Margaret Anderson, a widowed resident of Birnstown in the parish of Humbie, found herself ensnared in the ominous web of witchcraft accusations in the year 1678. While official records alternately associate her with the nearby town of Ormiston, Margaret's link to the Birns Water, a notable landmark in the area, confirms her residence within the Haddington region of Scotland. Her presence among a cluster of accused individuals from Crichton and Humbie suggests that the community was swept in a fervor of suspicion and fear that characterized many witch trials of the period.
On September 13, 1678, Margaret was summoned to appear in Edinburgh under charges of witchcraft. However, the records reveal that Margaret did not present herself at the appointed trial. As a consequence of her absence, the court declared her a fugitive and issued a pronouncement for her to be "put to the horn," a traditional Scottish legal procedure where an individual was denounced and forfeited their legal rights. This declaration effectively exiled her from society and marked her as an outlaw. The absence of further records leaves a gap in understanding what ultimately became of Margaret Anderson following her evasion of the trial.