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The Blitz Witch: How Helen Duncan Became Britain’s Last Prisoner Under the Witchcraft Act

When people think of witch trials, they usually imagine a distant and brutal past: early modern Europe, religious hysteria, crude courts, and societies ruled by superstition. The idea of a witch being prosecuted in the twentieth century—during the Second World War, no less—seems almost impossible. Yet in 1944, in the middle of wartime Britain, a Scottish woman named Helen Duncan was tried and imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act of 1735. Her case shocked the public, embarrassed politicians, and forced the country to confront the uncomfortable reality that laws rooted in centuries-old fear still had the power to shape modern justice. Duncan’s story is not just a historical curiosity; it is a revealing case study of grief, deception, belief, wartime paranoia, and the persistence of outdated legal frameworks.

Scotland’s Witchcraft Legacy: Fear Codified into Law

Scotland’s relationship with witchcraft is one of the darkest chapters in its legal and cultural history. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, witch-hunting was driven by religious upheaval, political instability, and widespread belief in the Devil’s active influence in daily life. King James VI of Scotland played a central role in legitimizing these fears. His obsession with witchcraft and demonology helped reinforce the idea that witches were real, dangerous, and deserving of harsh punishment.

The Witchcraft Act of 1563 made witchcraft and consultation with witches capital crimes. This legislation did not merely punish alleged supernatural acts; it encouraged communities to interpret misfortune as evidence of malevolent magic. Illness, crop failure, storms, or unexplained deaths could all be blamed on witches. As accusations spread, courts became instruments of terror. Thousands were tried, and many were executed. Women, particularly poor or socially marginal women, were overwhelmingly targeted. By the time the last execution for witchcraft in Scotland took place in 1727, the damage had already been done: witch-hunting had become deeply embedded in cultural memory.

The 1735 Witchcraft Act: A Rational Law with an Irrational Afterlife

By the eighteenth century, Enlightenment thinking began to reshape the legal system. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 marked a significant shift in how the law treated claims of magic. Unlike earlier statutes, the 1735 Act assumed that witches were not real. Instead of punishing witchcraft itself, it criminalized the act of pretending to have supernatural powers or claiming to raise spirits. In essence, it was an anti-fraud law disguised in archaic language.

While this law represented progress in its own time, it had an unintended consequence: it preserved the language of witchcraft within British law long after society believed it had moved on. The act remained in force for more than two centuries, largely forgotten but never repealed. This meant that in moments of moral panic or legal convenience, prosecutors could still reach for a statute written in the age of powdered wigs and quill pens. Helen Duncan would become the most infamous example of this legal anachronism.

Helen Duncan’s Early Life: Poverty, Rebellion, and Survival

Helen Duncan was born in Scotland in the late nineteenth century into a strict Presbyterian household. From an early age, she was described as rebellious and volatile, earning a reputation for defying authority and social expectations. Her adolescence was marked by hardship and scandal. As a teenager, she became pregnant and was cast out by her family, leaving her penniless and vulnerable.

Her adult life was defined by chronic illness and economic insecurity. Tuberculosis, diabetes, severe obesity, and constant pain limited her ability to work in conventional jobs. Marriage brought companionship but not stability. Money was scarce, children were numerous, and survival was a daily struggle. These circumstances mattered deeply, because they shaped the path that led her toward spiritualism. For Duncan, mediumship was not merely a belief system; it was a potential means of survival in a society that offered few safety nets for women like her.

Spiritualism and the Promise of Comfort Beyond Death

Spiritualism emerged in the nineteenth century as a movement that promised communication between the living and the dead. It gained popularity during times of mass death, particularly after wars. Following the First World War, spiritualism experienced a major revival in Britain, as families sought comfort after losing sons, husbands, and brothers.

Mediums claimed to act as conduits between worlds, delivering messages from departed loved ones. Séances were often theatrical events, conducted in dimly lit rooms to heighten emotion and obscure scrutiny. Many mediums sincerely believed in their abilities, while others knowingly relied on trickery. For audiences, the distinction often mattered less than the emotional relief provided. In an era of widespread grief, hope was powerful currency.

Helen Duncan entered this world and gained attention as a “materialization medium,” claiming she could produce ectoplasm—a mysterious substance said to allow spirits to take physical form. This claim placed her among the most controversial practitioners of spiritualism, as physical manifestations were easier to investigate and easier to expose.

Ectoplasm and Skepticism: The First Cracks in the Illusion

Duncan’s séances attracted not only believers but also skeptics. Investigators and photographers documented what appeared to be crude props masquerading as spirits: cheesecloth, paper, dolls, and cut-out faces. Samples of ectoplasm were examined and found to consist of mundane materials. Critics accused Duncan of swallowing or hiding these items and regurgitating them during séances.

By the early 1930s, these accusations culminated in legal trouble. In 1933, Duncan was prosecuted for fraudulent mediumship and fined. Although the penalty was relatively minor, the conviction marked her as a known fraud in the eyes of authorities and skeptics. Yet paradoxically, the scandal did little to diminish her popularity. Many followers dismissed the accusations as persecution, while others argued that even genuine mediums might sometimes resort to tricks. Duncan continued to perform, and the public continued to attend.

World War II: Grief, Rumors, and Renewed Demand

The outbreak of the Second World War created conditions in which spiritualism flourished once again. Bombings, naval losses, and battlefield casualties generated widespread grief and uncertainty. Families waited anxiously for news, often receiving fragmented information long before official announcements were made. In this climate, mediums offered something uniquely seductive: certainty in an uncertain world.

Helen Duncan found herself in high demand, particularly in naval towns such as Portsmouth. Séances became places where rumor, hope, and belief intersected. It was within this volatile environment that Duncan made the claim that would change her life—and British legal history.

The HMS Barham Incident: When Rumor Became a Threat

In 1941, during a séance, Duncan reportedly conjured the spirit of a sailor who claimed to have died aboard HMS Barham, announcing that the ship had been sunk. The problem was not the claim itself but its timing. The Admiralty had not yet publicly announced the loss of the ship, as news of such disasters was often delayed to protect morale and security.

To believers, Duncan’s knowledge seemed miraculous. To authorities, it raised alarm. If she truly knew classified information, she posed a security risk. If she was merely repeating rumors, she risked spreading panic. Either way, her activities attracted official attention. In wartime Britain, where secrecy was paramount and fear of invasion was real, such concerns could not be ignored.

The Arrest of 1944: Why an Ancient Law Was Revived

In January 1944, Helen Duncan was arrested after a police raid on a séance. Initially, she was charged under the Vagrancy Act, a law commonly used to prosecute fortune-tellers and fraudulent psychics. However, this statute carried relatively light penalties. Prosecutors sought a more severe charge that would justify imprisonment and send a strong message.

The Witchcraft Act of 1735 provided exactly that. By charging Duncan under this act, authorities framed the case as one involving fraudulent claims of supernatural power rather than simple deception. The decision shocked the public. Newspapers seized on the irony: a witch trial in twentieth-century Britain, conducted while the country fought a modern war.

The Trial: Spectacle, Belief, and Legal Reality

Helen Duncan’s trial became a media sensation. Cartoons of witches appeared in newspapers, and public debate raged over whether Britain had truly returned to witch-hunting. In reality, the court made no attempt to prove the existence of witchcraft. The prosecution argued that Duncan had pretended to conjure spirits for money, thereby committing fraud under the statute.

The defense relied heavily on testimony from believers who insisted that Duncan’s séances were genuine and that she provided comfort to the bereaved. Some witnesses argued that spiritual experiences could not be judged by conventional standards of evidence. However, the court was not concerned with metaphysical truth. It was concerned with whether Duncan knowingly misrepresented her abilities for financial gain.

The jury found her guilty. She was sentenced to nine months in Holloway Prison, becoming the most famous person imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act of 1735.

Political Embarrassment and Churchill’s Reaction

The trial caused embarrassment at the highest levels of government. Prime Minister Winston Churchill reportedly criticized the prosecution, referring to it as “obsolete tomfoolery.” His reaction reflected a broader discomfort: even those who believed Duncan was a fraud recognized that using an eighteenth-century witchcraft law in a modern court was deeply awkward.

Churchill’s intervention did not overturn the verdict, but it amplified calls for legal reform. The case exposed how outdated laws could still be deployed in moments of crisis, with consequences that damaged the credibility of the justice system.

Aftermath and Misconceptions: The Myth of the Last Witch

Helen Duncan was released from prison later in 1944. Over time, she became known as “Britain’s last witch,” a title that is both misleading and revealing. She was not convicted of being a witch in the medieval sense, nor was she the last person prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act. Another woman, Jane Rebecca Yorke, was convicted later that same year.

However, Duncan’s case became symbolic because of its timing, visibility, and severity. She was the last person imprisoned under the act, and her trial occurred during a moment of national crisis. These factors cemented her place in popular memory.

Repeal of the Witchcraft Act: Law Finally Catches Up with Society

Public reaction to Duncan’s case helped accelerate legal reform. In 1951, the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed and replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act. The new law focused explicitly on deception and consumer protection, removing witchcraft from the legal vocabulary altogether.

This change marked the end of an era. A statute that had survived for more than two centuries was finally laid to rest, largely because one woman’s prosecution made its continued existence impossible to justify.

Why Helen Duncan’s Story Still Matters

Helen Duncan’s story endures because it sits at the intersection of belief, exploitation, fear, and power. It shows how grief can be manipulated, how rumor can masquerade as revelation, and how governments respond when uncertainty threatens control. It also demonstrates how outdated laws can remain dormant until a crisis gives them new life.

Her trial was not a return to medieval witch-hunting, but it was a reminder that the language and structures of the past can still shape modern justice. In the end, Helen Duncan did not resurrect spirits—but she did resurrect a law that Britain would rather have forgotten.