In the spring of 1629, Alexander Hay of Kinmudie, Peterhead, in the county of Aberdeen, became entangled in the widespread fear and suspicion that swept through Scotland during the witch hunts of the early modern period. His case, recorded as C/EGD/625, stands as a notable example of when accusations of witchcraft could reach beyond the more commonly prosecuted women and implicate men in the dangerous currents of superstition and anxiety that characterized this era.
The official trial record, T/LA/725, would have seen Alexander brought before the local authorities to face the grim proceedings that had claimed the lives and livelihoods of so many. As a male in a predominantly female narrative of witch trials, Alexander's presence highlights the unpredictable reach of these accusations. In Aberdeen, like elsewhere in Scotland, accusers and authorities drew on cultural fears of malign supernatural forces at work within their communities. During his trial, he would have been subjected to intense scrutiny, as the courts sought to attribute misfortune or unexplained occurrences to the influence of witchcraft and those accused of practicing it. The charges against Alexander, not wholly unusual for the time, underscore the period's pervasive climate of fear and the acute desire for community conformity and stability, often at great personal cost to those like Alexander who found themselves at the heart of such allegations.