In July 1649, Christian Garlick, a resident of the parish of Dalgety in Fife, became the subject of a formal judicial inquiry concerning allegations of witchcraft. Her case, documented under the reference C/EGD/2608, emerged during a period of heightened scrutiny regarding supernatural activity within the Scottish Kirk and legal system. As the judicial machinery of the mid-seventeenth century turned toward her, Christian was brought before the authorities to answer for the charges levied against her within the specific local context of her community.
The surviving record of this process, dated August 7, 1649, marks the point at which her life intersected with the formal processes of the ecclesiastical and secular courts. While secondary accounts have noted the existence of this case, the surviving documentation remains focused on the administrative realities of the trial process during this volatile era. For Christian, the intervention of the state and the kirk in the late summer of 1649 represented a significant transition into the scrutiny of the legal record, positioning her among those whose lives were permanently documented through the lens of the witch trials in Fife.