In the late summer of 1649, Geilles Wood, a resident of Wester Pencaitland in the parish of Haddington, became the subject of a legal proceeding that would place her among the thousands caught in the machinery of the Scottish witch trials. On August 28, 1649, the formal documentation of her case (C/EGD/1632) was initiated, marking the beginning of a process that would move from initial accusation to the structured scrutiny of the courtroom. While the records provide a stark administrative framework, they situate Geilles within a period of intense judicial activity, reflecting the ecclesiastical and civil pressures prevalent in East Lothian at the time.
Following the initial registration of her case, the legal trajectory for Geilles culminated in a trial (T/LA/1964). As a woman living in the small community of Wester Pencaitland, her transition from a member of the local parish to an individual facing the gravest of charges highlights the specific mechanisms by which early modern Scottish communities managed internal suspicion. Through the preservation of these documents, the history of Geilles remains anchored to the formal judicial record, serving as a testament to the intersection of personal life and the rigorous, often fatal, legal structures of the seventeenth century.