Witchcraft was a statutory offence in Scotland between 1563 and 1736, and the authorities held many trials and executions for witchcraft in this period. This book presents a selection of the records of these trials.

Witch-hunting was intense in Scotland, but every European country executed witches, and witch beliefs shared broad similarities all over Europe. Peasants believed that witches could harm them, their families and their livelihoods. Witchcraft accusations often originated in quarrels between women, and women's curses seem to have been feared more than men’s. About 85 per cent of Scottish witches were women. One typical pattern of accusation was that someone would suffer a misfortune which they would then link back to a quarrel that they had had with someone else; they would conclude that the other person was getting their revenge through witchcraft. However, people usually sought to end such quarrels through reconciliation; peasants rarely seem to have taken the initiative in demanding the execution of their local witches. Numerous reconciliations, successful at the time, are recorded in the documents below.

Educated people shared some of the beliefs of the common folk, but they also developed a set of distinctive views about witchcraft, which can be collectively described as demonology. In this, witches were held to make personal pacts with the Devil, entering his service and gaining from him the power to do harm. One particular power they received was the power to fly, and they could also inflict illness and death. Witches met collectively to worship the Devil. Thus, the beliefs of the peasants and the elite were compatible with each other, but still distinct. For the peasants, the crime was practising witchcraft, while for the elite, it was a thought crime: the crime of being a witch.