In April 1597, Margret Reauch, a resident of Woodfeidhill in the parish of Coull, Aberdeenshire, was drawn into the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch trials. The records indicate that Margret faced formal proceedings on April 17, 1597, a period of heightened intensity for the local courts in the northeast of Scotland. Her case, documented under reference C/JO/3093, was brought before the authorities amidst a climate that saw significant legal and community scrutiny directed toward those accused of maleficium.
During the course of the trial, Margret provided a confession that was formally recorded that same month. The charges leveled against her were severe, specifically involving the destruction of an entire estate. In the context of early modern jurisprudence, such an allegation of total property damage suggested a belief in the exercise of harmful supernatural powers capable of causing widespread material ruin. Her life and actions during this spring in 1597 remain captured within these administrative fragments, which serve as a stark record of the legal processes that defined her experience in the late sixteenth century.