In 1662, during a period of intense judicial scrutiny in Haddington, a young man named David Schankis became caught in the sweeping tide of the Scottish witch trials. His entanglement in the legal proceedings began when he was denounced by James Welch, an individual responsible for naming a substantial number of people across the region. As the local authorities moved to process those implicated, David’s age became a primary point of administrative concern; he was ultimately deemed too young to undergo the formal rigours of a criminal trial.
Despite his exemption from the courtroom, David remained under the custody of the state, held in imprisonment as the investigations continued. While his youth spared him from a final sentencing, the authorities nonetheless treated the statements he provided during his confinement as significant. David’s confession, along with the specific denunciations he offered while in custody, were recorded and integrated into the broader evidentiary proceedings of the time, illustrating the complex and often precarious ways in which even the youngest individuals were woven into the judicial processes of the mid-seventeenth century.