In the autumn of 1649, the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch trials turned its attention toward John Leishman, a resident of Stirkfield in the parish of Broughton, Peebles. On the 6th of November, legal proceedings were formally initiated against John, marking his entry into the extensive records of the Court of Justiciary. This period in mid-seventeenth-century Scotland was characterised by a heightened climate of religious and judicial scrutiny, during which accusations of maleficium—the causing of harm through supernatural means—often moved quickly from local suspicion to official indictment.
Following the initial registration of the case under the reference C/EGD/2028, the matter moved toward trial under the designation T/LA/2051. While the archival record remains sparse regarding the specific nature of the allegations leveled against John or the outcome of his appearance before the court, his case stands as a representative example of the demographic profile of those swept up in the investigations of the late 1640s. His involvement in these proceedings documents the intersection of rural life in Peeblesshire and the rigorous legal processes established to address perceived spiritual and social disturbances during this era.