In the summer of 1661, Thomas Black, a resident of Gilmerton in the parish of Liberton, became caught in the legal machinery of the Edinburgh witch trials. The case against Thomas began to coalesce on July 16, 1661, when four individuals already accused of witchcraft identified him as having been present at a meeting of witches. This denunciation initiated a formal process of interrogation that lasted several weeks, during which Thomas provided multiple recorded confessions, the first dated July 29 and the second on August 7, 1661.
Following his trial in Edinburgh on August 7, Thomas was found guilty of the charges brought against him. Two days later, on August 9, 1661, the sentence of the court was carried out at the Common Green. In accordance with the judicial practices of the era, he was put to death by being strangled and subsequently burned. His execution concluded a brief but intensive legal proceeding that had moved from initial accusation to final sentence in less than a month.