# @wild_history_uk on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DeHwFbqIEh6
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/71345545-wild-history-uk-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e25e4dc050.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-10-05T17:35:59.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Wild History Shocking Stories From the Past (@wild_history_uk) — https://gondola.cc/wild_history_uk

## Caption

In 1944, Helen Duncan, a Scottish medium and mother of six, was jailed under the Witchcraft Act of 1735.

In 1941, a “spirit sailor” at one of her Portsmouth séances announced that HMS Barham had sunk, weeks before the loss was made public. In January 1944, months before D-Day, police raided her séance. She was convicted at the Old Bailey of pretending to conjure the spirits of the dead and sentenced to nine months in Holloway.

Churchill called the case “obsolete tomfoolery”. The Witchcraft Act was repealed in 1951. Her pardon has been refused three times.

Witch, fraud, or a mother jailed to keep a secret?

#BritishHistory #WomensHistory #WW2History

## Stats

- **Views:** 805
- **Likes:** 13
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 1

## Tags

womenshistory, ww2history, britishhistory

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