In November 1649, the kirk session of Dysart in Fife initiated an investigation into a group of local residents suspected of witchcraft, among whom was forty-year-old Jonet Burt. This legal scrutiny was not Jonet’s first encounter with the judicial authorities of the parish; historical records indicate that she had faced accusations of causing *malefice*—or harm through supernatural means—some fifteen years prior, when she was approximately twenty-five years old. At the time of this renewed investigation in 1649, Jonet was one of several individuals brought before the session, appearing alongside two others who were specifically identified by a professional "pricker," a figure often employed during this period to search for the "devil’s mark" on the bodies of the accused.
While the surviving documentation regarding the specific testimonies against Jonet remains limited, the proceedings were part of a broader, structured inquiry conducted by the local ecclesiastical authorities. The kirk session served as the primary instrument for investigating these allegations, meticulously recording the names of those under suspicion and documenting the involvement of external searchers. Although the detailed transcripts of her trial sessions have not persisted in the record, the case of Jonet stands as a documented example of the persistent surveillance faced by individuals whose past reputations for alleged supernatural harm drew the attention of the church and community during the turbulent mid-seventeenth century.