In July 1651, Elizabeth Jonston, a resident of Temple in the parish of Edinburgh, became caught in the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials. Her case, documented under reference C/JO/2828, emerged during a period of intense judicial scrutiny regarding witchcraft. Records indicate that Elizabeth was not alone in her ordeal, as she was processed alongside one other individual who had also provided a confession to the authorities.
The proceedings moved with notable speed during that summer month, as the judicial record confirms that Elizabeth’s confession was formally taken in July 1651. Although the specific substance of her testimony and the details of the subsequent trial (T/JO/390) remain absent from the surviving administrative papers, her inclusion in the register marks her as a participant in one of the most volatile eras of early modern Scottish jurisprudence. Beyond the location of her home in Temple and the fact of her confession alongside another unnamed accused, the archival record for Elizabeth concludes, leaving the final outcome of her trial to the silence of history.