On October 25, 1577, a woman identified in the court records as Isabell was brought before the authorities to answer to the charge of witchcraft. A resident of Calrossie in the county of Ross, Isabell appears in the historical register under case number C/JO/3360. At this stage in the sixteenth century, the legal processing of such accusations followed formal judicial channels, and Isabell’s documentation indicates that her case moved from its initial recording to a subsequent formal trial, designated as T/JO/2153.
The surviving records for Isabell are brief, offering little insight into the specific grievances or testimonies brought against her by her neighbors in Calrossie. In the context of the early Scottish witch trials, such records serve as a stark testament to the administrative rigour with which the state and local kirk sessions addressed accusations of maleficium during this period. While the archival trail regarding Isabell is sparse, it stands as a preserved fragment of the judicial scrutiny that defined the experiences of those caught within the legal apparatus of 1577.