In the summer of 1613, Margaret Reoch, a landless woman living as a vagabond in the parish of Lumphanan, Aberdeen, found herself drawn into the machinery of the Scottish judicial system. Her case, documented under reference C/EGD/868, formally entered the legal record on June 10, 1613. As an individual without property or a fixed dwelling, Margaret existed on the margins of seventeenth-century society, yet her itinerant status and lack of social standing made her particularly vulnerable during a period when local communities and church courts were increasingly focused on the detection of witchcraft.
Following the initial proceedings, the legal process against her moved toward a formal trial under reference T/LA/226. While the extant records are concise, they situate Margaret within the broader landscape of the 1563–1736 witch trials, highlighting the administrative rigor with which authorities addressed accusations against the impoverished. It is possible that she is the same individual identified in related archives as Margret Reauche (C/JO/3093), suggesting that her encounter with the courts was part of a documented history that left a distinct mark on the judicial registers of Aberdeenshire.