In the late summer of 1630, Margaret Buchane, a married woman residing in the Fishertown of Bownes in Aberdeen, found herself drawn into the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch trials under case reference C/EGD/1246. On September 8, the legal proceedings against her commenced, marking the beginning of a process that would challenge her standing within the tight-knit maritime community of Bownes. The allegations brought against her were grounded in the anxieties of the time, specifically focusing on charges of attending a witches’ meeting, a crime categorized under the statutes governing the perceived practice of maleficium and illicit covenanting.
The specific testimony presented during her trial, T/LA/790, extended beyond the charge of assembly to include claims of property damage. Margaret was accused of causing harm to the boats upon which the livelihoods of the Fishertown residents depended. By linking her presence at an alleged assembly to the destruction of essential maritime equipment, the accusations situated Margaret at the center of the community's economic and spiritual insecurities. Through these records, the life of Margaret is revealed not through the lens of individual biography, but through the formal legal structures that sought to categorize and punish her alleged transgressions against her neighbors.