Mysterious TimesFresh effort to secure a pardon for Scotswoman convicted of witchcraft

Fresh effort to secure a pardon for Scotswoman convicted of witchcraft

CAMPAIGNERS are launching new efforts to have the last woman in Britain imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act pardoned. Helen Duncan, from Callander, near Stirling, was convicted at London’s Old Bailey under the Witchcraft Act in 1944 after she revealed Second World War military secrets during a seance. The medium was arrested in Portsmouth after holding…

Kirst Mason D’Raven

August 12, 2014

1–2 minutes

CAMPAIGNERS are launching new efforts to have the last woman in Britain imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act pardoned.

Helen Duncan, from Callander, near Stirling, was convicted at London’s Old Bailey under the Witchcraft Act in 1944 after she revealed Second World War military secrets during a seance.

The medium was arrested in Portsmouth after holding a seance in 1941 in which she claimed to be contacted by a dead sailor from HMS Barham. The battleship had sunk after being torpedoed off the coast of Egypt just days before – but news of its sinking was not officially revealed to the public by the military until 1942.