Shetland's witch trials came in three waves, in 1616, in 1644 and about 1680, and the Shetland Museum summarises the number executed as fewer than ten. Those condemned were taken to Houll hill, west of Scalloway, where they were strangled and then burned.
The last to die were Barbara Tulloch and her daughter Helen, also written Ellen King in one account. The Shetland Museum puts their trial about 1680, with their charges unrecorded, and they were hanged and burned at Scalloway. NorthLink Ferries gives the date as around 1700 and says the women were strangled or drowned before burning, a common belief being that fire kept the devil from entering the body after death. The two dates are not reconciled here.
A pamphlet of 1684, quoted by Black and Thomas, tells without naming a place of a Shetland judge who condemned an old woman and her daughter called Helen Stewart. After the daughter had hung a while, a black pitchy ball foamed from her mouth, grew to the size of a walnut when the fire was lit, and flew into the air like a squib, which was taken as a sign the devil had left her. The place and date are not given, so the link to Scalloway is a guess.
In April 2024 a memorial carved of Bressay stone was opened on Gallow Hill, organised by Scalloway Community Council with Shetland Islands Council funding. The women are generally thought of today as ordinary healers or neighbours caught up in a panic. The pin is at Scalloway, since the exact spot of the hill is not given in the sources.
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