In the autumn of 1644, Isobel Young, a twenty-five-year-old woman of middling socioeconomic status residing in the burgh of Queensferry, Linlithgow, found herself drawn into the judicial proceedings that characterized the mid-seventeenth-century Scottish witch hunts. The case against Isobel (C/EGD/2337) was not an isolated incident; rather, it was deeply embedded within her familial network. She was accused alongside her mother, and historical records further note that her sister was also named in the proceedings, suggesting that the local authorities were investigating multiple members of the same household.
The trajectory of the case moved rapidly toward a fatal conclusion. Following her appearance before the courts (T/JO/520; T/JO/525), Isobel was found guilty of the charges brought against her. In the final weeks of 1644, she was executed by burning, a sentence that mirrored the severity with which the Scottish judiciary approached such accusations during this period. Her death stands as a documented chapter in the legal history of the region, marking the tragic end of a life caught within the administrative and social pressures of her time.