The legal proceedings against Katherine Knox, recorded under case reference C/LA/2661, provide a stark example of the judicial climate in Haddington during the early 17th century. On January 22, 1630, Katherine became a focus of the authorities not through a direct apprehension, but as a result of a testimonial provided by an individual named Hammilton. During his own interrogation, Hammilton—likely under the intense pressure of the investigative process—explicitly named Katherine as a practitioner of witchcraft, effectively bringing her into the purview of the local kirk session or secular court.
The circumstances surrounding this denunciation reveal a peculiar disconnect between the machinery of the law and the reality of the accused's status. Despite the formal record of her trial under reference T/LA/85, Katherine had already passed away from natural causes by the time Hammilton offered his testimony. Consequently, the trial functioned as a posthumous scrutiny of her reputation, demonstrating how the accusations leveled during this era often permeated the social fabric of Haddington, persisting even after the subject was beyond the reach of terrestrial judgment.