McGown,Janet
Case Reference: C/EGD/791
| Case Ref | C/EGD/791 |
|---|---|
| Accused | Janet McGown |
| Case Start Date | 4/5/1658 |
| Case Date | 5/4/1659 |
| Age at Case | 37 |
| Common Name | McGown,Janet |
|---|
| Type | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | — | ✓ |
| Demonic | — | ✓ |
| Maleficium | — | ✓ |
| Implicated by Another | — | ✓ |
| Neighbourhood Dispute | ✓ | ✓ |
Notes: The record is just witness comments on their depositions, very patchy. She supposedly asked to borrow meal and was refused followed by cursing and malefice. I am not ticking Refused charity, because I think it was a request between equals and the word 'borrow' was specifically used. Implying that this was not 'charity'. Although she was called a 'pyker and a theif' I think this was slander, not an accurate description of her status. JC26 documents confirm definate neighbourhood disputes!
She was seen with a black boy who was black all over but not specified as the Devil or supernatural in any way.
| Type | Text |
|---|---|
| Anti-baptism | |
| Sex | |
| Devil's Mark | |
| New name |
| Elphane/Fairyland | — |
|---|---|
| Food/Drink | — |
| Verbal Formulae | — |
| Ritual Acts | — |
| Familiars | — |
| Shape Changing | — |
|---|---|
| Dreams/Visions | — |
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | ✓ |
| Sympathetic Magic | ✓ |
| Riding Dead | — |
Notes: Withershins. She had a quarrel with a man who accused her of leaving a black cleise and three blue yearns under his milking cow (a charm). A man who was to confiscate their things found a black toad in his bed and died.
Ritual Objects
- Thread
- Cloth
- Toad
Religious Motifs
- Prayer
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: Flyting, grazing disputes (removal of kercheif), ale, borrowed meal.
Other Maleficia Notes: a man refused to marry her daughter and married another, so the bride died.
Property Damage Types
- Ale
- Social slight
- Prayer
- Appeasement
| Name | Title | Involvement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Carsan | of Sewick | Investigator | |
| William Greensone | of Bargatton | Investigator |
| Source | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court Books | JC10/1 fo. 259r-260r, 260v, 269r | |
| McDowall, W. 'History of the burgh of Dumfries' (Edinburgh, 1867), p. 376. The project did not check Larner's reference to this printed secondary source as part of the research. | ||
| Circuit Court Papers | JC10/15/3 | |
| Process Notes | JC26/26 Dumfries dittays 1659 (Biggest dittay roll) | Dittay |
| Process Notes | JC26/26 loose paper | |
| Process Notes | JC26/26 Dumfries bundle | Witness investigation before Kirk session and JPs |
| Trial Ref | Date | Year | Verdict | Sentence | Execution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T/LA/1142 | 2/4/1659 | 1659 | Guilty | Execution | Yes |