In the spring of 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials reached into the parish of Auldearn, specifically targeting Margaret Kyllie of Wester Kinstray. On April 14, 1662, administrative proceedings were formally initiated against her under case reference C/EGD/463. This legal action was part of a broader, intensive wave of accusations that swept through the Nairn region during that period, marking a significant moment in the local judicial pursuit of alleged practitioners of maleficium.
Following the initial registration of her case, the process moved toward formal adjudication. Margaret was subsequently subjected to a trial, recorded under reference T/LA/1852. As a resident of Wester Kinstray, Margaret found herself caught within the rigorous ecclesiastical and secular investigations that defined this era, where the testimony and local suspicions surrounding individuals were subjected to the scrutiny of the courts. These records remain as the primary documentation of the legal proceedings directed against Margaret, reflecting the procedural structure of the mid-seventeenth-century Scottish witch-hunt.