets here next week. My gosh, he's taking forever. I'll just get these linens ready for when he arrives. Could you grab the towels? Not you, Anne, not you. Put your hand down, covered in blood.

And you might think that James Hayward would have been a bit shaken up by killing an elderly woman. I don't even think. Well, you're right, because he didn't give a fuck. He was at his inquest two days later, which was held in a pub called the Red Lion. Amazing.

And he said the following. I hope she's dead. She was an old witch and there are 15 more in the village. I'll serve the same. I mean to kill them all. Oh, my God. I know, he's on a mish. Damn, he is on a mish.

And then at this hearing that is in a public house for some reason. He's definitely made that decision. He requested that. He was found guilty of willful murder, which is, I suppose, unwillful would be manslaughter, wouldn't it? Yeah. That's an oops. Uh oh. Very hard to argue when you pitchfork your elderly neighbor to death

and then say that she deserved it because she was a witch so pub hearings are apparently not legally binding it's shocking he had to be taken off to warwick the nearest city to have a proper trial and his reputation preceded him according to a newspaper and this a quote, a strong feeling appeared to be felt against the prisoner by many persons who had assembled in the village. He was frequently hooted at. Oh no. He was hooted at. I like that.

And the Stratford Herald said, he is evidently a very simple-minded and suspicious man. He's about five foot four inches tall, which is not much taller than you. And rather idiotic. Oh, sorry. With a rather idiotic expression of countenance. Even better.

I mean, it's quite the Tinder profile for him. Five foot four, rather idiotic expression of countenance. Accurate. You just DM him with hoot. So at trial, Haywood pleaded now not guilty. Oh yeah. I wasn't even there he turned. He now said that he had only meant to hurt Anne, not kill her. But he stood by his claims that she had tormented him for a long time using witchcraft. Now numerous witnesses took the stand and told the court that Hayward was a wild and unpredictable drunk, with some testifying that he had even marked passages in his Bible that he thought would justify any revenge against black magic. He needs to stop radicalized yeah

take several seats he's just like look at all of these passages they completely justify murdering anybody that you suspect absolutely magic if you stare long enough at the bible that you can come up with anything you want Much like the ceiling of a Marriott. There you go. One person even told the court that Hayward had tried to show him the witches in his jug of water and said that only those that had witches about them could see them. So he's like, I can see the witches in this water because they ruined my life. Do you know what? I'm one more show in a row away from doing that to you. Oh no. We've just done three I'm one more show in a row away from doing that to you. Oh, no.

We've just done three shows in three different cities in a row. And if we had to do one more tonight, I would be like, Hannah, look in this Coke Zero can. Because there is a witch in it. And we have to go home. We have to leave. I must escape her. And finally, back to trial time.

The court heard from the surgeon from the prison who said that Haywood was actually of sound enough mind to understand what was going on, which sounds like a lie. I would say so. But the surgeon did have nasty things to say as well. He said that Haywood was, quote, essentially a feeble minded man, thoroughly imbued with the idea of witchcraft. And the jury deliberated for but a few minutes. And they declared him not guilty by reason of insanity. I knew it. What? I knew it. I'm pissed.

And they stuck him in Broadmoor. Oof. Yeah. Where he stayed for the rest of his life. And he died in 1890 at the age of 59. Oh, wow. He didn't even make it to Anne's age. Good.

Good, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think, fair enough. He escaped the gallows, but he definitely spent time in fucking 18... Cute to my stomach right now. I thought it was an alarm going off

in a secret bedroom somewhere. I felt that in my foot. My foot is on the chair and I felt that come up my leg and I was like, where am I? Oh my God. I told you someone's stomach was making an appearance. That was amazing. And it was mine. That's beautiful.

I didn't eat enough olives. I thought it was just like some sort of alarm going off at the idea of being in Broadmoor in 1890. My stomach's like, oh God. There's actually witches in Elena's stomach. They're like, oh my God. So yes, while it may seem that at the heart of this story was just a disillusioned superstitious man with a feeble mind and an axe to grind against supernatural forces. Don't forget his

idiotic countenance. Yes, I always remember. But the thing is, he wasn't alone. Because in Long Compton, more than a third of people at the time fully believed in witchcraft, and that it was having a daily impact on their lives. And this is the same time like while people were living in cities, writing on typewriters, turning on electric light bulbs and ringing each other on the phone. That's truly incredible. Bring, bring, bring. Hello, are there witches in your water? Fuck off, Long Compton.

So it just goes to show how much a fear of witches was part of public life way later in history than maybe a lot of us thought was the case. I mean, obviously, QAnon, but you know. But you know. Susie. Susie. But was it all just a crazy farmer? Or was Anne really a witch? Yes.

My stomach says, hmm. I asked a question. Tell me more, Susie. Okay, I will. Because in 1928, the son of one of the eyewitnesses to Anne Tennant's murder wrote a statement. And it's mostly just like a rambling list of other stories about local witches,

which Longcompton have got shit tons of. But he writes about a Granny Faulkner who was said to be able to transform herself into a hare. And he also said that when someone shot a hare out in the fields, Granny Faulkner couldn't sit down for weeks. So it was obviously her. She got shot in the butt. Exactly. Exactly.

Because she's turning herself into a hare and running around. Yeah, she is. In a dangerous place where people are shooting hares. Yeah. Who wouldn't do that? And he also concludes, and this is a quote from this son of an eyewitness's statement jim hayward killed nanny tenant as she had bewitched him and this was written like we said in 1928 so a long time after the murder of an tenant happened

and just 10 years after the first world war oh my god oh. Oh my God. The Roaring Twenties. So we've bounced forward to the 1920s. We're actually going to bounce back to shortly after Anne died. And a little boy called Charles Watson. Charles. Was, uh... That was so creepy. It was.

Charles. Charles. He was seen leaving his house, as he's perfectly allowed to do. But he was a bit of an odd boy, and he spent a lot of time on his own, playing with frogs. I don't love that. He loved an amphibian moment. Maybe.

And the curtain-twitching neighbors of Long Compton said they saw Charles Watson go out after dark to meet a dog. I mean, dogs are pretty great and apparently charles watson did this nine times in a row on successive evenings and on the ninth night a headless lady swooshed past him in a silk dress and then the next day charles watson's sister died oh and the whole village thought charles

had done it with his dark frog and dog magic obviously what else would he what else would you think he's going out to meet his familiars right yeah and he spent the whole of the rest of his life completely shunned by the long compton community never had any friends ever ever can judge so you lose it so he makes some animal friends as everybody should he happens to get brushed upon by some headless woman. Not even his fault. And then his sister dies and everyone's like, you suck. It's like, wow.

That is basically his story. I had a standing date with a dog for nine nights. That stops. Ready to welcome him into my home. Like, damn. And it gets worse. Oh, no. Because in 1945, on Valentine's Day, no less, whilst he was working out in the fields,

Charles Watson, as a grown-up man, had his throat slit with a slash hook, and he was stabbed in the chest with a pitchfork, just like Antennant. Who did it? And the killer was never found. What? It was that man. It was that man. Oh my god. It was the spirit of that man. That's what I'm saying. James Hayward. It is. I think we settle on that. I think it was James Hayward. I'm convinced. I'm convinced. But that is, guys. That is the story of the witchiness of Longcompton. That was wild and whimsical and wonderful. Informative, educational, historical.

I loved that. I would do this 20 million times over. 100%. Two. That was so fun. That was so much fun. Thank you guys so much. Thank you for having us.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for doing this with us. We've had so much fun. So yeah, guys are listening still hopefully you still are there um this has been morbid caught red-handed go check out morbid's feed and you can listen to hannah and i listening to their story all about shang from mulan yes you had to be there you had to be there and you can be there exactly so go do that we'll see you next time for some other things

yeah goodbye bye bye I'm Jake Warren and in our first season of Finding I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mum's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now exclusively on Wondery+.

In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, Three years ago today that I attempted a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, Three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go. A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him. This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me and it's

taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding and this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Harvard is the oldest and richest university in America. But when a social media-fueled fight over Harvard and its new president broke out last fall, that was no protection. Claudian Gay is now gone.

We've exposed the DEI regime, and there's much more to come. This is The Harvard Plan, a special series from the Boston Globe and WNYC's On the Media. To listen, subscribe to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts.