In April 1650, the legal apparatus of seventeenth-century Scotland turned its focus toward Agneis Kirkland, a woman residing in the village of Tyninghame, Haddington. The archival records (C/EGD/1827) document the formal initiation of her case, which proceeded with an accelerated pace characteristic of the period’s heightened scrutiny regarding perceived diabolical influence. During her confinement that same month, Agneis was subjected to the severe judicial practice of sleep deprivation, a method employed by authorities to induce confessions or breakdown physical and mental resolve during the investigative process.
The judicial proceedings against Agneis concluded rapidly; on April 9, 1650, she was found guilty under the prevailing laws regarding witchcraft. As documented in the trial records (T/JO/788), the sentence was carried out on that very day. Agneis was executed in Haddington, marking the final entry in her short, recorded encounter with the Scottish criminal justice system.