In the spring of 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch-hunts reached the parish of Auldearn in Nairn. Among those caught within these judicial proceedings was Allexander Sheipheard, a married man residing in the Milton of Moynes. According to the records preserved under case reference C/EGD/466, dated April 14, 1662, Allexander became the subject of an official inquiry during a period of heightened scrutiny regarding alleged maleficium and diabolical pacts in the region.
The subsequent legal process followed the established protocols of the era, culminating in the trial documented under reference T/LA/1855. While the archival record remains sparse regarding the specific testimony provided against him, the formal identification of Allexander within the Scottish judicial system highlights the community’s engagement with the prevailing statutes of the time. The transition from his life in the Milton of Moynes to the gravity of a formal trial illustrates the precarious nature of existence during this wave of prosecutions in seventeenth-century Scotland.