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When you're a historian and learn about Canada’s earliest reported ‘demon possession caused by witchcraft’ case, you dig right into the story. And that's what Mairi Cowan did. She's been investigating one of Quebec's weirdest true tales, and is finally able to piece together a detailed story of what happened. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 14, 2022.Mairi Cowan is the author of The Possession of Barbe Hallay: Diabolical Arts and Daily Life in Early Canada. She is an associate professor in the Department of Historical Studies, University of Toronto-Mississauga.Other guests in this podcast:Scott Berthelette is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Queen’s University. He researches the history of Indigenous Peoples, the Métis, New France, and the Hudson’s Bay Company. His new book is Heirs of an Ambivalent Empire: French-Indigenous Relations and the Rise of the Métis in the Hudson Bay Watershed.Colin Coates is professor of Canadian Studies and History at Glendon College (York University). He specializes in the history of early French Canada.Sarah Ferber is a professor at the University of Wollongong, specializing in early modern European religious history; contemporary religion, and modern medical history. Her books include Demonic Possession and Exorcism in Early Modern France and, most recently, IVF and Assisted Reproduction: A Global History.