In the spring of 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials turned its attention toward Alexander Bell, a resident of Drumdewin in the parish of Auldearn, Nairn. On the 14th of April, Alexander was formally processed under the case designation C/EGD/457. The historical record identifies him specifically as a "charmer," a designation that, in the context of seventeenth-century social and legal frameworks, placed him in a precarious position within his community. While folk-healing and the use of charms were often sought after by neighbors in times of illness or misfortune, they were simultaneously viewed with profound suspicion by ecclesiastical and secular authorities, who increasingly categorized such practices as illicit interventions into the natural order.
The subsequent proceedings against Alexander were formalised under trial record T/LA/1846. Though the particulars of the evidence presented against him remain condensed in these archives, his status as a practitioner of charms became the focal point of the state’s intervention. For an individual living in Auldearn during this period of heightened scrutiny, the transition from local healer to accused defendant was a swift and often irreversible process. The records stand as a stark testament to the intersection of popular belief and the rigid judicial climate of the 1660s, documenting the brief but significant moment when Alexander’s reputation as a charmer brought him directly into the custody of the court.