In 1606, Issobell Falconner, a married woman residing in the Berwickshire coastal town of Eyemouth, first faced accusations of witchcraft. The legal proceedings initiated against her were temporarily halted when the court granted a continuance, as Issobell was pregnant at the time. This initial encounter with the justice system remained unresolved for nearly two decades, leaving the charges suspended while she continued her life in the community.
The case against her was formally resumed on March 16, 1624, by which time Issobell had reached the age of thirty-four. According to the extant legal records, the process had advanced to the stage of denunciation, with the allegations against her being officially reported to the sheriff-depute. This sequence of events marks the culmination of an unusually prolonged legal history, spanning eighteen years from her initial appearance before the authorities to the renewed scrutiny she faced in 1624.