Tait,Helen
Case Reference: C/EGD/798
| Case Ref | C/EGD/798 |
|---|---|
| Accused | Helen Tait |
| Case Start Date | 4/5/1658 |
| Case Date | 5/4/1659 |
| Age at Case | 43 |
| Common Name | Tait,Helen |
|---|
| Type | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | — | ✓ |
| Fairies | — | ✓ |
| Maleficium | — | ✓ |
| Implicated by Another | — | ✓ |
| Not Enough Info | ✓ | ✓ |
Notes: Too little to even think about ticking secondary characteristics! Very little information and very bad handwritting. The court book is better, but still not enough detail.
| Devil Present | Yes |
|---|---|
| Communal Sex | No |
| Devil Worship | No |
| Food and Drink | No |
| Dancing | No |
| Singing | No |
Notes: Supposedly against the minister's wife
| Elphane/Fairyland | ✓ |
|---|---|
| Food/Drink | — |
| Verbal Formulae | — |
| Ritual Acts | — |
| Familiars | ✓ |
| Shape Changing | — |
|---|---|
| Dreams/Visions | — |
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | ✓ |
| Sympathetic Magic | — |
| Riding Dead | — |
Notes: Mention of her cat always being around a sick child, when they killed the cat the child recovered. Someone found half burnt thorns at her heathstone. Tait asked for a bannock and then asked for more and was refused because the woman didn't want to give her more than one thing at a time so as to prevent the 'witch' from having power over her.
Elf/Fairy Elements
- Thorn Tree
Ritual Objects
- Stones
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: She prayed to God for someone to recover and they did. This is not folk healing but removal of bewtichment. Threats and illness.
Other Maleficia Notes: A man refused to kiss her and he became ill.
- Social slight
- Prayer
| Source | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court Books | JC10/1 fo. 267r-267v, 268v, 269v | |
| 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. | ||
| Process Notes | JC26/26 Dumfries bundle |
| Trial Ref | Date | Year | Verdict | Sentence | Execution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T/LA/1152 | 5/4/1659 | 1659 | Not Guilty | No |