In the summer of 1650, a woman identified in the legal records as Agnes Wikean was brought before the authorities in Dumbarton. Little remains to illuminate the specifics of her life or the nature of the accusations brought against her, as the primary documents concerning her case—cataloged under reference C/JO/2941—are sparse. The very name recorded for her is obscured by the difficulty of deciphering the original handwriting, leaving her true surname a matter of historical uncertainty.
Agnes’s experience within the Scottish judicial system was brief and ultimately diverted by the broader procedural complexities of the time. According to trial notes (T/JO/1143), her case became entangled with that of another individual, John McWilliam. A commission issued by the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland (APS) regarding McWilliam directed that the other individuals detained alongside him be set at liberty, with the proviso that they remain subject to answering the charges at a later date. Consequently, Agnes was released, marking the conclusion of the available records concerning her involvement in the witch trials of the mid-seventeenth century.