Main content

Spirit Guides and Spinsters

Susan Morrison looks into housing for women in post-war Glasgow, the Ayrshire case of accused witch Bessie Dunlop, and VD treatment in Enlightenment Edinburgh.

Susan Morrison finds out from Dr Valerie Wright of Glasgow University about how the city sought to house its single working women after WW2 - and did it in style in Crathie Court nicknamed ‘The Spinster Flats’. Moving to Ayrshire, witchcraft historians Dr Lizanne Henderson of Glasgow and Laura Moffat of Strathclyde University introduce us to the strange 16th century case of Bessie Dunlop who allegedly made friends with a ghost and chatted to fairies, and then it’s off to Enlightenment Edinburgh with Dr Kevin Sienna of Trent University in Ontario for a bad case of the pox - how did they treat syphilis back then?

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 29 May 202207:00
BBC Radio Scotland

More episodes

Previous

Bubonic Plagues and Highland Murder

Next

Bad Husbands and Scottish Songs

See all episodes from Time Travels

Broadcasts

  • Sun 21 Jun 202007:00
    BBC Radio Scotland
  • Sat 28 May 202218:30
    BBC Radio Scotland
  • Sun 29 May 202207:00
    BBC Radio Scotland

Podcast

  • Time Travels

    Susan Morrison explores the rich and sometimes murky depths of Scotland's past.