The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft

1563-1736

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

The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft logo

Case Details

C/EGD/963 Marable Couper

name of accused
Marable Couper
designated title
no information
Accused Reference
A/EGD/952
Case date start
no information
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

  • maleficium (secondary characteristic)
  • neighbourhood dispute (secondary characteristic)
  • neighbourhood dispute (primary characteristic)
Characterisation Notes
None
additional persons
name involvement notes
no additional persons recorded

Qualitative information

Non-natural beings

Notes
None
  • no information

Demonic pacts

  • no information

witches meetings

Notes
None

Meeting places

  • no information

musical instruments

  • no information

Folk culture

  • Specific ritual acts
  • Sympathetic magic
Notes
She had 'ane great bag lyk ane fwynes bledder' [A great bag like a faune's bladder] on her lap which she claimed was her guts which a woman had trampled out with her knees. [Is this some reference to the shamanistic removal of organs?] She seems to imply that she was being bewitched and was trying to find the witch who was plagueing her husband and her household. Some tried to appease the person she believed to be the culprit with ale after she asked for alms and said the person would heal.

Counter strategies

  • Counter-magic
  • Protective magic
  • Appeasement

white magic

  • no information

Elf/fairy elements

  • no information

Shape-changing

  • no information

Ritual objects

  • Ale
  • Bannock

Religious motif

  • no information

Calendar customs

  • Midsummer
  • Harvest
  • Saint Magnus Day
  • Beltane
  • Candlemas
  • Fastings eve
  • Halloween

Diseases or illness

  • Human illness
  • Animal illness
  • Animal death
  • Quarreling
  • Cursing
Notes
Accused of taking the profit off of someone's cow. Cursing and quarrelling about cattle. Dispute over a borrowed 'Killtreis' when grinding cornes. The usual quarrel, curse, harm.

Cause of witch's malice

  • no information

Other maleficia

  • Property damage

    • Damage to property

    • Crops
    • Ale
    • Animals
    • Meal
    • Buildings

    weather modification

    • no information

    Notes
    accused of flyting. And made sarcastic comments about the Devil. People refered to her 'as ane banished witche'

    Other charges

    • Superstition
    • Sorcery
    Notes
    None

    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
    RPC 2nd S, v8 pp. 355-360 See also Abbotsford Club, Miscellany/Vol. 1 [series 11], Edinburgh 1837. The project did not check this printed primary source.