In June 1662, Malie Turnbull, a resident of Roxburgh, became the subject of a formal legal inquiry regarding allegations of witchcraft. The records of the period, cataloged under case reference C/EGD/1566, highlight the gravity with which the Scottish judicial system approached such accusations during the mid-seventeenth century. On the twelfth of that month, the proceedings against Malie moved forward, marking her entry into the formal court records as an accused party within the volatile climate of the post-Reformation Scottish witch trials.
Following the initial proceedings, the evidentiary trail indicates that a confession was formally documented later that same month. While the surviving trial notes (T/JO/962) offer no specific details regarding the testimony provided or the nature of the alleged activities, the existence of this confession remains a significant aspect of the case record. By the end of June 1662, Malie had transitioned from a local inhabitant of Roxburgh to a subject of judicial scrutiny, her life documented through the administrative lens of a legal process that characterized this era of Scottish history.