Jannet Hunter, a resident of Luphray maines in Ormiston, Haddington, became the subject of intense legal scrutiny during the height of the late seventeenth-century witch hunts. Her troubles began in the summer of 1678 when she was denounced by Elpeth Knox on July 9. The legal proceedings that followed moved rapidly through the Haddington courts, resulting in Jannet being officially declared a fugitive by the authorities on September 12, 1678. This status suggests that she had absconded or failed to appear to answer the charges levied against her, effectively placing her outside the protection of the law.
By September 1679, the matter had intensified with the inclusion of her name in the Haddington porteous roll—a formal record of indictments for criminal trial. The charges brought against Jannet were severe and formulaic, reflecting the grave nature of accusations common to the era. She faced counts of witchcraft, sorcery, and necromancy, alongside the specific, grievous allegations of renouncing her Christian baptism and pledging her body and soul to the Devil. These trials, which saw documented proceedings on September 9 and September 12, 1679, mark the final extant records regarding her legal entanglement within the Scottish judicial system.