Last Scots woman in Britain to be tried for witchcraft inspires new film

[Grim Reaper 6]

A Scottish medium who was the last person in Britain to be tried for witchcraft is to be the subject of a new feature film. Helen Duncan, a mother of six from Callander, Stirlingshire, was jailed in 1944 under the 1735 Witchcraft Act after she said that she had a vision of the sinking of a Royal Navy vessel. Duncan, who died aged 59 in Edinburgh in 1956, claimed to have supernatural abilities and held seances. At one she claimed to have contacted a sailor who had died on the HMS Barham.

Duncan, who was dubbed "Hellish Nell", was arrested, branded a traitor and jailed for nine months.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/last-scots-woman-britain-tried-25189409

[Guyver]

Wow.  Can you imagine being burned at the stake as a witch?  I mean, witches don’t even really have any power do they?  Anyway, it’s so terrible to remember the terrible actions of our forefathers, yet you know what is said, those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

[Grim Reaper 6]

11 hours ago, Guyver said:

Wow.  Can you imagine being burned at the stake as a witch?  I mean, witches don’t even really have any power do they?  Anyway, it’s so terrible to remember the terrible actions of our forefathers, yet you know what is said, those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

I am familiar with the Druids and I also have some knowledge about the WICCAN religious practices. They both worship the Earth Mother which is the Oldest Religious oractice that still exists today. Many other religions incorporate the Earth Mother religious or philosophical forms of Spirituality. One form of Spirituality that incorporates theses beliefs into practices are the Buddhists. As far as Witches having power, I don't know enough about those practices to comment but I don't think they do. 

The lady in this thread according to what I have read was treated very unfairly all because a vision she had embarrassed the British Government, so she was arrested to silence her. They were also afraid that she could have a vision concerning the D-Day Landing so she was kept in jail until after the Landing took place. So the entire Witchcraft claim was used to arrest here using an old law that was still on the Books.

Quote

On the night of 19th January 1944, one of Helen’s séances was raided by police, in her then hometown of Portsmouth where the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet was based. Officers attempted to stop the ectoplasm issuing from Helen’s mouth, but failed. After some order had been restored, Helen was formally arrested.

It has been alleged that the real reason for the raid was due to the official paranoia surrounding the forthcoming D-Day Normandy landings and the fear that she may reveal the date, location and other details.

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Helen-Duncan-Scotlands-last-witch/

 

[Grim Reaper 6]

Scottish spiritualist medium Helen Duncan, aka Hellish Nell, was the last person to be imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act of 1735. Helen Duncan, who became known as Hellish Nell, is known as being Britain’s last witch but she was nothing of the sort. In 1944, Duncan was the last woman to be tried and found guilty of witchcraft in the UK. She was jailed for nine months for having breached the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which was Trumped up charge designed to keep her isolated. 

Even prime minister Winston Churchill, who was one of the medium’s clients, deemed the conviction “obsolete tomfoolery” and demanded to know “why the Witchcraft Act, of 1735, was used in a modern Court of Justice?”  In 1941, she is said to have informed her sitters of the sinking of a warship before the government had publicly released the information. In 1943, a sailor wearing a hat with HMS Barham emblazoned on it supposedly appeared at one of her séances. The Barham was not declared officially lost until a few months later.

The War Office became increasingly anxious about Duncan’s otherworldly disclosures – might she even be a spy? – and were concerned she might somehow uncover top-secret plans. She was not, however, on trial accused of being a witch. She was accused and found guilty of “pretending to exercise or use human conjuration” and was sentenced to nine months in Holloway Prison in London. Duncan became the last person in Britain to be jailed under the Witchcraft Act, of 1735, and it was also the last time the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was tried in a modern Court of Justice. 

On her release in 1945, Duncan promised to stop conducting séances. In 1951, Churchill finally repealed the 200-year-old Witchcraft Act, but Duncan’s conviction stood. Descendants and supporters of Duncan continue to campaign to have her posthumously pardoned of witchcraft charges, however, those charges were never dropped! So Hellish Neil remains the last British Citizen to be tried for and convicted of Withcraft!

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/past-times/1689871/hellish-nell-fraudulent-scottish-medium-condemned-as-the-uks-last-witch/

 

 

[+and-then]

3 hours ago, Guyver said:

Anyway, it’s so terrible to remember the terrible actions of our forefathers, yet you know what is said, those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

I've recently seen this Voltaire quote being used by many, online.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

Voltaire

IMO, the greatest danger from what our ancestors did in the past is the fact that as a group, human beings don't change.  They just tend to convince themselves that what THEY are saying and doing is "different" because, well, it's THEM, right?  There are many millions of people walking around in the world today that would cheerfully embrace real genocide if they were convinced it could keep them "safe".  The only protection from such evil is for those around them to be willing to call them out for what they are doing.  

[Grim Reaper 6]

2 hours ago, and then said:

I've recently seen this Voltaire quote being used by many, online.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

Voltaire

IMO, the greatest danger from what our ancestors did in the past is the fact that as a group, human beings don't change.  They just tend to convince themselves that what THEY are saying and doing is "different" because, well, it's THEM, right?  There are many millions of people walking around in the world today that would cheerfully embrace real genocide if they were convinced it could keep them "safe".  The only protection from such evil is for those around them to be willing to call them out for what they are doing.  

I am a little confused, what do your comments have to do with OP and the other information posted?

So what's you point, I would really like to hear what your comments were directed at so please respond and answer the questions?

Thank you