In February 1597, the judicial machinery of Aberdeen turned its focus toward Isobel Cockie, a married woman residing in Kintore. At the time of her trial on February 19, legal records noted her age as sixty-five, though administrative notes regarding the prosecution suggest a complex history, indicating that the allegations against Isobel stretched back some forty years. Her reputation in the community had become deeply entwined with the narratives of other accused individuals; she was cited as an accomplice by Johnnet Wischert and invoked as a precedent for witchcraft by Helene Makkie, signaling her perceived centrality within the local anxieties of the period.
The charges brought against Isobel were rooted in the substantial disruption of local livelihoods, with allegations encompassing significant property damage to the community's infrastructure and resources. Specifically, she was accused of causing harm to the dairy and the mill, as well as inflicting damage upon the collective crops and the estate as a whole. Following the proceedings on February 19, 1597, the court returned a verdict of guilty. Consequently, Isobel was sentenced to death, and the execution was carried out that same day by fire.