Islandmagee witches: project hub at Carrickfergus Museum gives unique story a permanent home

It follows the success of ‘Reimagining the Islandmagee Witches’, an interactive exhibition that first ran at the Museum in 2023 as part of a collaborative project between the venue and Ulster University.

The exhibition showcased the historical research of Dr Andrew Sneddon, along with creative interpretations from ‘The Islandmagee Witches Digital and Creative Project’, led by Dr Victoria McCollum and Dr Sneddon.

The new project hub, featuring the research and expertise of Brian Coyle, Dr Helen Jackson, Dr Adam Melvin, Sabrina Minter and Shirin Murphy, gives the unique story of the Islandmagee witches a permanent and visible home – in the very town where their trials took place.

Visitors to the Museum will be able to peruse a number of digital resources, including statements that were taken before the 1711 trial from key witnesses by Edward Clements, Mayor and Justice of the Peace of Carrickfergus.

There are also a series of bespoke hand-drawn 2D animations, created by the Islandmagee Witches Ulster University project team and award-winning animation studio Enter Yes, Belfast; a supernatural graphic novel filled with haunting visuals, and a choice-driven video game in which you play the role of a witch finder following the trial.

The story of the 1711 trial

The trials saw eight women accused of exercising witchcraft on the body of young gentlewoman, Mary Dunbar.

Tried under the Irish 1586 Witchcraft Act, the women – Janet Carson, Janet Latimer, Janet Main, Janet Millar, Margaret Mitchell, Catherine McCalmond, Janet Liston and Elizabeth Sellor – were found guilty by a jury at County Antrim’s Criminal Assize Court held in Carrick on March 31, 1711.

They were sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and to be pilloried four times on market day for six hours.

At a later trial on September 11, 1711 in the same court, William Sellor – father to Elizabeth Sellor and husband to Janet Liston – was also found guilty of Mary’s bewitchment.

However, Mary had died a couple of weeks after the first trial, turning William’s original crime into a felony for which the punishment was death by hanging.