In the autumn of 1658, Bessie Paton, a resident of Alloa in Clackmannan, found herself at the centre of an intense and violent judicial process involving multiple accusations of witchcraft. The legal record for Bessie, documented under case C/EGD/292, reveals a harrowing extrajudicial episode: along with two other women, K. Remy and M. Tailior, she was subjected to torture by four local men who branded them with hot stones. Following this, the local Justices of the Peace intervened to conduct formal questioning, confronting the three women with the allegations brought against them. Despite the gravity of these accusations—which included participating in a witches’ meeting and causing damage to local boats—the record concludes with the notable observation that no further legal action was taken against Bessie.
The administrative trail suggests a broader atmosphere of suspicion surrounding the "Alloa witches," with official movements indicating that an assize was ordered to convene in Edinburgh in August 1658 to address the cases, though the proceedings appear not to have culminated in a formal trial there. Bessie’s name features prominently in the testimonies of others during this period; she was denounced by numerous individuals, including Margaret Tailyeor, Elizabeth and Kathrin Black, and Barbara Erskyne, and was noted by Sybilla Drummond as someone who had been consulted. These interlinked accusations highlight the complex web of local denunciations that defined the period, leaving Bessie at the intersection of private violence and the shifting machinery of the Scottish courts.