Who was the Last Witch of Scotland?

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

History Hit

Myths, Folklore, Mystery, History, Ghosts, Society & Culture, Murder, Ufos, True Crime, Paranormal, Supernatural, Serial Killers

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With the nights closing in, what better time to re-visit a favourite episode of ours.

In 1727, Janet Horne of the Highland community of Dornoch became the last person in Britain to be tried and executed for witchcraft.

As the poet Edwin Morgan put it; They tarred her and feathered her, bound her and barrelled her burning in the peat-smoke, while the good folk of Dornoch paused briefly for a look.

But maybe the events aren’t quite as black and white as they seem?

Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the story this week.

Written by Maddy Pelling. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's 2023 and we're standing on the edge of a small road in the highlands of Scotland.
0:13.0	The town is Dornock in Sutherland, less than a mile from the choppy grey North Sea,
0:18.6	beyond which in rough parallel lies the top of Denmark.
0:22.6	It's a warm June night, and to one side, open grasslands stretches away,
0:28.2	covered by a cloud of midges and framed by distant mountains.
0:33.0	On the other is a house, perhaps no more than a hundred years old, plastered with grey pebbled ash,
0:39.8	typical for this part of the world. Its garden is bordered by a low stone wall and sheltered only
0:46.5	by two thin fir trees. But we haven't come for the house or even the setting. Instead, we're here for a small, unassuming stone,
0:58.0	upright and covered in lichen,
1:00.0	and bedded in the lawn just beyond the front door.
1:04.0	Around it, arranged in a circle, are small pebbles,
1:08.0	tiny offerings left by tourists and well-wishers.
1:12.4	Today, the spot is remarkably quiet.
1:15.6	But if you had been here 296 years ago, on another similarly warm June night,
1:23.4	the scene would have been very different.
1:26.5	In 1727, a woman, afterwards named as Janet Horn,
1:31.3	was dragged from a nearby prison to this place, then open land on the edge of an early 18th century settlement.
1:38.3	She was naked. A crowd surrounded her, men, women and children from Dornock, all drawn from their homes to
1:46.3	watch the spectacle unfold.
1:49.0	Some jeered and shouted insults, others looked on afraid.
1:53.3	We can only imagine the terror Janet herself must have felt.
1:57.7	Until this point, she had endured months in a damp, dark cell, accused and found guilty at trial of witchcraft.
	...

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