In September 1649, a man named John Forrester, a resident of Haddington, became the subject of a legal inquiry regarding charges of witchcraft. According to the court records (C/EGD/1639), the proceedings against John were initiated on the 7th of September. His case was formally processed through the judicial mechanisms of the time, eventually leading to a trial documented under reference T/LA/1970.
During the course of these proceedings, John provided a formal confession. While the specific content of his testimony remains contained within the archival records of the trial, the existence of this recorded admission marks a definitive moment in his legal encounter with the Scottish justice system. Through the surviving documentation of his confession, John’s case stands as a preserved example of the mid-seventeenth-century judicial response to allegations of witchcraft within the Haddington community.