Tait,Anna
Case Reference: C/LA/3277
| Case Ref | C/LA/3277 |
|---|---|
| Accused | Anna Tait |
| Case Start Date | 30/12/1634 |
| Case Date | 6/1/1635 |
| Common Name | Tait,Anna |
|---|
| Type | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| Demonic | — | ✓ |
| Maleficium | — | ✓ |
| Other | ✓ | ✓ |
Other details: Attempted Suicide/Murder
Notes: This is an unusual case. She confessed to turning to the Devil to help her kill her first husband, which she did with a drink. She also procured an abortion for her daughter who died from it. She had been having an extramarital affair with her second husband while still married to the first. She tried to kill herself at least three times, by hanging with her curch, cutting her throat while in prison, banging her head on the stocks.
The devil nipped her check, which people could see on her face.
| Type | Text |
|---|---|
| Sex | |
| Devil's Mark | |
| Anti-baptism | |
| Servant | |
| Body and soul |
Devil Appearances
| Type | Text |
|---|---|
| Male | black man |
| Inanimate Object Devil | wind |
| Elphane/Fairyland | — |
|---|---|
| Food/Drink | — |
| Verbal Formulae | — |
| Ritual Acts | — |
| Familiars | — |
| Shape Changing | — |
|---|---|
| Dreams/Visions | — |
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | — |
| Sympathetic Magic | — |
| Riding Dead | — |
Notes: She murdered her husband with a drink made of foxtree leaves and tried to give her daughter an abortion (a drink of wine and salt) that backfired when her daughter died. Her grief and guilt seem to lay behind her confession. She confessed that the Devil told her how to make both drinks.
Ritual Objects
- Herb
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 murdered her husband and tried to give her daughter an abortion that backfired in her death.
- Soothsaying
- Sorcery
- Enchantment
| Name | Title | Involvement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Cockburn | Mr of Clerkington | Commissioner | |
| John Cockburn | Mr of Clerkington | Commissioner | |
| Robert Learmonth | Commissioner | ||
| John Sleich | Commissioner |
| Source | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Privy Council Register of Commissions | MS Adv. 31.3.10, f. 102r and v | |
| Haddington Burgh Court Register | B30/10/13, fos. 24r.-26v. | Trial was granted under a Privy Council commission and was held in the tolbooth of Haddington. Not sure why it was recorded in the Burgh Court register. |
| Trial Ref | Date | Year | Verdict | Sentence | Execution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T/LA/1937 | 6/1/1635 | 1635 | Guilty | Execution | Yes |