Alisone Nisbet, a married woman of lower socioeconomic status from Hilton in Berwick, occupied a position of significant, albeit precarious, trust within her community as a midwife. Records indicate that she had carried a reputation as a witch for thirteen years prior to her trial. Her professional life intersected closely with local clerical authority; she once served the minister of Hilton, where she was entrusted with the care of his eldest son, a role likely involving wet-nursing. However, this period of service concluded abruptly when a former patient informed the minister of an afterbirth ritual performed by Alisone, which was linked in the community’s eyes to a subsequent death. Her personal life also became a matter of public record, as she admitted to committing adultery with a man named Andrew Park.
The legal proceedings against Alisone culminated in July 1632, when she was brought to Edinburgh to face trial. Her case appears to have been intertwined with others in the region, sharing connections to the Strang family of Hilton and the same chancellor of assize who served in the trial of J. Neill. During the legal process, she provided confessions, though the specific content of these admissions remains bound to the judicial context of the time. Her reputation was further solidified by contemporary testimony, including an accusation from Issobell Cunninghame, who identified her as a known witch. Following a verdict of guilty, Alisone was executed on August 4, 1632, at Castle Hill in Edinburgh, where her life was ended by the process of strangulation and burning. Her family history was similarly marked by the shadow of legal scrutiny; her mother had previously fled to England after a commission was granted for her own arrest and trial.