This episode of Wyrd Wessex dives past the bonfires and Guy Fawkes effigies to reveal the true, dark, and desperate story of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. We uncover the horrifying religious persecution that turned a Protestant boy into a soldier prepared to commit high treason. We found enough gunpowder to blow up Parliament 25 times over...

In This Episode, The Wyrdo's Detail:

The Shocking Conversion: The horrific event that changed Fawkes's life: the public execution of Margaret Clitherow, who was publicly crushed to death under 800 pounds of stone for her faith.

The True Mastermind: Why Fawkes was not the architect of the plot, but an explosives expert hired by the radical Robert Catesby.

The Torture of 'The Devil of the Vault': The terrifying interrogation in the Tower of London, including the use of The Rack, which stretched Fawkes's body until his joints popped and sinews snapped.

The King's Sentence: The full, gruesome sentence for treason: being hanged, drawn, and quartered, and why Fawkes's final moments on the scaffold saved him from the worst of the torture.

History Written by the Victors: The fate of the conspirators, including the perplexing death of Francis Tresham, and why Fawkes remains remembered as a monster rather than a man of conviction, even inspiring the masked icon of V for Vendetta.

Join us as we explore the turbulent times of King James I, the Jesuit spies, and the religious fanaticism that nearly brought the entire government to ruin.

Stay Wyrd!

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Written by Craig Brooks and hosted by Craig Brooks and Andy Stevens

Edited by Craig Brooks

Intro music by Leonell Cassio - The Paranormal Is Real (ft. Carrie)

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