The judicial records from the Presbytery of Aberdeen provide a fleeting, stark glimpse into the life of Helene, a resident of the Aberdeenshire village of Aboyne during the early seventeenth century. On December 14, 1626, Helene was formally brought before the local authorities to answer to charges of witchcraft, a legal process registered under case file C/LA/2659. The documentation surrounding her situation is brief, characteristic of the administrative rigour applied by ecclesiastical and secular courts during the height of Scotland's witch-hunting era.
Following the initial registration of the charges, the record indicates that the legal proceedings moved forward into a formal trial, cataloged as T/LA/467. While the specific nature of the accusations levied against her remains unelaborated in these surviving papers, the progression of Helene’s case from an initial complaint to a documented trial reflects the standard procedures of the period. The records serve as a historical testament to the systematic scrutiny Helene faced under the statutes of the time, marking the point at which her life in Aboyne intersected with the formal machinery of the Scottish courts.