On August 3, 1661, Janet Blackie, a resident of the parish of Dalkeith in Edinburgh, found herself entangled in the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch trials. The legal documentation associated with her case, preserved under reference C/EGD/406, identifies her as a target of grave allegations, most notably the charge of entering into a pact with the demonic. This accusation placed her at the center of a judicial process that sought to identify and excise perceived supernatural threats to the community’s spiritual and civil order.
Despite the gravity of these charges, the progression of Janet’s case took an unusual turn. Although she was recorded at the same time and location as a broader group of individuals facing trial, her matter was not formally presented to an assize on that day. While the specific reasons for this administrative divergence remain unstated in the trial notes (T/LA/412), the records confirm that for Janet, the immediate momentum of the collective proceedings ceased at this threshold, leaving her legal status unresolved within the context of the 1661 trials.