The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft

1563-1736

By Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin, Joyce Miller and Louise Yeoman, January 2003

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Case Details

C/EGD/402 Isobel Ramsay

name of accused
Isobel Ramsay
designated title
no information
Accused Reference
A/EGD/391
Case date start
23/8/1661
Given case date
no information
Case commission
no information
case complaint
no information
case correspondence
no information
case chronicle
no information
other details
no information

characterisation

  • demonic (secondary characteristic)
  • maleficium (secondary characteristic)
  • Implicated by another (secondary characteristic)
  • neighbourhood dispute (secondary characteristic)
  • not enough information (secondary characteristic)
  • not enough information (primary characteristic)
Characterisation Notes
Demonic pact featured in detail although malefice also important.

Qualitative information

Non-natural beings

Notes
Devil gave her a sixpence which she used to buy meal. Probably sex implied because the Devil supposedly appeared to her in her bed in the likeness of her husband. Gave her a dollar which she said later turned to 'sklait stane'. She denied that she had renounced her baptism.
  • Male a pleasant young man
  • Male as her husband

Demonic pacts

  • Devil's Mark
  • Head and foot
  • Anti-baptism later denied this
  • Servant

witches meetings

  • Witches meeting
  • Devil present
Notes
None

Meeting places

  • going to Edinburgh
  • her own house House
  • Jock's Lodge

musical instruments

  • no information

Folk culture

  • Shape changing
  • Sympathetic magic
Notes
Appeasement was tried but failed. Claimed by witness that a cat (?Ramsay) appeared 3 times in his house and that later 2 of his boys died and his wife was ill for 26 weeks.

Counter strategies

  • Appeasement

white magic

  • no information

Elf/fairy elements

  • no information

Shape-changing

  • Animal cat

Ritual objects

  • no information

Religious motif

  • no information

Calendar customs

  • Fastings eve

Diseases or illness

  • Human illness
  • Human death
  • Cursing
Notes
A youngish girl dropped her' kitt' on Ramsay's brow causing a headache. Ramsay cursed the girl, whose mother tried to reconcile with Ramsay, but failed. The girl was blown over by a blast of wind and lost the power of her hand.

Cause of witch's malice

  • Physical insult

Other maleficia

Damage to property

  • no information

weather modification

  • no information

Notes
None

Other charges

  • Charming
  • Sorcery
Notes
By 'charmes and malifices' she caused the death of many people.

Plea

Claimed bewitched
no
Claimed possessed
no
Admitted lesser charges
no
No defence
no
Claimed natural causes
no
Notes
None
Case Notes
None
references
name notes
Books of Adjournal JC2/11; JC2/10 fos. 21v-27r JC2/11 and JC2/10 have the same text. Also found in the High Court Record Index, no. 1 for 20/8/1661, this index did not distinguish between circuit and high court cases. This list of names was added in the margins with a modern hand, no indication of where the person got the list.
High Court Process Notes JC 26/27, bundle 1, items , 2, 4. Also bundle 'Gilmerton witches' items 3, 4 Confesssion, dittay, verdict and sentence listed with others from same trial. JCs to be re-catalogued in the future so check with NAS staff. Note about confronting misfiled in 'Gilmerton witches'.