Kathrin Black, a married woman residing in Alloa, Clackmannan, found herself at the centre of prolonged legal proceedings during the wave of witch trials in the mid-seventeenth century. Her ordeal began in the late 1650s, a period marked by persistent incarceration and deteriorating health. Records indicate that Kathrin was released from prison on several occasions due to debilitating illness, specifically documented as the bloody flux, only to be rearrested as the legal machinery of the state sought to try her alongside others accused of participating in a witches’ meeting. By March 1659, she stood before the circuit court in Stirling, where she maintained a plea of not guilty to the charges brought against her.
Despite her protestations, the court returned a verdict of guilty on 23 March 1659, sentencing Kathrin to banishment. Refusing to accept the finality of this judgment, she and a co-accused, Elizabeth Black, drafted a formal supplication to the commissioners of justice. In this document, they challenged the proceedings, requesting a postponement of sentencing and urging that the jury be recalled and properly instructed at law. This petition proved significant; citing clear irregularities in the initial trial, the Privy Council eventually intervened, ordering that the case be reopened. Kathrin remained in custody until 1661, when a second, local trial was mandated to address the legal inconsistencies of her first conviction. The historical record concludes here, leaving the ultimate resolution of her case obscured by the passage of time.