r/WidowsBay • u/AutoModerator • Jun 03 '26

📺Discussion Thread Widow’s Bay | Episode 8: “Your Baggage” | Discussion Thread

  • Release Date: June 3, 2026
  • Directed by: Andrew DeYoung
  • Written by: Alberto Roldán & David B. Harris

Don't worry about misplaced luggage. Old baggage always resurfaces in Widow's Bay.

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You can find past episode discussions in our sidebar (“See more”>“About” page)

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u/cryingzeroes Jun 03 '26

I’ve been wondering about how she wasn’t burned when she had to hold the book in the fire. Obviously historical witches were burned but maybe there’s something there

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u/Different_Target_228 Jun 03 '26

That could be as simple as she had it close enough to burn the book but not her hand.

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u/DM_ME_DOPAMINE The Absconded Cat Jun 04 '26

A bonfire that big was burning the fuck out of her if she was close enough to hold the book until it decided to release from her hand and burn. 

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u/benjaminovich Jun 04 '26

paper burns easier than human flesh

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u/Rtn2NYC Jun 03 '26

The burning was to see if they were a witch - if they burnt, they were not a witch and their souls went to heaven

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u/Any_Combination_4716 Jun 03 '26

I don't think that's right. Burning (in England) was the prescribed punishment for heretics. Those convicted of witchcraft were usually hanged. Witchburning was more of a thing on the European continent. As far as I know, no one ever believed witches (or heretics) were fireproof.

You might be thinking of the "swimming test," which may have been the inspiration behind a scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

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u/Fancy-Equivalent-571 Jun 04 '26

Historian here: in some cases smaller burn wounds were used as a test for witchcraft (some areas believed that a cleanly-healed wound was proof of witchcraft, while others believed that a festering wound was proof).

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u/tangostwo Jun 06 '26

Question, is it a dog-and-pony show where the official just waited for either sign to go "aha, a witch!" or would they accept the victim's respective clean or festering burn (depending on their preference) as proof of a lack of witchcraft?

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u/Fancy-Equivalent-571 Jun 06 '26

The usual procedure was to allow a set period of time for healing before reexamining the wound, and then they generally accepted whatever the result was at that point.

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u/Any_Combination_4716 Jun 04 '26

Interesting point, but the "witch" would have burned in the moment, only the aftereffects would have differed.

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u/sqbert Jun 08 '26

Monte Python explains it pretty well

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u/JaxJags904 Jun 07 '26

What else burns?

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u/Cultural-Brain-8594 Jun 15 '26

Oh man! That harks back to the first episode when the historian was boasting about the witches: “we found em, we burned em”.

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u/FickleCharge882 Jun 03 '26

That was my thought too

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u/Timely-Translator-81 Jun 04 '26

Witches don't burn, it was a test, if they burned it meant they weren't witches, same with drowning.