In the summer of 1662, Elspeth Reid, a resident of the parish of Dunning in Perthshire, found herself drawn into the machinery of the Scottish judicial system during a period of heightened concern regarding witchcraft. Her case, documented under reference C/EGD/1512, reached a formal juncture on July 28, 1662. Like many accused individuals in the seventeenth century, she was subjected to the rigorous legal scrutiny of the local authorities, who operated under the statutes that governed such ecclesiastical and civil proceedings during the reign of Charles II.
Following the legal processes of the era, the proceedings against Elspeth culminated in a trial recorded under reference T/JO/940. The court returned a verdict of guilty, resulting in a sentence of execution. Historical records confirm that this sentence was carried out, marking the finality of her case within the judicial records of Perth. While the specific testimonies, depositions, or investigative details that led to her conviction remain absent from the extant trial notes, the documentation confirms that Elspeth was one of the many lives impacted by the witch trials that characterized this era of Scottish history.