In 1644, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials reached into the burgh of Queensferry, Linlithgow, to apprehend Janet Lowrie. At the time of her indictment, Janet was a married woman living within the community. Her experience reflects the gravity of the judicial climate during this period, as she was brought before the authorities to answer for the grave charges brought against her in case record C/EGD/2340.
The proceedings initiated against Janet moved with a finality characteristic of the mid-17th-century judiciary. According to trial record T/JO/517, the legal process concluded in a sentence that resulted in her execution. Through these records, Janet remains fixed in the historical archive as one of the many individuals whose life ended under the harsh scrutiny of the witch-hunting statutes of the era.