In October 1643, the records of Dysart in Fife first noted the involvement of John Corse in the proceedings against local practitioners of witchcraft, when he was denounced by Issobell Pope, a self-confessed witch. Despite this early association, it was not until December 1657 that John was formally detained in the Tolbooth. Over the subsequent two months, he provided a series of testimonies, with formal confessions recorded on December 17, 1657, January 7, 1658, and finally February 2, 1658. Among the charges brought against him was his participation in a meeting of witches, a grave accusation that positioned him within the wider social anxieties of seventeenth-century Scotland.
During his examinations, John, a married man, also admitted to committing adultery with a woman in Dundee, further complicating the legal and moral dimensions of his case. By February 2, 1658, his proceedings had moved to the High Court in Edinburgh, where his name appeared on an index of those slated for trial. However, the existing Books of Adjournal—the official records of the High Court’s proceedings—do not contain a definitive account of his trial outcome. His involvement was further underscored by Margaret Williamson, who also denounced him in the context of other legal actions, cementing his position as a recurrent figure within the judicial investigations of that era.
