Out Of The Shadows

Beneath the chandeliers of Louis XIV’s Versailles, whispers of love and ambition turned lethal. Episode 2 of Serial Killers in History chronicles Catherine Monvoisin—La Voisin—the fortune-teller whose poison ring ensnared France’s elite and sparked the explosive Affair of the Poisons.In this episode:How a Parisian herbalist built a criminal empire of black masses and murder-for-hireThe secret pact with Madame de Montespan, the King’s mistress, to keep royal affection at any costGabriel de La Reynie’s investigation that unmasked 17th-century high-society corruptionThe Chambre ardente: France’s first special court for poison and witchcraft—and the 36 deaths it orderedWhy La Voisin’s trial signaled the twilight of witchcraft fear and the dawn of Enlightenment scepticism