In April 1662, Archibald Baird, a married man residing in Blauster, Haddington, found himself drawn into the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch trials. His case, cataloged under C/EGD/512, emerged during a period of intense scrutiny and investigation into alleged witchcraft within the region. Archibald was one of a significant number of individuals denounced by a young man named James Welch. While the authorities deemed Welch himself too young to face a formal trial—resulting in his imprisonment—they nonetheless treated the content of his confession and the subsequent list of names he provided with severe gravity.
The legal proceedings against Archibald, recorded under reference T/LA/1337, were a direct consequence of this wider climate of denunciation. By documenting his status and residence alongside the testimony provided by Welch, the court integrated Archibald into a series of investigations that characterized the judicial response of the era. The record stands as a formal testament to his inclusion in a broader legal effort to address the accusations levelled against him, rooted in the administrative rigour of seventeenth-century Haddington.