The historical record regarding Janet Robertson remains a subject of distinct scholarly frustration. Identified as a resident of Edinburgh, Janet appears in the legal registers under the case reference C/EGD/706, dated to 1681. Despite this administrative categorization, the archival trail for her specific experience abruptly terminates; the National Archives of Scotland contain no surviving documents detailing the nature of the accusations brought against her, nor the subsequent proceedings of her trial.
Because the primary records for Janet have been lost to time, historians are unable to reconstruct the specific events or the testimony that led to her appearance in the records of the late seventeenth century. Her case exists as a profound silence within the broader history of the Scottish witch trials, serving as a reminder of the fragility of the surviving evidence. Consequently, Janet remains a figure defined not by the details of her prosecution, but by the absence of the narrative that might have once explained her place in the legal history of 1681 Edinburgh.