Margrat Innes, a woman of middling status residing in Aberdeen, found herself drawn into the legal machinery of the 1597 witch hunts during a period of heightened judicial activity in the northeast of Scotland. Her case, documented under reference C/EGD/2131, reached the courts on 9 March 1597, coinciding with a wider series of trials that swept through the burgh. While the specific nature of the allegations against Margrat remains confined to the judicial archives, her standing in the community is underscored by her familial connections, most notably her son, who was employed as a mason—a skilled trade that placed their family within the respectable, working strata of Aberdeen society.
The historical trace of Margrat’s life extends beyond her own trial, serving as a poignant marker of time within the records of the period. Her name surfaces again in the subsequent trial of Christen Michell (T/JO/1319), where the records indicate that by the time of those later proceedings, Margrat was already deceased. Her inclusion in the testimonies of others during this turbulent era illustrates the interconnected nature of these accusations, where the shadow of a single case often lingered to inform and impact the lives and legal outcomes of those who followed.