In the summer of 1661, the legal machinery of Edinburgh focused its attention on Issobell Dodis, a woman likely hailing from the parish of Liberton, a community from which several other individuals had recently been drawn into the orbit of the witch trials. On August 7, 1661, Issobell appeared before the authorities in Edinburgh to face formal accusations, which centered on her alleged participation in a witches’ meeting. Her name was further surfaced during the judicial process by another accused woman, Bessie Flinker, who identified Issobell as an accomplice in her own testimony.
The proceedings surrounding Issobell remain marked by internal contradictions typical of the period's archival fragments. While the legal records officially note the existence of a confession attributed to her on the day of her initial appearance, August 7, the trial documentation for that same date records that she did not, in fact, confess to the charges leveled against her. This discrepancy between the summary notes and the trial transcript captures the complex reality of these proceedings, where the pressure to secure an admission of guilt often existed in tension with the testimony provided by the accused during their examinations.