In the early months of 1630, Marion Hannay, a resident of Dumfries, became the focus of legal proceedings that would ultimately define the final years of her life. The records indicate that Marion was brought to trial within the jurisdiction of the Barony of Bishop Forrest. While the surviving documentation for her case, indexed under C/EGD/1178, provides only brief glimpses into the formal proceedings, the gravity of the legal encounter is underscored by the subsequent trials recorded in T/LA/1638 and T/LA/686.
The judicial process concluded with a verdict of guilty and a sentence of execution, marking a tragic end to Marion’s life under the statutes of the period. Her involvement in the broader context of witchcraft accusations in the region was not an isolated incident; nearly three decades later, in 1659, Marion was again mentioned in the case of Helen Moorheid. This lingering connection in the historical record suggests that Marion’s name remained associated with the pervasive atmosphere of suspicion that characterized 17th-century Dumfries long after her trial had concluded.