In the late summer of 1661, Jonnet Gibesone, a woman of middling socioeconomic status residing in the village of Gilmerton, Liberton, became the subject of intense legal scrutiny in Edinburgh. The judicial process against her moved with remarkable swiftness, beginning with a formal confession recorded on July 29, 1661, followed by a second statement provided on August 7, the same day her trial took place before the court. The charges brought against Jonnet centered on the specific accusation of attending a witches' meeting, a serious transgression under the statutes of the period.
Following the guilty verdict delivered on August 7, the legal proceedings concluded with finality two days later. On August 9, 1661, Jonnet was taken to the Common Green, where her sentence was carried out. In accordance with the judicial practices of the era, she was subjected to strangulation followed by burning. The records, preserved under the case reference C/EGD/391, document the entirety of this sequence, from her initial confessions through the ultimate execution of the sentence on that summer afternoon.