The Next Amazing Fictional Mystery on the American Frontier
On a pleasant summer`s day in 1853, Dr. Obadiah Gray and his wife Annabelle travel from their home in Burlington, Iowa to visit their good friend, Dr. Edwin James. From him they learn that the people around Augusta and the Skunk River lately have begun to suffer a host of inexplicable ills; gut-wrenching pains, crawling skin, dry gangrene, violent convulsions, bizarre hallucinations, miscarriages, and even death!
When medical science proves powerless to arrest these plagues, the terrified populace becomes convinced that they are the victims of supernatural malevolence, that they have been hexed by an evil witch in league with the devil. And they know just who the witch must be: Agatha Sourwine! The old recluse has lived in that lonely cabin down in Half-Moon Swamp for as long as anyone can remember. She is always prowling the woods with her black cat Piestangel, digging up strange roots and herbs for her potions. Clearly she is the witch who is hexing them all!
Will Gray and company be able to find the real cause of these devastating plagues in time to save Agatha Sourwine from the vengeful mob? Can they prove the superiority of science, reason, and logic over ignorance, fear, and superstition?