In the autumn of 1596, Alesoune Jollie, a married woman residing in the parish of Fala, near Edinburgh, found herself drawn into the orbit of a serious legal investigation. Her name first surfaced in the judicial record not through her own confession, but through the testimonies of other women, Jonet Stratoun and Meg Dow, who identified Alesoune as an alleged accomplice in the crime of witchcraft. These accusations were significant enough to warrant the attention of the Privy Council, which issued formal warrants on October 14 and October 30, 1596, ordering her to stand trial before the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh.
The legal proceedings against Alesoune culminated on October 30, 1596. Despite the gravity of the charges and her association with the other accused women, the court’s deliberation reached a definitive conclusion. Following the directives set out by the Privy Council, the trial process concluded with a verdict of not guilty. With the court having delivered this judgment, Alesoune was cleared of the allegations that had brought her from her home in Fala to the high court, bringing her specific documented involvement in the Scottish witch trials to a close.