In September 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch-hunting era turned its focus toward an Inverness resident named Hectour McClean. Recorded under case reference C/EGD/1674, Hectour was brought before the authorities on the 4th of September, marking the commencement of a formal judicial process during a period when anxieties surrounding maleficium and diabolical pacts were deeply embedded in the social and legal fabric of the country.
The subsequent trial, cataloged under T/JO/984, remains a sparse entry in the historical archive. While the records confirm that the trial did take place, they provide no further elaboration on the specific charges, testimony, or the ultimate verdict delivered in Hectour’s case. Consequently, Hectour exists in the historical record as a representative figure of those swept into the seventeenth-century judiciary, where the administrative trail—so meticulous in its dates and references—abruptly obscures the human experience of the accused.