In the summer of 1649, 43-year-old Margaret Bell, a resident of Corstorphine, Edinburgh, became caught in the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials. Her ordeal began with the testimony of others, as she was denounced by four individuals—Katherin Gibb, Marion Inglis, Bessie Scott, and William Scott—who implicated her during their own legal proceedings. By June of that year, Margaret faced the Edinburgh authorities, where she provided a formal confession. In this testimony, she recounted an experience from eighteen years prior, claiming that she had met the devil, an admission that served as the core of the charges brought against her, which included attendance at a witches’ meeting.
The legal process moved with swift, grim efficiency. Following her confession in June 1649, Margaret was found guilty of the charges leveled against her. The judicial record concludes with the finality of her sentence: she was condemned to death and executed by burning later that same month. Her case remains preserved in the historical archives as part of the C/EGD/2373 file, marking the end of her life in Corstorphine and the completion of the judicial proceedings initiated in Edinburgh.
