Margaret Duchill was a Scottish woman who confessed to witchcraft at Alloa during the year 1658.[1] She was one of several people who were accused of witchcraft during the trials of the Alloa witches between 1658 and 1659.[2] The Alloa witch hunt began when the presbytery of Stirling met and appointed the Reverends Matthias Symson and George Bennet, to visit the town and investigate a group of suspected witches.[3] Duchill was one of these woman who were investigated, and her case is a prime example of how an accused witch could bring other people into suspicion, as Duchill implicated many other women in the town as witches which fueled the witch hunting frenzy.

Not much is known about her life before her trial, however her socioeconomic status was described as middling, and she is known to have been a resident of Alloa.[4] Her trial testimony involved mentions of demons, fairies and elements of maleficium.[5]

Trial

Duchill was imprisoned in the month May 1658 and interrogated. On the 11th of May her confession was read out during a kirk session. She had confessed to having been a servant of the devil for twenty years.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Survey Database, Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, Scottish History, School of History and Classics, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland". witches.shca.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  2. ^ "The case of the Alloa Witches". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  3. ^ "More than just a woman's reputation at stake". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  4. ^ "Survey Database, Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, Scottish History, School of History and Classics, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland". witches.shca.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  5. ^ "Survey Database, Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, Scottish History, School of History and Classics, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland". witches.shca.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  6. ^ Fergusson, R. Menzies (1906). "The Witches of Alloa". The Scottish Historical Review. 4 (13): 40–48. ISSN 0036-9241.