Versailles’ Secret Witch | The Dark True Story of La Voisin

La Voisin became one of the most feared women in seventeenth-century France. Fortune teller. Poison seller. Alleged sorceress. And at the height of Louis XIV’s reign, her name became the centre of the Affair of the Poisons — a real scandal involving poison, witchcraft accusations, secret rituals, aristocratic clients and allegations that reached deep inside the court of Versailles. Catherine Deshayes, better known as La Voisin, operated in a hidden world where wealthy clients sought fortunes, love potions, mysterious powders and sometimes far darker services. When investigators uncovered a network of suspected poisoners across Paris, King Louis XIV created a secretive tribunal known as the Chambre Ardente — the Burning Chamber. Then the investigation reached one of the most powerful women at Versailles: Madame de Montespan, the king’s celebrated mistress. Claims of sorcery, curses, forbidden ceremonies and black masses followed. But how much was true? Confessions were extracted in an age of torture, accusations spread between prisoners, and even contemporary investigators encountered exaggeration and fabrication. What is certain is disturbing enough. La Voisin existed. The poison network was real. The investigation reached the court of Louis XIV. And eventually, parts of the evidence became so politically dangerous that the king ordered records suppressed and later destroyed. Tonight, Bedtime Myths and Mysteries enters the candlelit streets of seventeenth-century Paris to uncover the true history behind La Voisin and the Affair of the Poisons. A dark historical bedtime story of witchcraft, poison, power, superstition and the secrets of Versailles. Each episode is written, researched, narrated/produced, edited and visually directed for this channel, combining original music, folklore, history and original cinematic storytelling. Episodes use original scripts and editing, with AI-assisted visual/Audio production where appropriate, narration is done