Cursed Voices Dark History Podcast

In the 16th and 17th centuries, feigning a demonic attack was a calculated survival tactic and a profitable con. But how did everyday people know the “right” symptoms to fool authorities? In this episode of Cursed Voices, we explore the dark history of fake demonic possession by breaking down four Renaissance-era manuals that accidentally served as step-by-step blueprints for fraudulent exorcisms.

In 1660, a Swedish priest risked his sanity, his reputation, and his eternal soul by swearing under oath that his wife was taken by non-human entities. While modern folklore categorizes the account as an early interdimensional abduction, the official 17th-century court records reveal a cold, administrative reality buried deep in early modern Scandinavian superstition. This is the unvarnished history of the midwife, the hidden folk, and the unexplained silver spoons left behind.

Eighty years before Salem, a devastating psychological contagion tore through the Pyrenees, accumulating over 8,400 witchcraft accusations. Driven by a forced “dream epidemic” among coerced children and highly orchestrated by the machinery of the Spanish Inquisition, the 1610 Logroño witch trials became an administrative horror show. This is the unvarnished true history of the Zugarramurdi panic, the graphic sermons that fueled it, and the brilliant, forensic experiments used by a single objective investigator to extinguish the flames from within.

In March 1599, France enjoyed a fragile truce after decades of holy war. Then came Marthe Brossier, a young woman whose graphic, public exorcisms threatened to reignite the bloodshed. Backed by radical religious schemers and claiming to speak for Beelzebub, her case led to one of the first scientifically controlled medical experiments in history. This is the unvarnished true history of state surveillance, religious theater, and the high-stakes “pin test” that exposed an empire-wide fraud.

Gilles de Rais was a legendary military hero who fought alongside Joan of Arc. Yet, he went down in history as Europe’s most monstrous medieval serial killer and the blueprint for Bluebeard. By examining the 1440 trial logs of Nantes alongside church financial registries, a terrifying parallel reality emerges: a high-stakes conspiracy of asset forfeiture. This is the unvarnished true history of forced confessions, forbidden occult circles, and the powerful judges who inherited his empire.