In the summer of 1661, the life of Isobel Ramsay, a married woman from the village of Wester Duddingston, reached a terminal crisis as she became caught in the wider judicial machinery of Edinburgh. Her legal proceedings moved rapidly following her initial confession on July 18. Central to the case against Isobel were the accounts of several women—Jonet Ker, Margaret Hart, Margaret Robertson, Marjorie Fairwell, and Issobell Robiesone—who named her as a fellow participant in meetings of witches. Specifically, Ker testified to encountering Isobel at a meeting on the "green dyke," claiming to have identified her definitively by her face and her speech.
The proceedings were marked by profound domestic betrayal, as Isobel’s own daughter provided damaging testimony against her. According to the court records, when the daughter confronted her mother regarding local rumours that she had caused supernatural harm, Isobel reportedly responded, "so I did and will ever doe." Further allegations asserted that the Devil had appeared to Isobel in the guise of her husband, adding a layer of perceived diabolical intimacy to the accusations. Despite her frequent travels between her home and the city of Edinburgh, Isobel faced an assize composed largely of Edinburgh residents rather than members of her own local community. Following a verdict of guilty delivered on August 20, 1661, the sentence was carried out three days later; Isobel was executed by being strangled and burned.