In 1644, the legal records of Kirkcudbright document the case of Janet McGoane, an individual brought before the authorities amidst the broader patterns of judicial scrutiny prevalent in seventeenth-century Scotland. While historical documentation for this specific case remains limited, archival references suggest that Janet may be identical to a woman identified elsewhere as Janet McGown, linking her experience to the wider administrative efforts to document allegations of witchcraft during this period.
The archival trail for Janet consists primarily of an entry within the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, designated as case C/EGD/2335. Due to the nature of the surviving documentation, which relies in part on references established by earlier scholarship, the specific circumstances surrounding her accusation and the subsequent legal proceedings remain sparse. Consequently, Janet serves as a significant subject for historical enquiry, representing those individuals whose encounters with the early modern Scottish judicial system are captured within the fragmentary but vital registers of the mid-1600s.