UL Historian Dr Leanne Calvert in new RTE documentary
Dr Leanne Calvert (History and Geography) features in a new RTE documentary on one of Ireland’s most famous witchcraft cases: the 1711 Islandmagee Witch Trial in County Antrim. The case involved Mary Dunbar, the eighteen-year-old niece of a Presbyterian minister, who claimed to be under demonic attack. Mary suffered violent convulsions, terrifying visions and vomited household items like pins and nails. Mary accused eight local women of using witchcraft to attack her. They were subsequently found guilty in April 1711 and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and a stint in the pillory. Later, in September 1711, William Sellor, a relative of two of the convicted women, was also convicted of using witchcraft against Mary.
The documentary is titled ‘Dr Marie Cassidy Investigates Ireland’s Last Witch Trial’ and it screens on Thursday 29 October at 10.15pm on RTE One. Leanne was invited to share her expertise on the lives of Presbyterian women in eighteenth-century Ulster. Leanne meets Marie Cassidy at the Ulster Folk Museum, where they discuss what life was like for women involved in the witch trial at the time.
Leanne’s contribution to the documentary stems from her ongoing research into the sexual, social and family lives of Ulster’s Presbyterian community in the long eighteenth century (c. 1690-1850). This was the subject of her most recent book, Pious and Promiscuous: Life, Love and Family in Presbyterian Ulster, which was published by the Royal Irish Academy in 2025. You can read more about Leanne’s research on her Pure page, as well as her research website Promiscuous Presbyterians
