On April 15, 1597, the judicial machinery of Aberdeen turned toward Elspett Moiness, marking her inclusion in the extensive series of witch trials that swept through the region during that spring. The historical record C/EGD/2142 formally registers her case, documenting her status as a resident of the city at a time when local authorities were intensely focused on the prosecution of alleged practitioners of maleficium. This administrative entry provides the essential framework of her encounter with the Scottish legal system, placing her firmly within the broader context of the late sixteenth-century witch-hunts.
Following the initial registration of her case, the proceedings against Elspett transitioned to the formal trial stage, indexed under reference T/JO/1492. As an individual caught within the rigorous ecclesiastical and secular investigations of the period, Elspett became a subject of the specific legal procedures designed to adjudicate charges of witchcraft in Aberdeen. While the archival documentation captures the procedural progression of her trial, it stands as a testament to the structured, state-sanctioned scrutiny that defined the experiences of those accused during this volatile era of Scottish history.