In 1661, the town of Forfar became the site of a legal inquiry involving a woman named Bessie Croket. As a resident of this burgh, Bessie was drawn into the judicial machinery that characterized the intense period of witch-hunting in mid-seventeenth-century Scotland. The proceedings, documented under case reference C/EGD/2424, reflect the administrative rigor with which local authorities approached accusations of maleficium during this era of social and religious upheaval.
The records concerning Bessie remain part of the formal legal history of Forfar, though they highlight the archival challenges often faced by scholars of this period. While the specific nature of the allegations brought against Bessie is not preserved in the surviving entry, her inclusion in the judicial registers serves as a testament to the scope of these proceedings. Her case, situated within the broader context of the 1661 trials, illustrates the intersection of communal suspicion and the formal mechanisms of the Scottish courts.