In the spring of 1597, Issobell Richie, a married woman residing in the settlement of Cloak, near Aberdeen, became ensnared in the intense wave of witch trials then gripping the region. On April 24, she faced the local court to answer for capital charges that included *maleficium*, or the practice of harmful magic, and participation in illicit witches’ meetings. The legal proceedings against her were notably lacking in specific eye-witness testimony regarding the alleged acts of harm; rather, the prosecution relied heavily on the depositions of other accused women. Records indicate that Issobell was identified by several individuals—Jonet Grant, who claimed to have consulted her, as well as Margerat Bane and Jonet Spaldarge, who both named her as an accomplice.
Following her conviction in the Aberdeen court, Issobell was sentenced to death. She remained in custody for nearly a year until her sentence was carried out in April 1598. In accordance with the grim standard practice for those convicted of witchcraft in the burgh, she was taken to Gallow Hill, where she was executed by strangulation before being burned. Her case remains a documented example of how the communal nature of the 1597 Aberdeen trials created a cascading series of accusations, linking residents of surrounding parishes like Cloak through testimonies of shared association and supernatural consultation.