In late 1649, the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch-hunt reached the burgh of Jedburgh, where Bessie Wilsoun was identified as a subject for legal investigation. On November 20, 1649, the proceedings against her were formally entered into the record under case number C/EGD/2041. Like many individuals caught within the intense social and religious anxieties of the mid-seventeenth century, Bessie was subjected to the rigorous process of examination by the local authorities, a procedure that sought to reconcile communal grievances with the prevailing legal definitions of maleficium and covenanting.
The documentation pertaining to the trial, designated T/LA/2081, confirms that Bessie did not remain silent throughout these proceedings. A confession was recorded as part of her case, marking a critical juncture in her encounter with the court. While the specific content of her admissions remains a matter of the surviving archival fragments, the existence of this confession indicates that she participated in the structured narrative expectations of the Scottish judiciary, providing the testimony that would ultimately determine her path through the legal system of the era.