In January 1662, Margaret Mathie, a resident of the parish of Abernethy in Perthshire, became entangled in the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch trials. The records indicate that her case, cataloged under the designation C/EGD/1426, moved swiftly through the legal process during a period of heightened intensity in witch-hunting across the region. By the 23rd of that same month, she was brought before the court to answer for charges brought against her in a climate where such accusations often carried profound implications for the accused.
Central to the proceedings against Margaret was a formal confession, documented on the 1st of January 1662. While the specific content of this testimony remains unrecorded in the surviving trial notes (T/JO/838), the existence of a signed or witnessed admission was a critical component of seventeenth-century legal practice in Scotland. This confession marked the culmination of her encounter with the authorities in Abernethy, positioning her within the documented history of the hundreds of individuals caught in the legal turbulence of the era.