Aloha Tide Riders and welcome to our second stop as we journey down The Witches Road. In this episode of Strange Tides, we’re heading to the misty highlands of 17th-century Scotland to unravel one of the most haunting witchcraft confessions ever recorded — the story of Isobel Gowdie. Her words painted a world of midnight dances, shape-shifting spells, and faerie queens who ruled beneath the hills — a strange blend of dark magic, pagan echoes, and Christian fear.
But here’s the twist: unlike most accused witches of her time, Isobel volunteered her story. No torture, no thumbscrews — just a torrent of vivid visions and ritual details that still baffle historians today. Was she a visionary? A victim of social pressure? Or maybe — just maybe — someone who really did slip through the veil into another world?
Join us as we follow her confessions through shadowed kirkyards, faerie mounds, and the fevered imagination of post-Reformation Scotland. It’s part folklore, part psychology, and part pure supernatural mystery — because with Isobel Gowdie, nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
Links and Sources:
Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isobel_Gowdie
Engole.info: Isobel Gowdie - https://engole.info/isobel-gowdie/
The Mask of Reason: The Confession of Isobel Gowdie - https://maskofreason.wordpress.com/the-book-of-mysteries/mysteria-obscura/the-confession-of-isobel-gowdie/
Stuart McHardy Blog: Isobel Gowdie - https://stuartmchardy.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/isobel-gowdie/
Spooky Scotland: The Trial of Isobel Gowdie - https://spookyscotland.net/isobel-gowdie/
Lapham’s Quarterly: Go in the Devil’s Name - https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/go-devils-name
Encyclopedia.com: Gowdie, Isobel - https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gowdie-isobel-fl-seventeenth-century
Internet Archive: Confessions of Issabell Gowdie - https://archive.org/details/gfb_BF1581_C66_1662
Cambridge University Press: Narratives of Sorcery and Magic – Confessions of Isobel Gowdie - https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/narratives-of-sorcery-and-magic/confessions-of-isobel-gowdie/BD9476BE6F387D9990F87871FBC6C891