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Our Halloween special covers two subjects perfect for your next macabre dinner party: how the witch gained her powers, and the myriad alternatives to a casket. Caitlin Doughty, the Internet\u2019s favorite mortician, tells us about her world travels in search of the holy grail of corpse interaction\u2014along with a few other stories that illuminate our changing relationship with the afterlife. And Ronald Hutton, medieval historian and witch expert, goes into the history of fear surrounding one of the oldest scapegoats in the world. \u2022 Episode page: https://theamericanscholar.org/witches-never-die/ \u2022 Go beyond the episode: Caitlin Doughty\u2019s From Here to Eternity \u2022 Ronald Hutton\u2019s The Witch \u2022 Ask a Mortician all about coffin birth, ghost marriage, and the iconic corpses of the world on Caitlin\u2019s YouTube channel \u2022 Read more about the Order of the Good Death, an organization of funeral professionals working to change attitudes about death \u2022 Virtually visit the high-tech Ruriden Columbarium in Tokyo, Japan with head monk Yajima Taijun \u2022 For the flip side of witchcraft, watch Ronald Hutton\u2019s dramatic documentary about the good ones\u2014A Very British Witchcraft, about the founder of modern Wicca \u2022 And for some spooky Halloween viewing, watch The Witch, our host\u2019s favorite movie about witches\u2014featured on Vulture\u2019s list of top 15 witch movies, if you\u2019re dying for more \u2022 Tune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. \u2022 Subscribe: iTunes \u2022 Feedburner \u2022 Stitcher \u2022 Google Play \u2022 Acast \u2022 Have suggestions for projects you\u2019d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! \u2022 Music featured from Master Toad (\u201cDreadful Mansion\u201d), Dead End Canada (\u201cWitch Hunt\u201d), and 8bit Betty (\u201cSpooky Loop\u201d), courtesy of the Free Music Archive. Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman.

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