Case file · Witch trials
Alison Pearson and the Queen of Elphame
Alison Pearson of Byrehill, Fife, said in 1588 that she had spent years with the fairies and the Queen of Elphame, who taught her herbal cures. She had treated the Archbishop of St Andrews. She was burned as a witch.
1588 CE · 56.32, -2.70 · status: official
The account
Her case links healing, fairy belief and politics: the archbishop she treated was an unpopular figure, and her trial was mocked in a satirical poem.
The sceptical view
Her account survives only through a court record made under pressure.