In November 1649, the presbytery records of Peebles formalised the case against Marioun Twedy, a resident of the parish of Kirkurd. On the 21st of that month, she stood trial before the local authorities, a process documented under the legal references C/EGD/1861 and T/JO/574. The proceedings against Marioun were underscored by the submission of a formal confession, which served as the central piece of evidence within the judicial process of the period.
The allegations leveled against Marioun focused on the destruction of property and agricultural assets, connecting her purported actions to tangible material loss. Specifically, the charges cataloged significant damage to the community’s dairy operations, the injury or loss of livestock, and structural harm to various buildings within the parish. By linking these misfortunes to Marioun’s person, the court addressed the anxieties surrounding rural stability and local security that frequently defined witchcraft accusations in seventeenth-century Scotland.