In the year 1630, in the small village of Cousland, situated within the parish of Cranston near Edinburgh, Marion Bankes found herself entangled in the turmoil of the Scottish witch trials. She was a woman of fifty years, residing in this rural area with her family. The Bankes family, of lower socioeconomic status, was typical of the community, largely owing to her husband's occupational standing which was not noted in the records. However, that year, life took a dramatic turn when accusations of witchcraft were brought against not only Marion but also her husband and daughter.
Marion's case was documented under the case name "Bankes, Marion" on the 10th of June, 1630, and, intriguingly, she was noted to be among six others listed in the records. This indicates that Marion's accusation was not an isolated incident but part of a broader sweep against supposed witches within the area. Despite the severity of the accusation, detailed records from her trial are lacking, which was not uncommon during this period when such trials were often shrouded in secrecy or held with minimal documentation.
The absence of detailed trial notes reflects the enigmatic nature of Marion Bankes's experience, as many similar cases from this period issued judgements with little if any publicly recorded rationale. While the specifics of her defense, her interactions with the court, or the evidence presented against her remain elusive, her story is emblematic of the wider witch trials era in Scotland, where fear and suspicion could upend the lives of ordinary families like the Bankes, leaving only fragments of their ordeal to history.