In the autumn of 1577, the legal machinery of the Scottish courts turned its attention toward John McAne McThomas Cattanach, a resident of the region of Ross. According to the surviving judicial registers, John was brought before the authorities on the 25th of October to face a formal inquiry into charges of witchcraft. The records of the time reflect the linguistic complexities of the Highlands, noting the clerk’s difficulty in modernising his patronymic surname, which remains recorded in its traditional Gaelic form as John McAne McThomas.
The documentation for this case—indexed under the reference C/JO/3319—outlines the administrative progression of his prosecution, which culminated in a formal trial under the reference T/JO/2122. While the brief entries provide little detail regarding the specific depositions or testimony brought against him, the existence of these records confirms that John was processed through the rigorous ecclesiastical and civil frameworks established to address accusations of diabolical craft during the late sixteenth century. These entries offer a stark testament to the judicial environment in Ross, capturing the procedural reality of an individual caught within the early modern pursuit of suspected practitioners of sorcery.