In December 1628, John McReadie, a weaver of middling socioeconomic status residing in Ranultoun, Berwick, became entangled in the machinery of the Scottish judicial system. His involvement in the period’s volatile climate of suspicion was not initially as a defendant, but rather as an accuser; records indicate that John denounced several individuals who subsequently became the subjects of formal investigation in 1630. This act of denunciation situated him within a broader, localized network of surveillance and community tension that characterized the early modern period.
The archival trail for John remains sparse, marked by the administrative references C/EGD/1062, T/LA/2275, and T/LA/604. While the specific nature of his testimony is not preserved in the surviving documents, his role in initiating inquiries against his neighbors highlights the complex ways in which accusations of witchcraft functioned within the community of Berwick. The records serve as a reminder of the shifting boundaries between accuser and accused, tracing the path of a craftsman whose actions contributed to the legal scrutiny of others during a time of heightened religious and social regulation.