Who were the witches?
Witches were generally accepted to be women. They were usually poor women with no family to offer protection. They were widows like Katherine Porter or young women such as Elspeth Bruce. Any women who was a little different and who lived on the fringes of respectable, church going society could find herself accused if the climate was right. This would include anyone who had a squint, regarded as the evil eye, or who suffered from epilepsy, considered to be possession by the devil. Midwives were often accused. If they could bring life into the world, they might decide to take life out of this world. The same applied to women with a knowledge of herbal medicine. The importance of the minister Accusations of witchcraft would have been brought to the attention of Forfar’s young and enthusiastic minister, Alexander Robertson. Ministers were the key to witch hunts. If the minister held no truck with the notion, then witch hunts simply did not happen. If he did accept that witches existed and
