In the late winter of 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish state focused its attention upon John Aitkin, a resident of the Pentland area of Lasswade, near Edinburgh. On February 20, 1662, John was formally entered into the judicial register under case reference C/JO/2890. This administrative action marked the beginning of a process that would ultimately bring him before the court to face allegations of witchcraft, a crime categorized under the 1563 Witchcraft Act as a capital offense.
The subsequent proceedings against John are documented under trial record T/JO/880. As the case moved from initial registration to formal trial, the local authorities in the Midlothian region engaged in the customary investigative procedures of the era, gathering depositions and testimony concerning his activities in Pentland. While the specific nature of the accusations brought against John remains shielded by the brevity of the surviving court files, his experience reflects the wider intensity of the 1662 wave of witch-hunting that swept through parts of the Lothians.