In January 1704, the legal machinery of early modern Scotland turned its attention toward Anna Wood, a resident of the coastal burgh of Bo’ness in Linlithgow. Recorded under case file C/EGD/2441, the proceedings against Anna emerged during a period of significant judicial scrutiny regarding allegations of maleficium and diabolical association. While the precise nature of the accusations brought against her remains tethered to the surviving archival reference, her case stands as part of the broader pattern of witch-hunting that persisted in the region until the final years of the legal framework established by the Witchcraft Act of 1563.
The documentation surrounding Anna underscores the jurisdictional complexity of the time, as local authorities in Bo’ness navigated the requirements of the Justiciary Court. Though the specific testimonies and individual charges leveled against Anna are not fully detailed in the accessible research notes, her entry in the archives serves as a stark reminder of the bureaucratic precision with which these trials were conducted. By the time Anna appeared before her inquisitors, the trials had become highly formalised affairs, reflecting the prevailing theological and legal anxieties that defined community life in eighteenth-century Scotland.