In the spring of 1650, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials turned toward Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, where a local man named William Semple was identified for investigation. The administrative records catalogued under case number C/LA/3213 detail the commencement of his prosecution on May 28, 1650. During this period, the legal framework for such trials relied heavily upon the extraction of testimony, and William was subjected to the formal interrogation processes typical of mid-seventeenth-century ecclesiastical and civil courts.
The trial proceedings, designated T/LA/1777, culminated in the documentation of William’s own statements. According to the extant records, William provided a confession while in custody, a pivotal element that would have served as the primary basis for the judicial proceedings against him. The surviving archival entries regarding William remain brief, capturing only the essential data points of his apprehension, the recorded confession, and his placement within the judicial system of the time.