Katherine Knox, a resident of the historic town of Haddington in East Lothian, is known to us through the scant yet telling records of the 1630s Scottish witch trials. Katherine's story, as preserved in these documents, encapsulates the complex dynamics of accusation and belief during this turbulent period. Intriguingly, her case came to attention posthumously during the investigation led by one Hammilton, whose role in these trials was to identify and denounce those suspected of witchcraft. Katherine was already deceased when her name was brought up, having passed away from natural causes, yet she was still implicated as a "known witch" in these proceedings.
The records, though sparse, indicate that Katherine Knox's case was part of the widespread witch hunts that swept through Scotland between 1563 and 1736. Her name was added to a list of alleged witches during a time when fear and superstition were palpable forces in the fabric of Scottish society. Despite her death, her reputation and the suspicions cast upon her lingered, becoming part of the official narrative Hammilton constructed as part of his investigations. Katherine Knox's trial, documented under the reference T/LA/85, stands as a poignant example of how even the deceased were not beyond the reach of such accusations, reflecting the pervasive and enduring hold of witchcraft fears in early modern Scotland.