In January 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials turned toward Letherie, in the parish of Creich, Fife, where a woman named Bessie Duncan was identified as a subject for judicial scrutiny. Under the reference case C/EGD/1443, Bessie was drawn into a legal process that moved swiftly during the winter months of that year. The records indicate that her situation escalated rapidly, culminating in a formal confession documented on the 23rd of January, 1662.
Following this confession, the judicial proceedings against Bessie transitioned into a trial recorded under the reference T/JO/845. While the archival documentation for this stage of her case remains sparse, the existence of the trial file confirms that she was subjected to the full weight of the Scottish legal system during a period of heightened concern regarding witchcraft. The surviving record stands as a stark testament to the administrative rigour applied to her life in the early modern period, documenting the transition from her initial detention in Letherie to the finalisation of her case within the court records.