In the spring of 1633, the judicial authorities in Clackmannan turned their attention toward fifty-five-year-old Helen Keir. By the time legal proceedings were formally initiated against her on April 24, Helen had already been under a cloud of suspicion for three decades, having lived with the reputation of a witch since she was a young woman of twenty-five. This long-standing notoriety suggests that her presence in the community had been defined by a deep-seated apprehension that spanned nearly half of her adult life, culminating in the formal documentation of her case under the reference C/JO/3086.
A pivotal moment in the legal process occurred in March 1633, when a confession was formally recorded against her. The accusations leveled at Helen were comprehensive, focusing on the destruction of property within the parish. She stood charged with causing damage to local livestock and the failure of crops, which collectively amounted to the ruin of a whole estate. These allegations reflect the intense anxieties of the period regarding the perceived influence of the accused over the material prosperity of their neighbors, leading eventually to her trial under reference T/JO/1470.