In 1664, within the burgh of Elgin, Margaret Tamsone became the subject of a formal legal inquiry regarding allegations of witchcraft. Recorded under case file C/EGD/1892, her proceedings were situated within the administrative and ecclesiastical context of St Giles’ parish. As was customary for the period, the transition of her case from local awareness to the official records of the justiciary reflects the gravity with which the Scottish authorities viewed accusations of diabolical influence during the mid-seventeenth century.
The surviving documentation concerning Margaret provides a narrow, administrative window into the judicial processes of the era. While the specific evidentiary details—such as the nature of the alleged maleficium or the testimonies of her neighbours—remain contained within the broader, unexamined archives referenced by historians like Christina Larner, the record serves as a stark marker of her encounter with the mechanisms of the state. Through this brief entry, Margaret remains a figure defined by the formal scrutiny of her community, illustrating the persistent reach of the 1563 Witchcraft Act into the lives of individuals in seventeenth-century Elgin.