In the small village of Saltoun, located within the shire of Haddington, the early months of 1629 would prove to be fateful for Bessie Make. Historical records uncover a trial dated January 20th of that year, which charged Bessie with witchcraft—an accusation that was alarmingly common in the tension-laden climate of early modern Scotland.
As her trial commenced, Bessie found herself entangled in a judicial process that often left individuals like her at the mercy of local fears and the intricate workings of community relations. Although specific details of the accusations against her are sparse, the record indicates a case, identified as C/EGD/1080, suggesting that her alleged crimes had gathered sufficient infamy or concern to warrant formal proceedings. Such cases were not uncommon in years following the Witchcraft Act of 1563, where both purported malevolence and the calamities attributed to witchcraft stirred communities into action.
In the trial, cataloged as T/LA/627, Bessie would have encountered a combination of local testimony and potentially the fear-laden testimonies common in these proceedings. While contemporary readers may wish for intricate details of the trial or the disposition towards Bessie afterwards, the records remain silent on her fate. Nonetheless, her story casts light on the fraught dynamics and profound uncertainties that defined life in 17th-century Scotland, as the spectre of witchcraft accusations loomed large over the lives of ordinary people.