On February 19, 1634, legal proceedings were initiated against Angus McGillipatrick, a resident of the parish of Kilmallie in the remote northern region of Caithness. The record of his case, cataloged under reference C/LA/3315, marks the beginning of a formal investigation into allegations of witchcraft leveled against him. At a time when the Scottish legal system was increasingly preoccupied with the perceived influence of the demonic within local communities, Angus found himself drawn into the machinery of the state’s judicial processes.
Following the initial filing of his case, Angus was subjected to the formal protocols of the Scottish court, as documented in trial record T/LA/2105. While the specific nature of the depositions—the particular acts of maleficence or diabolical pacts alleged by his neighbors—remains held within the terse administrative summaries of the period, the transition from case filing to trial reflects the gravity with which the authorities in Caithness viewed these accusations. The record stands as a testament to the brief but intense intersection between Angus’s life in Kilmallie and the rigorous, often fatal, scrutiny of the early modern ecclesiastical and civil courts.