Outlander Witch Trial

Moral of the story this week? I may talk about this class too much. Consider this Part 2 of a dual installment that could collectively be called "My phone is listening to me," (see What TikTok Told Me About The Total Eclipse for the informal Part 1). I was sitting in the car with my roommate the other day and mentioned our upcoming class witch trial, which sent her on a tangent about the other witch trial she's intimately familiar with; Claire Fraser's from Outlander.

Now, I've never seen Outlander because despite being a romantic historical fantasy show and series of novels that would usually be right up my alley, I can't look past one element. The plot of the story centers around time travel. Anyone who knows me well knows I HATE time travel as a plot point. It always has plot holes, rules with too many convenient loops, a lack of regard for the natural consequences of messing with time, and often, time travel is a lazy plot device. I even stand by this opinion for franchises I enjoy, like Marvel's Avengers Endgame. Spoilers, but time travel killed Tony Stark, and I'll never forgive that transgression.

Anyway, my roommate is going on and on about this trial, how Claire and this other woman named Geillis are accused of being witches. Both are from the future, but due to their genetics have the ability to travel through time (I mean, seriously?). Claire is a war nurse, and so when she travels to 1743 from 1945, her repertoire of knowledge about health and medicine, as well as her single status, makes her a prime target for witchcraft. Similarly, Geillis Duncan is from the 1960s and has returned to 1743 Scotland to ensure the success of the Jacobite rebellion. 

Their trial is loud, theatrical, and violent, and it conveniently showed up on my social media feed after this conversation with my roommate, so I couldn't ignore it despite my opposition to time traveling.

One of the main points of evidence used against both women is the presence of "the devil's mark" which in reality, is a scar from receiving the smallpox vaccine. Claire is given the opportunity to defend herself in front of the jeering crowd, but refrains. The judge condemns both women and sentences Claire to be whipped for cursing the crowd to burn in hell. Rescued by the ever-handsome Jamie, Claire is spared, but she's only freed when Geillis confesses to being a witch to save her friend.

Geillis confesses to murdering her husband with witchcraft, consorting with the devil, manipulating and taking advantage of Claire, and possessing the devil's mark. The scene ends with the assumption that Geillis will be executed and Claire pardoned. However, a quick search into Geillis' fate revealed she was pregnant at the time of her trial.

She supposedly divulges this information to the court to save herself, claiming she carries the devil's child but that the infant may be spared. She's allowed to live until the birth of the baby, upon which both are smuggled out of jail. Apparently, Geillis goes on to be a villain in the series in season three, but as I said, my knowledge here is limited.

Naturally, the depicted trial rings several bells in our class discussions. The assumption of guilt, the dramatic proceedings, and the use of evidence in the form of bodily marks (or witch's teat). However, whipping Claire publicly seems out of line with the literature we've read so far. Even Paris tortured Tituba privately to force her confession. The confession of Geillis is also interesting. Most confessed witches we've read about did so to save themselves or to condemn other women. But Geillis does the opposite; she proclaims herself a witch knowing she will be executed and to rescue Claire.

Interestingly enough, Geillis' character is based on a real person. Geillis Duncan was a maidservant from the Scottish town of Tranent, East Lothian. She had little formal education, yet "seemed to possess an immense knowledge for healing illness and alleviating pain." She worked for a man named David Seton, a bailiff who eventually suspected her of witchcraft and brought her in for interrogation in 1589. 

Despite intense torture, Geillis would not confess, so Seton had her "stripped naked, shaved and subjected to a full body examination which resulted in the bailiff finding ‘The Devils Mark’ on her throat. It was upon finding this mark, that Duncan became vocal, admitting to witchcraft and naming as many as 60 other witches across Scotland." She also confessed that "she had attended a meeting of witches and that there were over 200 in attendance. The meeting was held at The Kirk of North Berwick on Hallowe’en and that the Devil had been present."

Much like Tituba, Geillis' accusations sparked witch trials in North Berwick. "The British Library website states: ‘Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have identified over 3,800 cases of witchcraft accusation in early modern Scotland between 1563 and 1736, its peak between 1590 and 1662 when there were five large-scale witch hunts.’ Geillis Duncan’s confession was possibly the trigger for such a horrific period in Scottish history." 

Geillis allegedly tried to revoke her confession, saying she was forced to admit to witchcraft under torture, but she was executed anyway on 4 December 1591 at Castlehill, Edinburgh.

So, what did we learn today? Time traveling is still really bad for you, especially if you're a vaccinated woman, apparently.