Northern Ireland

New show examines story of Ireland’s last witch trial

Nine people in Islandmagee, Co Antrim, were accused of witchcraft in 1711

An illustration by artist David Campbell from a graphic novel released last year on the Islandmagee witch trial, written by Dr Andrew Sneddon and Dr Victoria McCollum.
An illustration by artist David Campbell from a graphic novel released last year on the Islandmagee witch trial, written by Dr Andrew Sneddon and Dr Victoria McCollum.

The last witch trial in Ireland that saw eight women and a man in Co Antrim sentenced to prison is to be explored in a new TV series.

The Islandmagee witch trial took place in 1711, with nine innocent people accused of performing witchcraft against a young woman.

Tried under the Irish 1586 Witchcraft Act and found guilty by a jury at Co Antrim’s Criminal Assize Court in Carrickfergus, the nine were jailed for one year and forced to spend time being humiliated in public stocks.

The woman accusing them of supernatural practices, 18-year-old Mary Dunbar, claimed they tried to get her to join a coven, and said they could even climb through her bedroom keyhole using magic.

Last year a plaque was unveiled at Islandmagee by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council to commemorate the injustice spurred by ignorant superstition and religious paranoia.

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Plans to erect a plaque in 2015 by the old Larne Borough Council were famously opposed by a TUV councillor, Jack McKee, who according to council minutes said he could not say if the eight women and the man were falsely accused, adding he was not going to “support devil worship”.

Author Martina Devlin, Noel Williams, mayor of Mid and East Antrim council and Councillor Maeve Donnelly pictured at a plaque unveiled in Co Antrim, which commemorates the Islandmagee witch trial in 1711. Picture by McAuley Multimedia
Author Martina Devlin, Noel Williams, former mayor of Mid and East Antrim Council and Councillor Maeve Donnelly pictured at a plaque commemorating the Islandmagee witch trial in 1711. PICTURE: MCAULEY MULTIMEDIA

Now the story will be explored in a new National Geographic series, Witches: Truth Behind the Trials.

The series, available on streaming services including Disney Plus and NOW, began this week in time for Halloween, and the final episode that examines the Islandmagee witch trial will air on December 4.

Ulster University academic Dr Andrew Sneddon, author of Possessed by the Devil: The History of the Islandmagee Witch Trials 1711, took part in the show.

“The trial of the Islandmagee witches in County Antrim in 1711 was Ireland’s last, and only mass prosecution,” he explains.

“It tells the story of an 18-year-old woman who turned a community upside down looking for witches she claimed had bewitched her body and caused a household to be overrun with demons. It is a tale of murder, poltergeists, shape-shifting witches, magical healing, and demonic possession.”

Meanwhile, an interactive exhibition on the Islandmagee witch trial will become a permanent feature at Carrickfergus Museum.

Led by Dr Sneddon and fellow Ulster University lecturer Dr Victoria McCollum, the exhibition which includes an immersive virtual reality technology to put visitors in the courtroom, will open on November 23.

It was previously a temporary exhibition at the museum last Autumn.