In the summer of 1683, Margaret Logan, a married woman residing in Crichton, Edinburgh, found herself enmeshed in the grim web of allegations that stemmed from the widespread Scottish witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries. Margaret and several others from her locality were swept up in a surge of accusations articulated in the Edinburgh Porteous Roll, which was a formal schedule of individuals charged with criminal acts, specifically those connected to witchcraft. She faced charges that were typical for those associated with such cases: practicing witchcraft, engaging in sorcery and necromancy, and renouncing her baptism in a supposed pact with the Devil.
Margaret and the three others accused alongside her were summoned to stand trial at the circuit court, as noted in a record from July 1683. However, documentation from an earlier trial date of August 1679 reveals that when previously listed on a similar record, they were noted as "all absent and resisted," suggesting that these individuals did not appear before the court as summoned. This absence might have been interpreted by authorities as defiance or elusiveness, though the specifics are not detailed in the available records. These proceedings exemplify the era's intense fear of the supernatural and the often tenuous grounds upon which accusations were made. Margaret Logan's case is a glimpse into the perilous existence of those entangled in the witch hunts, a period marked by fear, suspicion, and the harsh realities faced by those labelled as witches.