In the spring of 1661, Heleen Gibesone, a resident of Saltpreston within the parish of Prestonpans, Haddington, became the subject of a formal legal inquiry into the practice of witchcraft. The records of the High Court of Justiciary (C/JO/3227) indicate that the proceedings against Heleen commenced on May 3, 1661, a period characterized by a heightened frequency of such trials across the Scottish Lowlands.
Following the initial legal action, Heleen was brought before the authorities for interrogation, resulting in a recorded confession later that same month. While the specific nature of the accusations remains documented within the trial records (T/JO/1801), this confession marks the final stage of the surviving administrative record concerning her case. This brief archival trail serves as a testament to the structured legal process that governed the examination of suspected witchcraft in seventeenth-century East Lothian.