In June 1604, Gelis Gray, a resident of the parish of St Giles in Elgin, found herself entangled in the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials. The records preserved under case reference C/EGD/2189 situate her within the broader administrative and social landscape of early seventeenth-century Elgin, a period when local kirk sessions and civil authorities were increasingly vigilant regarding accusations of maleficium and diabolical pacts.
Little remains of the specific allegations leveled against Gelis, though her inclusion in the judicial registers reflects the era’s preoccupation with the regulation of perceived supernatural influence. As the research project noted, the scholarly tracking of her case relies upon historical documentation, including references found in secondary literature pertaining to this intense period of legal scrutiny. For Gelis, the formal recording of her name in these archives marks the intersection of her life in Elgin with the rigorous, and often fatal, inquisitorial processes that defined the Scottish experience of witchcraft.