El proyecto Islandmagee Witches 1711

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24162/EI2023-12229

Palabras clave:

Ley irlandesa de brujería, juicios, Condado de Antrim, Mary Dumbar, proyecto Islandmagee Witches 1711

Resumen

En marzo y septiembre de 1711 se celebraron en Carrickfergus, condado de Antrim, los últimos juicios por brujería de Irlanda. Mary Dunbar, una joven instruida de dieciocho años, acusó a ocho mujeres presbiterianas y a un hombre de Islandmagee y sus alrededores de utilizar la brujería para atacarla en forma de espectros y espíritus, y de invocar a los demonios para que poseyeran su cuerpo. Las mujeres fueron juzgadas el 31 de marzo de 1711 en la sesión de primavera del Tribunal de Primera Instancia del condado de Carrickfergus. A pesar de declararse inocentes, fueron declaradas culpables en virtud de la Ley irlandesa de Brujería de 1586 y sentenciadas a un año de prisión y cuatro condenas en la picota. A diferencia de la mayoría de los endemoniados, el encarcelamiento de las brujas condenadas no mejoró la salud de Dunbar. Dunbar afirmó entonces que William Sellor, marido y padre de dos de las condenadas, la habría embrujado. William fue condenado por brujería en el juicio de verano de septiembre de 1711. Sin embargo, Mary Dunbar murió unas semanas antes, justo después del primer juicio, lo que convirtió el delito original de William en un crimen capital por el que probablemente fue ejecutado: se trató así de una de las dos personas posiblemente ejecutadas en Irlanda en virtud de la Ley de Brujería. La historia del juicio se relata en el libro de Andrew Sneddon Possessed by the Devil: The Real History of The Islandmagee Witches and Ireland’s Only Mass Witchcraft Trial (History Press, 2013). Junto con Victoria McCollum, Sneddon dirige ahora el Proyecto Islandmagee Witches 1711 (w1711.org). A continuación, se exponen los orígenes, objetivos y resultados del proyecto.

Biografía del autor/a

Victoria McCollum

Victoria McCollum is an internationally-recognised educator and researcher from Ulster University who writes books on films, TV shows and video games (especially horror), to explain why popular culture matters in helping us gain a deeper understanding of our moment in time. Among a wide range of publications, she edited Make America Hate Again: Trump-Era Horror & The Politics of Fear was published (Routledge, 2019) and authored Post-9/11 Heartland Horror: Rural horror films in an era of urban Terrorism (Routledge 2016). She has collaborated on projects with Apple, Cartoon Network, Cinemax, Facebook, HBO, New Line Cinema, RTE, Sky Atlantic, Telltale Games, Time Warner, Twitter and Universal Music Group.

Andrew Sneddon

Andrew Sneddon is the leading expert on the history of the Islandmagee witch trial of 1711, and has published widely on Irish witchcraft and magic, including four books, most recently Representing Magic in Modern Ireland: Belief, History and Culture (Cambridge University Press 2022). Since publishing Possessed by the Devil: The Real History of the Islandmagee Witches and Ireland’s Only Witchcraft Mass Trial (History Press, 2023), he has taken the untold story of the Islandmagee witches and Irish witchcraft to new, diverse, international audiences. He regularly appears on local and national TV and Radio, including BBC, ITV, TG4 and RTE. Between 2016 and 2021, he was historical consultant on the first 6-part series dedicated to Irish witchcraft, An Diabhal Inti (The Devil’s in Her), produced by Lagan Media. He is outgoing President of Ireland’s oldest professional historical society, Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies.

Frank Ferguson

Frank Ferguson is Director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies and Research Director for English at Ulster University. Balancing Acts: Conversations with Gerald Dawe on a Life in Poetry was published in 2023 by Irish Academic Press. His publications include numerous articles on Irish, Scottish and Ulster-Scots literature as well as Ulster Scots Writing: An Anthology. He was part of the Expert Advisory Panel which produced the report Recommendations for an Ulster-Scots Language, Heritage & Culture Strategy (2021) for the Department for Communities for Northern Ireland.

Stephen Butler

Stephen Butler is Lecturer in English (Modern Fiction) at Ulster University. His research focuses on crime fiction, modern Irish writing and global literature and has published widely on these topics. He co-edited John Banville and his Precursors (Bloomsbury, 2019), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Literature (2020) and Crime Fiction: A Critical Casebook (Peter Lang, 2018).

Alice McCullough

Alice McCullough is a poet, visual artist, and filmmaker based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her short film “Earth to Alice” (2021) was commissioned by the BBC, and has been enthusiastically received internationally (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni3I9sZTfxI) She was poet-in-residence with Disability Rights California (DRC) in 2023 and received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 2022.

Citas

[1] Song of the Bones, a collaboration with Claire McCartney and Beccy Henderson of the band VOKXEN, puppeteer Claire Roi Harvey, and percussionist David McLaughlin was staged at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in October 2022.

Cover 18.2.Enlightenment Legacies

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Publicado

18-12-2023

Cómo citar

McCollum, V. ., Sneddon, A. ., Ferguson, F., Butler, S., & McCullough, A. (2023). El proyecto Islandmagee Witches 1711. Estudios Irlandeses, 18(2), 112–118. https://doi.org/10.24162/EI2023-12229

Número

Vol. 18 Núm. 2 (2023): Issue 18.2. Enlightenment Legacies - 2023

Sección

Roundtable

Licencia

Derechos de autor 2023 Victoria McCollum, Andrew Sneddon, Frank Ferguson, Stephen Butler, Alice McCullough

Creative Commons License

Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 4.0.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/