In August 1615, Issobell Atkine, a resident of Jushie in Stirling, found herself at the centre of a formal legal inquiry regarding allegations of witchcraft. The records of the Justiciary Court (C/JO/3084) identify her as the subject of a trial that took place amidst a climate of intense scrutiny concerning supernatural activity. During this process, the legal and ecclesiastical pressures brought to bear upon her were significant; historical notes indicate that Issobell was explicitly threatened with excommunication, a severe social and spiritual sanction that would have effectively severed her standing within the kirk and the local community.
By the middle of the month, a formal confession was extracted from her, dated August 1615 (T/JO/1467). While the brief nature of the surviving records limits our understanding of the specific grievances or accusations levelled against her by her neighbours or the local authorities, the document serves as a stark testament to the judicial proceedings of the period. Issobell’s experience reflects the rigid intersection of legal procedure and religious discipline that defined the Scottish witch trials, marking her case as a documented instance within the broader history of the 1563–1736 persecutions.