In April 1568, an individual identified only as Dowglass, a resident of Kerymuir within the jurisdiction of the Earl of Angus, became the subject of legal proceedings concerning witchcraft. The record situates Dowglass within the broader geographical and social landscape of Forfar, a region that would see many such interventions by the state and kirk during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At this early stage in the history of Scottish witch trials—following the legislative framework established by the Witchcraft Act of 1563—the mechanisms of the court were beginning to formalize the pursuit of those suspected of maleficium.
The case, catalogued as C/LA/3397, moved through the judicial process toward a trial, designated as T/LA/2265. While the surviving documentation remains sparse, the very existence of these records confirms that Dowglass was brought under the scrutiny of the legal authorities of the time. Whether Dowglass was a man or a woman remains uncertain, as the historical record provides no specification of gender, leaving this individual as a poignant, if enigmatic, figure in the early modern judicial archive of Scotland.