Hutchison,Margaret
Case Reference: C/EGD/401
| Case Ref | C/EGD/401 |
|---|---|
| Accused | Margaret Hutchison |
| Case Start Date | 28/7/1661 |
| Case Date | 18/9/1661 |
| Age at Case | 65 |
| Common Name | Hutchison,Margaret |
|---|
| Type | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| Demonic | — | ✓ |
| Fairies | — | ✓ |
| Maleficium | — | ✓ |
| Implicated by Another | — | ✓ |
| Neighbourhood Dispute | ✓ | ✓ |
Notes: Denounced under oath by Jannet Ker and Marjorie Fairwell. Confessed pact with devil
She sent three cats to someone's house to make noise and cause illness. The devil promised her money. Devil took her in his arms ?sexual implication.
| Type | Text |
|---|---|
| Body and soul | |
| Anti-baptism | |
| Servant |
Devil Appearances
| Type | Text |
|---|---|
| Male |
| Elphane/Fairyland | ✓ |
|---|---|
| Food/Drink | — |
| Verbal Formulae | — |
| Ritual Acts | — |
| Familiars | ✓ |
| Shape Changing | ✓ |
|---|---|
| Dreams/Visions | — |
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | — |
| Sympathetic Magic | — |
| Riding Dead | — |
Notes: A male victim suffering from pains like child birth and swelling went to a English doctor in Leith, who declared that he was bewitched. New charges in second restatement of trial. Her master Andro Lauder and his wife asked if she had fallen out with anyone. Disease was taken off and moved to a cat, there was a cold wind when the cat died.
Elf/Fairy Elements
- Meeting at 12:00
Shape Changing
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Apparition | for 8 nights, then suffocated a child |
Ritual Objects
- Flesh
Harm
| Human Illness | ✓ |
|---|---|
| Human Death | ✓ |
| Animal Illness | — |
| Animal Death | ✓ |
| Female Infertility | — |
| Male Impotence | — |
Methods
| Aggravating Disease | — |
|---|---|
| Transferring Disease | ✓ |
| Laying On | — |
| Quarreling | ✓ |
| Cursing | ✓ |
| Poisoning | — |
Healing / Other
| Removal of Bewitchment | — |
|---|---|
| Recognised Healer | — |
| Healing Humans | — |
| Healing Animals | — |
| Midwifery | — |
| Property Damage | ✓ |
| Weather Modification | — |
Disease Notes: A piece of raw flesh was found under a male victims loom after he chased Hutchison off his land, which when cast in the fire caused a loud noise and the death of his cat. Aflicted a whole household after a competition between male head and her husband.
Other Maleficia Notes: Caused a man to have pains like a women in child birth. Suffocated a new born child at midnight when she was in apparition form after appearing for 8 nights. Tried to kill a woman who wouldn't return her cauldron, but killed her dog by mistake.
Property Damage Types
- Whole Estate
- Revenge
- Revenge for being called a witch
- Failed business interaction
- Charming
- Sorcery
Notes: Accused of harming people and goods by using charms, sorcery and witchcraft.
- Appeasement
- Community Healer
| Claimed Bewitched | — |
|---|---|
| Claimed Possessed | — |
| Admitted Lesser Charge | — |
| Claimed Natural Causes | ✓ |
| No Defence | — |
Notes: No words or deeds. Defence argued relevancy of accusations: witchcraft or nature.
| Name | Title | Involvement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Crichton | Investigator | witnessed her confession | |
| Robert Dalgleish | Mr of Lauriston | Prosecutor | |
| David Dunmure | Mr | Prosecutor | |
| Nathaniel Fife | Mr | Defence advocate | |
| John Fletcher | Mr | Prosecutor | |
| James Ker | Investigator | tortured her | |
| Thomas Lawson | Investigator | witnessed confession | |
| Charles Lumsden | Mr | Investigator | his wife's illness was blamed on accused |
| James Thomson | Investigator | witnessed and wrote her confession |
| Source | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Books of Adjournal | JC2/11; JC2/10 fos. 21v-27r | JC2/10 and JC2/11 have the same text. This one is her trial. Also found in the High Court Record Index, no. 1 for 20/8/1661, this index did not distinguish between circuit and high court cases. This list of names was added in the margins with a modern hand, no indication of where the person got the list. |
| High Court Process Notes | JC 26/27, bundle 1, items 1, 2, 5, 6, 7. Also bundle 'Gilmerton witches' item 3.Also 'Magaret Hutchison' bundle. | Notes about dittay, accusations, verdict and retrial. Item 7 is copy of her confession. JCs to be re-catalogued at future date so check with NAS staff. Note about trial misfiled in 'Gilmerton witches' bundle. Petition from husband filed in 'Margaret Hutcheson' bundle. |
| Books of Adjournal | JC2/11, JC2/10 fo. 29v | process stuff |
| Books of Adjournal | JC2/11, JC2/10 fo. 31r-33r | restatement of her indictment and a verdict and sentence |
| Books of Adjournal | JC2/11; JC2/10 fo. 41r | sentence read. |