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Audiobook edition · 9 h 9 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a neighbor’s accusation carries more weight than the truth?
In The Witch of Salem; Or, Credulity Run Mad, John R. Musick turns to the witchcraft panic in Massachusetts in 1692. Young girls in Salem Village fall into fits and name people they say torment them. Magistrates question the accused. As accusations multiply, the readiness to believe the worst of a neighbor becomes a force that threatens the whole community.
Musick brings American history into fiction through the tradition of historical romance, placing imagined lives within real events. Salem and its farming neighbor, Salem Village, form a world shaped by strict Puritan beliefs. Here, life is understood as a struggle between God and Satan. The novel asks what courage can mean when fear draws a crowd and truth offers little protection.
What you’ll discover
- A community under suspicion Enter Salem as accusations spread and neighbors become people to fear.
- Belief at the center Explore a Puritan world whose people see daily life through their religious beliefs.
- History felt through fiction Follow Musick’s historical romance into the human pressures behind the witchcraft panic.
- The danger of credulity Consider how readily believing an accusation can turn suspicion into a community’s crisis.
- Courage against the crowd Face the question of what one person can do when everyone around them is afraid.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy American colonial history, courtroom drama and stories of ordinary people who keep their heads when a whole town loses its own.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A kind boy and a village ready to fear
- Penn, kings and charters shape the colonies
- A father and daughter flee bondage in Virginia
- Parris and his circle of girls begin accusing
- Two brothers, two women and a jealous widow
- Fear turns neighbors into witnesses against Rebecca Nurse
- Courage means standing against the crowd
Who’s who
- Charles StevensA cheerful Salem farm boy who rescues a stranger, laughs at witch tales and fights to protect the people he loves.
- Cora WatersA gentle actor's daughter shadowed by mystery, hated by the minister and in love with Charles.
- George WatersCora's quiet, proud father, a former actor and runaway servant who keeps a painful secret and swears never to kill again.
- Harry WatersGeorge's twin brother, a wanderer and fur trader who looks so much like him that people mistake one for the other.
- Samuel ParrisSalem's thin, burning-eyed minister who wants revenge on his critics and fuels the accusations.
- Sarah WilliamsA young widow devoted to Parris who wants Charles and threatens him when he refuses her.
- Adelpha LeislerThe warm, spirited daughter of the governor of New York and Charles's childhood friend.
- Rebecca NurseA kind, respected Salem woman who opposes Parris and is accused of witchcraft.
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Die Hexe von Salem oder: Wenn Leichtgläubigkeit zum Wahn wird
by John R. Musick · 1893
A wounded stranger with a red book terrifies Salem, and a cheerful boy named Charles Stevens stands against the panic.
Medium level5–10 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
On an October evening in 1684, a wounded rider struggles toward the village of Salem. Three hunters see him pass.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A kind boy and a village ready to fear
The novel opens on a cold, windy evening. A lone horseman rides toward Salem with a wound in his side. Three hunters, John Louder, John Bly and Samuel Gray, see him pass. Louder has missed every deer all day, so the three decide his gun is bewitched. They read the rider's look of pain as a fiendish grin, fall to their knees and pray for deliverance from Satan.
The rider collapses beside a spring. There Charles Stevens finds him, a farm boy known for whistling and singing, which the strict Puritans think ungodly. Charles does not hesitate. He runs home and asks his mother for the cart and old Moll, reminding her of the good Samaritan. He drives out through the freezing dark and lifts the man into the cart.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1893
- Language
- Deutsch
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Musick, John R. The Witch of Salem; Or, Credulity Run Mad. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-witch-of-salem-or-credulity-run-mad.
Musick, J. R. (2026). The witch of Salem; or, credulity run mad. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-witch-of-salem-or-credulity-run-mad (Original work published 1893)
Musick, John R. The Witch of Salem; Or, Credulity Run Mad. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-witch-of-salem-or-credulity-run-mad.
@book{musick2026witch,
author = {Musick, John R.},
title = {The Witch of Salem; Or, Credulity Run Mad},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-witch-of-salem-or-credulity-run-mad},
note = {First published 1893}
}
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What is The Witch of Salem about?
It follows Charles Stevens, a cheerful Salem boy, as the 1692 witchcraft panic grows around him. The story covers rescue, romance, a jail raid and a fugitive family, while showing how a minister's grudge helps turn a town against its neighbors.
Who is Samuel Parris in the novel?
Parris is Salem's minister, ambitious and vengeful, who quarrels with part of his church. Musick shows him encouraging the afflicted girls and naming his enemies. The author calls him a villain in the preface and presents him as the chief force behind the accusations.
Is The Witch of Salem a true story?
It is historical fiction. Musick published it in 1892 and set it among real events from 1680 to 1700, including the Salem trials, Penn's colony, Governor Leisler and King William's War. Charles, Cora and the Waters brothers are invented characters.
The author
John R. Musick
1849–1901 · American historical novelist
John R. Musick (1849–1901) was an American writer of historical fiction. He was born in Missouri and lived in Kirksville, Missouri, where he also worked as a lawyer. In the late nineteenth century, he wrote the Columbian Historical Novels series, which included The Witch of Salem; Or, Credulity Run Mad.
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