In November 1661, Kathrin Key, an indweller of the burgh of Newburgh in Fife, became ensnared within the machinery of the Scottish legal system during a period of intense judicial scrutiny regarding witchcraft. Occupying a middling socioeconomic status within her community, Kathrin was subjected to formal proceedings under the case designation C/EGD/1409. The historical record indicates that her legal journey moved with significant pace, as her initial appearance and subsequent examination coincided with the broader wave of witch-hunting that surged through Scotland in the mid-seventeenth century.
On the 19th of November 1661, the process against Kathrin reached a critical juncture with the registration of her case. Shortly thereafter, the evidentiary trail confirms that she provided a formal confession, documented during that same month. While the specific contents of her statement remain absent from the surviving documentation, and the subsequent notes from her trial (T/JO/804) provide no further detail regarding the verdict or final disposition, her record stands as a testament to the brief and harrowing administrative trajectory experienced by those brought before the courts in Fife.