October 19, 2025

EP21 – Hot Flashes & Witch Hunts: A MenoPosse Halloween Special

Listen to the episode

About the episode

In this Halloween special, Carrie, Krissy, and Dannielle brew up a cauldron of history, hormones, and heresy to explore how menopause and witch hunts got tangled together. From smoky 15th-century villages to The Hammer of Witches, they trace how fear, faith, and power turned women’s natural transitions into signs of danger.

The conversation wanders (as it always does) through bad medical advice, the Hoohah Weather Report (cooler temps ahead!), and some (not boring!) history lessons. Together, we unpack how the archetype of the witch, crone, or hag came to symbolize everything patriarchal society feared about women: independence, sexuality, and change.

Then Dannielle takes us into the real-life story of Agnes Waterhouse, one of England’s first recorded witch trials, showing how these myths played out with devastating consequences.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

How 15th-century Europe’s chaos set the stage for witch hysteria
Why Heinrich Kramer’s Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches) blamed women’s “lust” for all evil
The surprising ways menopause symptoms were misread as witchcraft
The evolution of the witch into the lonely, older “crone” at the edge of the village
The tragic story of Agnes Waterhouse — and what she reveals about fear and control

The bottom line? What if the “witch” wasn’t evil at all, but just a woman who stopped apologizing for being herself? This episode reminds us that the same independence once punished as dangerous now marks a new season of power.