Janet Cornfoot, a resident of Leuchars in Fife, found herself at the center of a witchcraft accusation in 1705, a grim echo of a perilous period in Scottish history. Her case was intertwined with the alleged tormenting of a young lad, Patrick Morton, a sixteen-year-old from Pittenweem. Morton, the son of a local smith, suffered symptoms suggestive of possession—a term and phenomenon frequently cited in witchcraft allegations, reflecting societal and religious anxieties of the time. The charges against Janet and several others claimed they had convened in a witches' meeting, causing Morton's distress. Drawing on the precedent of a similarly infamous case, 'Bargarran's daughter in the west,' the town's officials sought and obtained a commission for trial from the Privy Council, with Sir James Stewart appointed as the prosecutor.
Despite being earmarked for trial by the Lord Advocate, community actions sealed Janet's fate before any legal proceedings could render a verdict. In a tragic turn emblematic of the era's fraught justice system, Janet became the victim of vigilante violence. An enraged mob seized her, beating her mercilessly before abandoning her nearly lifeless body by the Sea Mark. Though the bailies attempted to intervene and save her, a second assault ended her life. Janet was brutally crushed to death beneath a door laden with stones. The aftermath of her death saw the Privy Council demand accountability, ordering those involved in the mob killing to be apprehended and judged for failing to maintain public peace. Her case, laden with confessions recorded multiple times in June 1704 and the testimonies of other accused such as Nicolas Lauson, Janet Horseburgh, and Lillias Wallace, highlights a fraught chapter in the history of witch trials in Scotland, where fear often overshadowed justice.