In the spring of 1662, the rural parish of Fossoway and Tullibole, located within the jurisdiction of the Crook of Devon, became the site of a series of judicial proceedings against local residents accused of maleficium. Among those brought before the authorities was Isabel Rutherford. Her case, documented under reference C/EGD/1481, reached a critical point on April 3, 1662, as the kirk session and civil magistrates intensified their scrutiny of the community’s spiritual and social conduct during a period characterized by a heightened preoccupation with the presence of witchcraft.
While the specific nature of the allegations against Isabel remains confined to the administrative records of the period, her appearance in the register marks her as a participant in one of the most volatile episodes of witch-hunting in Perthshire. The documentation surrounding her case serves as a fragment of the broader legal apparatus that governed the Crook of Devon during the mid-seventeenth century. Although the primary evidence detailing her trial has been subject to varying levels of historical analysis, the record of Isabel stands as a testament to the rigorous, systematic scrutiny applied to individuals living within the parish during this era of intense ecclesiastical and judicial oversight.