The Last Witch in Ireland

Hi Coven! We are back with another one, and we have some special co-hosts with us this time. We have missed you; join us for some giggles and some history. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

He told me.

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hello, Coven. Hello, everybody. I flirt my words. Welcome back. Welcome back to Smoke and Saw with the Tate Sisters.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

I'm Evangeline. And I'm Eloyn. And we are also joined by our ghostly friends. What?

SPEAKER_02 0:22

By another world, we are we are joined with you guys get it.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

So if you don't read it.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

What? They've been talking a lot to each other, so we're just gonna see how this goes. We decided that we were gonna have them join the podcast today. So I hope you guys enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

They wanted to, it was their idea.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah, it was.

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Are you ready for what I have for you today?

SPEAKER_02 0:45

I am so ready. I'm always ready.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

We're gonna talk about Ireland's last witch.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Sweet.

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And her murder.

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Her meat. Are you guys ready? Are the ghosts ready?

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Anything from the peanut gallery?

SPEAKER_02 1:23

They're just sitting crisscross applesauce at the end of the bed waiting to hear the story.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Okay, we're gonna talk about the last witch burned in Ireland. Okay. Her name was Bridget. Okay. Her name was Bridget Cleary. This took place in 1895 when Queen Victoria was on the throne. Telephones existed. There was electricity that was like starting to spread through Europe, and like newspapers covered the events and stuff. So I feel like it was a little more modern than some of the other like witchcraft deaths we've covered.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Yeah, this does seem a lot more modern. Usually witchcraft doesn't have electricity.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

They just have like really smelly bodies and no deodorant.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

They do not like our back and forth.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

I hope they can hear that. I hope they can hear them.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

You're listening.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

You're listening.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Actually, you're listening to us.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Okay, I'm gonna tell you the story about her, okay? She was tortured and killed because people around her became convinced that she was replaced by a fairy. Okay, hell yeah.

unknown 2:47

We command it.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

You command what?

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Come back.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Okay, so Bridget was a 26-year-old dressmaker, but she was born in 1869 in a rural community. Unlike a lot of the women of her time, she was skilled and independent and she had trained as a dressmaker. This allowed her to earn her own money, which I feel like in the 1800s that is a rarity when it comes to women.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Oh, yeah, for sure. They probably just didn't like her because of that.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

She owned a singer sewing machine, which was valuable and modern during that time. Like it was expensive and it was probably like top of the line. She also sold eggs from her flock of chickens and was known throughout the area as intelligent, capable, and fashionable.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

I wish I was known like that around my area.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

But we're the village witches.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

I know.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

But it's fine. I like it that way.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

But they thought that she was replacing her. I drove.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

I live here. Anyway. Rude for interrupting. Okay. So she was born Bridget Boland, but in 1887 she married Michael Cleary, a cooper who made barrels and casks. So I guess like I think of like whiskey barrels or like casks of wine. Yeah. They were relatively prosperous and they lived in a comfortable stone cottage and were considered respectable members of the community. There were hints here and there that Bridget's independence sometimes like created tension, which I guess I mean I mean it's still a time where men were kind of well, they believed women had to be like under a man, so to speak. Yeah. See, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Jack gets it.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

But she often traveled alone, conducted business on her own, and maintained a level of like self-reliance, which was uncommon for women at the time. So I guess it would be like if you equated it to today's standards, it would be like a dual-income household where if something ever happened, she could take care of herself. Yeah. Essentially. To understand her death, we kind of have to talk about what it was like, where she lived, and when she lived. Yeah. To kind of get a clear picture. Today stories are usually treated as like folklore, but in the 19th century in Ireland, many people viewed fairies very differently. They were not like Tinkerbell. They weren't like the tiny winged creatures sprinkling magic dust. They were supernatural beings, um, known as fair folk. And these beings were believed to inhabit an invisible world that existed alongside the human one. They could bless people or curse them, they could bring fortune or disaster, and and they could steal human beings. You remember fairies? This is entertaining. Mine fucking hates me, man. God.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

This is funny.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

One of the most widespread beliefs in what did that say? Hanged. Oh. Anyway. One of the most widespread beliefs involved changelings. According to Irish folklore, fairies sometimes abducted humans and left behind an imitation.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

I've not been there, no.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

I haven't been there either.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Our listeners are gonna be like, what the link? Stop fucking talking to them and tell us a story. Anyway, I'm so sorry, guys. We're just so entertained.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Entertained?

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Yes. Entertained.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Entertained. Um fairies abducted humans and left behind an imitation. Their replacement might look identical to the original person, but would have behaved strangely. Ew, I don't like that. The changeling might become sickly. Right. That's what I'm saying, Jack. Anyway, might become sickly, irritable, withdrawn, or physically altered. Stories claimed that fairies, especially targeted beautiful young women, newborn children, and people who wandered too close to fairy forts or fairy rings. These beliefs were deep. You can see me. I I I'm just trying to tell you a story, and you keep interrupting me, and it's really rude. Can you wait till I like pause? Just sit at the end of the bed and listen. You all are like toddlers. These beliefs were deeply woven into everyday life. Even educated people could hold them. Fairy forts were ancient ring-shaped earthworks scattered throughout Ireland, and they were often avoided because disturbing them like was thought to invite disaster. Many families had stories of encounters with the fair folk. Illnesses that could not be explained were sometimes attributed to supernatural interference. I'm fine. How are you? In early March of 1895, Bridget made a journey to deliver eggs to relatives. The route took her.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Why are you here?

SPEAKER_01 7:45

The route took her near a location associated with fairy folklore. Soon afterward, she developed a severe illness. Modern historians suspect she may have suffered from pneumonia or bronchitis. Her condition worsened rapidly. She became feverish and weak, spending days confined to bed.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

I'm close.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

A doctor was summoned. A doctor was summoned. A priest was also called when her condition seemed serious enough to warrant last rites. I feel like that's a I wonder how fast the turnaround was, though, because if it was like pneumonia or bronchitis, she would have had to have been sick for a hot minute before it got to the point where it would have had to have been a long time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

I don't know. And with that kind of stuff, if it's not treated properly, like even in the beginning. Yeah, like if you don't catch it. Yeah, because I had pneumonia when I was small. Yes. Yes, yes. And I was hospitalized because I just wasn't getting any better.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

So, and that we have modern medicine now. So I just feel like she would have had to have been back then.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

It was probably like leeches and they would bleed you right to get the infection.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Yes, which what the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

But you know. I don't know, they might have had some form of antibiotic, penicillin, something.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

They could have made a natural one.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yeah. But while medical help was sought, another explanation began to spread. So the rumor mill was working. Of course. Michael Clary became convinced that the woman in his house was not really his wife. Tell me why, Michael. And some neighbors encouraged this belief. Among them was a local storyteller named Jack Doon, who was very well versed in fairy lore.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

I wonder if when we were playing with the ghost tube earlier. If he was like if it knew that we were going to talk about this story, and that's why it said Jack.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Maybe. But it also said Eric.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

True. But like if we keep going and there's an Eric, I'm gonna Let me show you. I'm gonna no, I'm gonna flip the fuck out.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Anyway, Michael later claimed Bridget looked different. According to the one according to one account, he believed you. According to one account, he believed she was two inches taller and somehow too fine to be his wife. So like she looked real good, and he was like, that's not my wife. She's taller too. He told the other one, he was like, shut the fuck up. I really hope you guys can hear this because it is so funny them going back and forth. I'm sure they can.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

I'm sure it's picking it up.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

So she was taller and pretty. And Michael was like, That's not my wife.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

He did examine her, and that's why he's saying it's not his wife.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

And these supposed changes convinced him that fairies had abducted the real Bridget and left a change laying behind.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

How do you just how do you just fuck it? What mental acrobatics do you have to do to just jump straight to that?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

They're like, oh, she was replaced. And then obviously, like once that was decided, right? Where he was like, This isn't my wife, she's been replaced, every symptom of the illness became like evidence in her story, right? Right. So her fever-induced confusion became proof that she was not herself. Her weakness became proof that something supernatural was happening, and her refusal to comply with strange rituals became proof that she was a fairy. But like also, if I don't feel good and you're like, I need you to put this lamb's blood on your feet, I would be like, fuck no, leave me alone. I don't feel good.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Yeah, I would literally be the same way. Strange rituals.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

I don't have time for that.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Like, let me just let me just lay here and die. Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Exactly. Michael sought help from a local folk healer, sometimes described as a fairy doctor. An herbal mixture was prepared and brought to the house. Relatives and neighbors gathered around Bridget's bed. Instead of receiving care, she became a subject of an increasingly violent attempt to force the supposed changeling to reveal itself. So she's sick and she's got people all around her bed trying to force her to say that that she is not herself.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

I feel like eventually I would get tired of that and be like, yeah, sure, I'm a fairy. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Witnesses later described horrifying scenes. Bridget was held down while people forced her to swallow a bitter concoction of herbs and milk. Over and over, Michael demanded that she identify herself. According to testimony reported during the trial, he repeatedly asked, Are you Bridget Boland, the wife of Michael Clary in the name of God? And of course she was like, Yeah. Bro, like we are literally married. Why are you doing this to me? But I guess it just wasn't good enough. So they kept questioning her. At one point, she was carried towards the fireplace. Urine was thrown on her because folk traditions claimed such acts could drive away fairy influences. Hot pokers and threats of burning were used in an effort to expose the supposed changeling. Relatives watched, some participated, and very few intervened. So they threw urine on her and then took the fire poker and they were like poking her. Fucking tell me fucking tell me you're a fairy. How horrible. And she's like sick with pneumonia.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

I'd be like, wait till I get better.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

This went on for two days.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Examine. Maybe that's what they're consciousness.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Okay. Bridget was desperately ill, surrounded by people who increasingly viewed her not as a suffering woman, but as an imposter. One witness later recalled that she appeared wild and deranged. Given her illness, physical abuse, and terror. I feel like that's normal.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Cursed. Maybe she was cursed. But you were right, Jillian.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Her freaking out that way basically just confirmed to them, like, yep, she's not Bridget. Because Bridget would let us terrorize her.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

If her fever gets high enough, like that can affect your brain too, and that could have contributed to her behavior. Like hallucinations and stuff like that. Yeah. I mean, stranger things, right? Like wild shit can happen. Fairies, whatever. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

But I just I don't know. Yeah. So on March 15th of 1895, everything came to came to a conclusion. Right to me. Events, all the people, they decided. Bridget attempted to reason with her husband, and according to testimony, she told him, Your mother used to go with the fairies, and that is why you think I am going with them. I need to know about his mom and the fairies.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yeah, that seems like you should go throw urine on her and pokers at her.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

But apparently, I guess that just like pissed him off. And as tensions escalated, Michael seized a burning piece of wood from the fire.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

And her right? I mean, I love that it's sarcastic. That's amazing. Oh, if I said burned, it said bird.

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Bridget's clothing caught fire, and a relative reportedly shouted, For the love of God, don't burn your wife.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Yeah, she she I will. I don't know if she was murdered.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Michael's response would become one of the most chilling statements in Irish criminal history. She's not my wife. She's an old deceiver sent in place of my wife. And Bridget died from the attack. Okay, so you were absolutely not. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

She was murdered.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

So afterwards, her body was burned and secretly buried in a shallow grave some distance from the house. Michael did not initially behave like a man who thought he had committed murder. Instead, he apparently continued believing that the real Bridget would return. According to accounts from that time, he waited near a fairy fort, expecting his wife to emerge riding a white horse after being released by the fairies.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Guilty.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

It makes no sense.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

You're right. It doesn't. Alright. So emerging, riding a white horse. And then obviously her disappearance quickly attracted attention. Rumors spread through their little village. Police began asking questions. Michael openly claimed that fairies had taken his wife. Investigators were unconvinced when Bridget's burned remains were discovered in a shallow grave on March 22nd, and the case transformed from a missing person's investigation to a murder inquiry.

unknown 16:16

Murder.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Which it should. I mean, yeah, he killed her. So yeah. And tortured her before she died.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

I'm not saying fairies aren't a thing or anything like that, but that's not cool.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

The story exploded across newspapers in Ireland and Britain. Victorian readers were fascinated and horrified. Many viewed the case as evidence that ancient superstitions still held held, wow, deadly power in rural Ireland. Newspapers described it as a modern witch burning. Despite the fact that Bridget Confusion. Despite the fact that Bridget had not been accused of practicing witchcraft, instead, she had been accused of being something else. Like yeah. So she wasn't, they weren't like, You're doing witchcraft. They were like, You're a changeling. So we're gonna burn you and you're gonna die.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Nine people were arrested in connection with the crime. The trial drew the trial drew enormous public attention. Witnesses recounted the bizarre rituals, the questioning, the forced remedies, and the fatal attack. Good, they should have. Despite the brutality of the crime, Michael Cleary was not convicted of murder. He was convicted of manslaughter. Several others involved in the abuse also received prison sentences. The court recognized that those involved genuinely I'm moving. Okay. The court recognized that those involved genuinely appeared to believe they were dealing with a changeling rather than committing a conventional homicide. Michael received 15 years in prison before eventually immigrating to Canada after his release.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Typical man just ran away from his problems.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

And now we have Irish Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

She gets it.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Now we have Irish folklore. A dark rhyme emerged from all of this. Can y'all stop talking for just like two fucking seconds, please? Are you a witch or are you a fairy or are you the wife of Michael Cleary? Like a little rhyme.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

I'm gonna jump rope to that.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

I think you should. I think that's a great okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Y'all are so mean to me.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

More than a century more than a century later. Can y'all shut up? More than a century later, scholars still debate what really happened. Was Michael Cleary genuinely convinced that fairies had stolen his wife? Some evidence suggests that he may have been. Fairy beliefs remained widespread in the region and several people participated in the rituals. The fact that multiple individuals shared his suspicions indicates that the beliefs were not unique to him, and others argue that the fairy explanation hides a more complicated story. Bridget represented a new type of woman in Ireland. She earned money, she moved independently, she challenged traditional expectations. Some historians believe her murder reflected anxieties about changing gender roles as much as it reflected folklore.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Maybe Michael felt some type of way about her prison. That one said prison. That said that's mine. Yeah, Michael went to prison. He did. But maybe he felt some type of way about it, and then he like went to go hang out with the boys. Yeah. And they were like, dude, your wife is like doing the most. Yeah. And then he was like, you know what? I never thought about it that way. And maybe he kind of wanted to get rid of her. Okay. Didn't want to do it like in a traditional way. I feel like because that would make him look like the bad guy. Not even the bad guy, but like like little man syndrome. Right. Because I'm fine. But it made him feel some type of way as a man. Right. Like it emasculated him. Yeah. Which y'all are both bringing in money. Like, what's the problem?

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yeah, but I feel like during that time, right, like the woman was supposed to stay home and take care of the house. And I get that. And maybe by her going out and having a job, it was almost frowned upon, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

It's difficult.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Others may have suggested that he could have suffered from like a psychiatric condition involving delusional misidentification. So, like a condition in which a person believes a loved one has been replaced by an imposter. Such diagnoses can never be confirmed after the fact, but they offer another possible explanation, like a psychiatric break, but also that would have meant that the other nine people who were there torturing her also had a psychiatric condition, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Yeah, and I feel like that's not gonna be the case y for everybody, you know what I mean? Like that I don't think that was it. Yeah. I think they were trying to explain away his actions.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Yeah. And like I'm leaving. Okay, bye. Bye. But I mean, that's her story. And that's uh it's really sad. Like she was just sick and they ended up torturing her and she ended up being murdered. She might have died anyway due to her illness, because they didn't have the tools that we have now. But like And that might have been true. She wouldn't have been burned.

unknown 21:34

I tested.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Good for you, bud. But we wouldn't have the story though if it was just that simple.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Right. Yeah. I mean, so she wasn't like accused of witchcraft or anything, but she was she was accused of being a fairy, a changeling. Isn't that a move isn't there a movie? I'm like almost 100% positive there's like an Angelina Jolie movie about a changeling. I think it's literally called the Changeling. Hold please. Shut up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Oh, I want to watch that.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

And it's about like her son was kidnapped and then he comes home, but it's like right, not him.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

But there have been like real stories like that. Like people there, I forget what country it was in, but the little their little boy went missing, and then he came back like however many years later, and they were like, This is my son, but then they were like, Mmm, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Yeah. I've heard stories like that too and seen stories like that, but I and on the other hand, I've also seen where like a child will go missing, and then it's impossible. There's um like a kid in foster care who like kind of looks like them and sees it on the news and is like, I'm gonna go tell them I'm their missing child or whatever to have a home, you know what I mean? I mean anything's possible, but yeah, so and that I mean it was a long time ago, but it wasn't that long ago, right? Like, what is this? Y'all are just rude. Yeah, but that's what I have for you today.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Well, that was a pretty cool story. I hate that for her though. Like that that really sucks that that happened to her.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Because you just imagine like she already feels like shit, right? And then they're like kind of what it feels like to be I can't imagine like laying in my sick bed and having all of these people around me yelling at me that I'm not who I am, asking me questions, telling me to prove that I'm not who I am. Be so pissed. I'd be so mad. I would be so mad if I felt that bad. And they're just like not believing anything you say, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yeah, I'd be like, I'm gonna put my changeling fist up your ass if you don't leave my room and leave me alone. I'll get other changelings on you.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

I'll call them all. I'll go out to the fort, I'll get all my fairy friends, anyways. That's all we've got, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Go touch some grass. Um, and remember to drink your water quickly, yeah, exactly. Ground yourself and turn the page. Bye! Bye