In the spring of 1699, Jannet Temple, a married woman residing in the parish of Govan, found herself drawn into the turbulent judicial atmosphere of Lanarkshire. Her involvement originated from the accusations of Margaret Murdoch, the daughter of John Murdoch of Craigtown. Margaret, who claimed to be tormented by witches, named a significant number of individuals during her period of distress, a sequence of events that prompted examinations by both medical professionals and local ministers. On April 22, 1699, this atmosphere of suspicion manifested in Glasgow, where two men and two women provided testimony against Jannet.
Despite the gravity of these accusations and the public nature of the testimonies given in Glasgow, the surviving documentation remains ambiguous regarding the final outcome for Jannet. While her name appears explicitly within the witness testimonies of the period, there is no record of formal legal proceedings being initiated against her. Consequently, though she was clearly marked as a person of interest within the local community’s efforts to address Margaret’s claims, Jannet seemingly avoided the full trajectory of a state prosecution.