- whirlwind. Whirlwinds seem to have been frequently attributed to witchcraft in earlier times. James VI of Scotland (and, from 1603, James I of England) was an authority on witches. A letter of 1590 included in Letters from James VI of Scotland and Chancellor Maitland to Robert Bruce, Minister of the Gospel notes that In deadest calmes … perellous puftes and quhirlwindes will aryse.
More specifically, the Justiciary Court Records of 1662 put it to the accused that She . . . raised a whirlwind and thereby had carried away Robert Lauder’s house.