In late seventeenth-century Scotland, Marion Hislop found herself enmeshed in the pervasive fear and suspicion that shadowed communities amidst the witch trials era. Residing in Crichton, near Edinburgh, Marion, a married woman, was formally accused of engaging in witchcraft and necromancy during a time when such allegations carried profound and often deadly consequences. The records from July 1683 indicate that she, along with a group including a G. Penman and others from Crichton, was indicted for these serious charges. These accusations, common in Scotland’s witchcraft prosecutions, encompassed sorcery, renunciation of baptism, and consorting with the Devil—an indictment not merely of actions but of character and soul.
Marion’s trial was scheduled in the circuit court at Edinburgh in September 1679, featuring prominently on the Porteous Roll, a record of alleged misdeeds and crimes. However, both her case notes and trial documentation tell a less definitive tale of absence rather than confrontation. A marginal note, indicative of the times, reads 'all absent and resited,' suggesting that Marion, along with her co-accused, did not present themselves for trial. This absence might indicate several possibilities, but the records abstain from elaboration. What remains from these historical fragments is a picture of a woman caught in the turbulent currents of her time, marked by a judicial process often fraught with fear and societal tension rather than clear-cut resolution.