In December of 1596, Jonet Grawie found herself swept up in the currents of the Scottish witch trials, a turbulent period marked by fear and superstition. According to surviving historical records, Jonet was brought to trial on charges associated with witchcraft—a fate not uncommon in the 16th century, as societal anxieties about the supernatural and the devil were fervent. The trial, identified as case C/EGD/130, placed Jonet in the enclave of Edinburgh, a city that had grown notorious for its rigorous prosecution of suspected witches.
The trial, documented under reference T/LA/874, encountered a procedural stumbling block that ultimately shaped Jonet's experience. When the legal proceedings commenced in December of that year, they were abruptly halted. The specific note in the records indicates that the "diet was deserted due to lack of assize," meaning that the trial could not continue because there were insufficient members of the jury—a common occurrence within the judicial processes of the time, which relied on community participation for a full bench. This procedural breakdown temporarily spared Jonet from the potentially severe consequences of a full trial for witchcraft, which could include execution.
With the trial unresolved and deserted, Jonet Grawie’s case entered the annals of history as one partially defined by its anticlimactic interruption. The precise reasons for the absence of a complete assize remain undocumented, leaving the historical record to imply that Jonet's affair with the courts ended without a definitive judgment. Her subsequent fate remains obscured by time, a reminder of the many lives marked by the uncertainty and fear endemic to the witch hunts in early modern Scotland.