In May 1615, the ecclesiastical and civil authorities in Dunblane, Perth, initiated proceedings against a local man named Watty Bryis. The legal documentation preserved in the archives—specifically case record C/EGD/876—marks the commencement of his trial on the 17th of May. As with many cases during this period of intense judicial scrutiny regarding maleficium and diabolical influence, the process moved swiftly from the initial accusation to formal trial protocols under the reference T/LA/231.
The progression of Watty’s case concluded with the procurement of a formal statement from the accused. According to the extant records, Watty provided a confession, a development that served as the primary instrument of the judicial process during the early modern witch trials. While the specific content of his testimony remains confined to the administrative registers, this record stands as the definitive account of his interaction with the authorities in Dunblane, documenting the final legal stage of his involvement in the judicial system of seventeenth-century Scotland.