Major Weir's trial

Thomas Weir of Edinburgh confessed to incest, sorcery and other crimes and was tried on 9 April 1670. His house in the West Bow later gained a haunted reputation.

The Dictionary of National Biography records that Thomas Weir came forward himself and confessed to the authorities, admitting incest, sorcery and other crimes. Wikipedia says that as a high-ranking public figure he was disbelieved at first, but his confession and his sister's sealed their fate. They were held in the Canongate Tolbooth Prison, cross-examined by John Sinclair, who was minister at Ormiston, and tried on 9 April 1670. Wikipedia says both were quickly found guilty and sentenced to death. The Dictionary of National Biography says Weir is said to have been delirious during the trial. It places his burning at the stake on the twelfth, at Gallowlie, on Greenside's slopes, midway from Edinburgh to Leith.

The Scotsman reports that Weir's sister Jean claimed he had once been collected from his West Bow house by a demonic stranger travelling by fiery coach and taken to Dalkeith, where another figure gave him "supernatural intelligence". Wikipedia adds that the West Bow house remained vacant for more than a century, owing to a haunted reputation. It says one story held that Weir's enchantments made people climbing the stair think they were going down. About 1780 an ex-soldier, William Patullo, bought the house cheaply and settled in with his wife. According to Wikipedia, the couple are said to have fled on their first night after seeing a calf appear at the foot of their bed.