Prof. Sierra Dye, a sessional instructor in the Department of History, appeared in an episode of “Witch-Hunt,” a podcast series on BBC Sounds, part of BBC Radio Scotland.

“Witch-Hunt” explores the history of Scotland’s witch trials, which took place from the 16th to the early 18th centuries and saw an estimated 5,000 people, mostly from the Scottish Lowlands, tried for witchcraft. Each week on the show, expert historians such as Dye explore how events aligned to allow innocent people, mostly women, to be executed for imaginary crimes.

Dye appeared in an episode entitled “Quarrels, Women and Bad Magic” and offered her thoughts on how curses and quarrels fuelled Scotland’s war on “difficult” women.

The episode will also air on Radio Scotland in January.

U of G is home to the Centre for Scottish Studies, the oldest academic unit in North America to carry out research, graduate training and teaching on Scottish history and Scottish culture.