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This episode of "Paranormal Pajama Party" is spine-chilling – but not because of the paranormal parts.
We're headed back to Scotland to discuss the North Berwick Witch Trials – a dark chapter of history that inspired Shakespeare's most infamous witches and exposed the terrifying mechanisms of patriarchal violence. Meet Agnes Sampson, Gilleis Duncan, and Euphame MacCalzean – three women caught in a deadly web of royal paranoia, religious persecution, and systemic misogyny.
Set against the backdrop of King James VI's tumultuous reign, this episode exposes the brutal methods of torture, the gendered violence of witch hunts, and how a young king's insecurities fueled a campaign of femicide that would claim nearly 3,000 lives across Scotland.
From magical midnight meetings to royal wedding storms, we'll trace how these women's stories inspired centuries of witch folklore. This episode's stories serve as a reminder that the mechanisms of oppression may change, but the impulse to silence and control women remains disturbingly consistent.

Key moments

• 0:55 – King James, Anne of Denmark, and the Contrary Winds
• 10:11 – King James VI and I's chaotic backstory
• 15:33 – King James kicks off the North Berwick Witch Trials
• 17:55 – Agnes Sampson, the Wise Wife of Keith
• 19:03 – The Scold's Bridle
• 24:49 – Euphame MacCalzean and the King James Bible
• 29:20 – Margaret Aitken and Marion Walker
• 31:56 – Shakespeare starts writing "Macbeth"
• 34:52 – Witches of Scotland and Nicola Sturgeon's apology

If you’re enjoying the show, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review Paranormal Pajama Party to help others discover it!

View all my sources for each episode and read the episode transcipt here.

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What do a trickster forest goblin, a horse-faced seductress, a desert phantom, and a deer-footed avenger have in common? They’re not just the stuff of nightmares – they’re symbols of women as society’s moral guardians.

In this episode of “Paranormal Pajama Party”, you’ll meet the Shishiga, the Siguanaba, Umm al-Duwais, and the Deer Woman – female monsters tasked with warning, protecting, and punishing men who transgress societal moral codes. These ladies, while terrifying, are also a lens we can use to explore how women have been historically cast as moral guardians. From their cultural roots in folklore to their modern-day counterparts, these figures embody a paradox: women are expected to uphold society’s moral fabric yet are often demonised for doing so.

In this episode, we talk about this complex expectation of women, connecting it to the Cult of True Womanhood, the suffrage and temperance movements, and the modern-day emotional labour women continue to bear. We’ll also discuss how public figures like Greta Thunberg and Senator Katie Britt have become modern moral authorities – and then face misogynistic backlash when they step into this role.

Why do women’s moral efforts often go unappreciated, even when they lead to positive change? Why are we expected to shoulder this burden without recognition? We unpack these questions and explore how the modern concept of emotional labour is merely a rebranded version of women’s historical role as society’s moral enforcers.

Tune in to “Paranormal Pajama Party” for a spooky yet insightful exploration of folklore, feminist thought, and the evolving roles of women in societal change.

Key moments

• 0:00 – Content warning
• 0:59 – Umm al-Duwais on the streets of Al-Satwa
• 4:23 – Meet the Shishiga, Umm al-Duwais, the Siguanaba, and the Deer Woman
• 7:27 – Female monsters as guardians of morality
• 14:28 – Women's moral guardianship paradox
• 17:49 – Burying the hatchet with Carrie Nation
• 22:04 – Emotional labour is the new Cult of Domesticity

If you’re enjoying the show, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review Paranormal Pajama Party to help others discover it!

View all my sources for each episode and read the episode transcipt here.

Follow @ParanormalPJParty on Instagram.

Send me a text message!

Welcome to America's Most Haunted House... or is it? Tonight, we’re partying at the Myrtles Plantation, where the famous ghost of an enslaved girl named Chloe is said to roam the halls.

But as we unpack this classic Southern ghost story, we'll discover something far more unsettling than any supernatural presence – the way America uses ghost tourism to process (or avoid processing) its history of slavery.

From gift shop dolls of murdered enslaved people to invented haunted histories, we'll explore how plantation tourism often makes real historical trauma more “palatable” for visitors – and why that's exactly what we shouldn't be doing. Plus: Why is it okay to run ghost tours at plantations, but not at other sites of historical tragedy?

Get ready for a thought-provoking episode about ghost stories, historical memory, and America's complicated relationship with its past.

Key moments:

• 1:17 - An encounter with Chloe at the Myrtles Plantation
• 6:34 - The Myrtles Plantation's early history
• 8:59 - America's Most Haunted House
• 13:23 - Slavery in the Mississippi-Delta
• 21:11 - The problematic truth about Chloe and Cleo
• 24:08 - How America deals with its dark history

If you’re enjoying the show, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review Paranormal Pajama Party to help others discover it!

View all my sources for each episode and read the episode transcipt here.

Follow @ParanormalPJParty on Instagram.