If Your Scottish Ancestor Was Accused of Witchcraft

Witchcraft trials in Scotland were tried in the High Court . The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, under a grant, has taken the trials maintained by the University of Edinburgh Archives, and has created an online, searchable database of Scottish. In this database, you will find:

·         The accused's name
·         Start  and end dates of the trial
·         "Characterisation" (eg: "Demonic")
·         Who the accused was implicated by

·         Any notes pertaining to the circumstances - whether tried as an individual, a group such as the North Berwick witch hunt (1590-92) or the Paisley accusations of 1699

·        The accusation - including details of time, place, other present and what the witch was purported to have done that was supernatural.  This may include healing illnesses, transferring illness from an animal to a human, causing natural disasters etc.

·         Appearance of Non-natural beings - whether the person claimed to have seen spirits who encouraged their witch craft. The type of spirit - person, animal etc

·         Whether they were known to have attended a "witches meeting" and whether said meeting included food and drink, dancing or the presence of the devil.

·         Whether the accused was then imprisoned and if so where.

Here is the link to the searchable database: http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/

You can search by name, trial date, location or others involved in the trial. Your results will be returned and then you click on the hyperlink. From there you will get a box with the basic information (similar to an index card). Be sure to click on the hyperlinks within the index-card style box to get to the actual information regarding the trial(s).

Witch's Stone marks the spot where the last woman
 in Scotland was hanged for witchcraft