The historical record regarding Isobell Manteith remains sparse, yet it provides a poignant glimpse into the atmosphere of pervasive suspicion that defined the 1597 witch trials in Aberdeen. Isobell first emerges in the documentary evidence not as a defendant in her own right, but as a figure mentioned during the legal proceedings against Christen Michell. At the time of this trial, conducted on September 3, 1597, the records explicitly note that Isobell was already dead.
Her inclusion in the trial of another accused individual suggests the interconnected nature of these investigations, where the testimonies of the living frequently reached back to implicate those who had passed away. By the time the judicial machinery of the 1597 trials turned toward her, Isobell had already escaped the reach of the Aberdeen magistrates. Nevertheless, her name remains preserved within the court records under file C/EGD/2128 and trial reference T/JO/1320, serving as a formal, if somber, testament to the legal scrutiny applied to the residents of the city during this period.