Published in 2016
271 pages
Susan Fair is most at home exploring the crossroads of weirdness and history. She lives on the shoulder of South Mountain in Western Maryland. Her writing has appeared in several newspapers, bunches of magazines, and on numerous websites, including the Rumpus.net and Cryptomundo.com. A longtime public library worker, Susan’s after hours adventures have included a long-term gig at a very strange museum – where she expounded on the virtues of a severed arm and a genuine wizard’s spellbook – and hanging out with ghosthunters and monster trackers. She is the author of American Witches: A Broomstick Tour through Four Centuries and Mysteries and Lore of Western Maryland.
What is this book about?
Throughout history, the specter of witchcraft has both mesmerized and terrified us. But witches aren’t mere fairy book threats; American history is brimming with tales of their terror. From 19th-century murders to a bizarre monkey-faced creature straight from Hell to bewitched pigs hell-bent on revenge, American Witches: a Broomstick Tour through Four Centuries describes strange incidents that have long been banished to the margins of our history.
On a tour through four centuries of American witchcraft that’s both whimsical and startling, we’ll encounter 17th-century children flying around inside their New England home “like geese.” We’ll meet a father-son tag-team of pious Puritans who embarked on an anti-witch mission that involved undressing young ladies and overseeing hangings. And on the eve of the Civil War, we’ll accompany a reporter as he dons a dress and goes searching for witches in New York City’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
Entertainingly readable and rich in amazing details often left out of today’s texts, American Witches casts a flickering torchlight into the dark corners of American history.
