In the autumn of 1597, an individual known only as Moress, a married man residing at the Hill of Auchatty in Aberdeen, became embroiled in the extensive legal proceedings that defined the region’s witch trials during that period. His case, formally registered under the reference C/JO/3031 on October 21, 1597, was processed as part of the judicial activities of the time. While the specific nature of the allegations brought against him remains unrecorded in the surviving documentation, the gravity of the legal machinery set in motion against him is evidenced by the subsequent trial, cataloged as T/JO/1302.
The historical record for Moress is sparse, yet it provides a glimpse into the domestic context surrounding his prosecution. His wife, referred to only as the "Wyf of Moress" in related archival materials (C/JO/3030), was linked to the proceedings as well. Their household at the Hill of Auchatty was thus drawn into the broader, intense scrutiny of the Aberdeen trials, a period characterized by a systematic attempt by local authorities to identify and prosecute those accused of maleficium or diabolical pacts. Through these sparse, formal notations, Moress remains a representative figure of the many inhabitants of rural Aberdeenshire caught in the legal turbulence of the late sixteenth century.