On the night of March 17, 1934, in a small town in rural Pennsylvania, a man crept to a window and shot a woman through her heart. Her name was Susan Mummey, but she was better known as the Witch of Ringtown Valley. The shocking true story of her life and murder has never been told, until now.
The cold-blooded shooting of a woman in her home would have been news on its own. But the victim who lay on her sitting room floor wasn’t just any woman. For years, the people of Schuylkill County whispered about how Susan Mummey practiced magic from her isolated farmhouse. She fought with her family, her neighbors, and the law. Death, it seemed, followed in her wake. Then, death claimed her.
The case was taken up by the formidable team of Detective Louis Buono and District Attorney LeRoy Enterline. When they apprehended Susan’s killer and obtained a confession, the startling revelations sent shockwaves far beyond Schuylkill County. For 40 days, this small corner of the world held the nation’s attention. But as quickly as it began, this astonishing story came to an astonishing end. Today, it is the most famous murder you've never heard of.
In the Day of Trouble is an unforgettable look into a misunderstood woman, a disturbed man, and perhaps even ourselves. Pulled from historical records and insights from survivors of those involved in the case, it takes you beyond the headlines to relive one of the strangest chapters of American history.
Author: Taj Magruder
Page Count: 280
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Publish Date: March 26, 2024
Imprint: Milford House Press
Genre: Mystery
FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Historical
TRUE CRIME / Historical
You might also like ...
-
$19.95The Forbidden Powers - Book 3 Seven years have ...The Forbidden Powers - Book 3 Seven years have passed since the destruction of the Cup of Power and the defeat of Darvor’s armies. Life has gone on for Jonny, but he has not freed himself of the pa...
-
$22.95by Michael L Hawley The Watchmaker Revelations:...by Michael L Hawley The Watchmaker Revelations: Book 3 The Watchmaker is fully aware the most dangerous type of serial killer is one who keeps to the shadows. Unknown to New Orleans one is systemat...
-
$22.95An ostensibly minor burglary trial proves decis...An ostensibly minor burglary trial proves decisive—and fatal. What happens when a defendant inexplicably rejects an easy plea bargain? Public defender Elena Alvarez views this trial as a personal...
-
$19.95Spring is usually heralded as a time of renewal...Spring is usually heralded as a time of renewal, not murder. Preparations are underway in the spring of 1899 for the wedding of Deputy Cyrus Gutshall. Sheriff Tilghman is hopeful this will put his ...
-
$19.95Fate plays the long game. In our world of insta...Fate plays the long game. In our world of instant gratification, there seems to be little time for mysteries or wonder. We question our beliefs and close our minds to that which appears mystical. B...
-
$16.95Sheriff Tilghman is back in this small-town Pen...Sheriff Tilghman is back in this small-town Pennsylvania cozy historical mystery It’s the summer of 1898. The nation, just coming out of an economic slump, has been at war with Spain since April. A...
-
$16.95Two murders unnerve small-town Pennsylvania in ...Two murders unnerve small-town Pennsylvania in this cozy historical mystery The 19th century is coming to a close, and Sheriff Tilghman is focused on his two biggest problems: Finding a new deputy ...
-
$16.95Life hasn’t been entirely fair to Evan Sinclair...Life hasn’t been entirely fair to Evan Sinclair, or ‘Sissy Sinclair’ as most of his classmates like to call him, but now it’s seventh grade - and the universe owes him. A missing baseball bat, belo...
-
$19.95Author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s sister Louisa dro...Author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s sister Louisa drowns in 1852. But was it really an accident? In 1830, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s cousin John Stephens Dike flees Massachusetts and his abusive stepmother Pr...
-
$22.95Someone she knows is watching. Someone she know...Someone she knows is watching. Someone she knows is stalking. And something hides in the darkness. Twelve months ago, a violent injury ended Kate Park’s career with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Co...
-
$19.95A reporter for a New York daily, Danny receives...A reporter for a New York daily, Danny receives a deus ex machina for his frazzled life when a bureaucratic snafu sends the wrong coffin from Italy. Soon, he finds himself assigned to Rome to escor...
-
$16.95A beautiful Irish island reveals its ugly secre...A beautiful Irish island reveals its ugly secrets in this thriller of the opioid crisis Sean Casper retired from the Boston Police to get away from murderers. He left Massachusetts to get away from...
-
$19.95Volume Two of the Breckenridge Dyer Series W...Volume Two of the Breckenridge Dyer Series When a body is discovered in a mine shaft, high in the mountains above Quandary, Sheriff Breckenridge "Breck" Dyer and Deputy Jenny O'Hara follow the e...
-
$16.95Luke Lundy won’t kill for America ever again. A...Luke Lundy won’t kill for America ever again. As the ex-assassin transitions to a government job behind a desk, he grows increasingly disillusioned by the errors in judgment made by the last five p...
-
$16.95First, there was the canyon. Then, there were t...First, there was the canyon. Then, there were the people who came. Nod Blessing is the surviving heir of the Blessing Cattle Company, and he is making his way through the mysterious Cherokee Outlet...
-
$16.95~ A Pasha Stern Mystery ~ Pasha Stern is an acc...~ A Pasha Stern Mystery ~ Pasha Stern is an accountant with an uncanny eye for solving financial crimes. She joins forces with an ex-FBI agent, Larry Smith, to form Stern and Smith, Private Investi...
-
$22.95Alexa Williams is about to become one of the hu...Alexa Williams is about to become one of the hunted. Alexa is doing lion research on the Okavango Delta with her boyfriend Reese. Botswana protects its wildlife with strict policies and an entire ...
-
$16.95The Cogan, a mysterious stretch of Pennsylvania...The Cogan, a mysterious stretch of Pennsylvania with towering hills, swooping trees and narrow roads, claims the life of a lovely young woman, best friend to Ann Fairchild, a passionate, headstrong...
-
$16.95by Jack Adler A DERRY GREENE THRILLER Impresari...by Jack Adler A DERRY GREENE THRILLER Impresario of Terror is a contemporary action/adventure novel pitting a highly unusual Filipino terrorist against an American investigator for a top U.S. trave...
-
$14.95L. D. Knorr's fourth installment in the RV Myst...L. D. Knorr's fourth installment in the RV Mysteries--Hank and Helen Moran’s private investigation business in Kenner, Louisiana is doing so well that their Bounder motorhome has been parked unused...
-
$9.99Three young boys, who call themselves the “cat ...Three young boys, who call themselves the “cat marines,” discover something in the vast mountains, something that happened long ago. The excited boys were sure they had found the discovery of a lif...
-
$19.95Unveiling the Secrets of the Holy Grail The Pho...Unveiling the Secrets of the Holy Grail The Phoenician Code is a novel based on astounding historical and religious facts. Manipulated by the underground lobby since the coming of Christ, and revea...
-
$19.95Sam is a former Marine who wakes up sitting on ...Sam is a former Marine who wakes up sitting on a gravestone in a cemetery with no memory of his past or knowledge of what is happening to him. He is conscripted into a brutal military organization ...
-
$16.95Deep in the southern reaches of New Jersey, a s...Deep in the southern reaches of New Jersey, a state known for urban and suburban sprawl is a place like no other. The Pine Barrens. It is a place of brilliant summers amid green forest, lush bogs...
-
$22.95The Forbidden Powers - Book 2 A young boy’s lif...The Forbidden Powers - Book 2 A young boy’s life is changed forever when he is thrust into a world filled with trolls, dragons, and powerful magic. While scrambling to survive, he learns that dark ...
-
$19.95Recently widowed Sylvie Andrus moves with her y...Recently widowed Sylvie Andrus moves with her young son, Jason, to a small river town, and discovers she must solve a two-century-old mystery to rid herself of the ghost who haunts her. Still griev...
-
$9.99by Joe Harvey Famous Last Words Series #1 Somet...by Joe Harvey Famous Last Words Series #1 Something strange is going on in the woods around Camp Calamity. It started with the disappearance of the Davison’s chickens; then it was Mrs. Nussbaum’s ...
-
$16.95by Bob KnappIn the novel The Devil's Palm, a We...by Bob KnappIn the novel The Devil's Palm, a West Virginia sheriff, Terrance Fowlkes, attempts to enrich himself by building an illegal casino on a beautiful piece of countryside owned by old timer...
-
$19.95Shattered by a broken engagement and a business...Shattered by a broken engagement and a business venture derailed by Jerome Haddad, her unscrupulous partner, Giovanna Rogers goes on a luxury Galapagos cruise with her grandmother to decompress. At...
-
$16.95by Peter GibbsMurder at Henry's Fork is a myste...by Peter GibbsMurder at Henry's Fork is a mystery novel set in a small town near a Railroad Ranch, a famous Idaho nature preserve on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. It is an intriguing story o...
-
$22.95by Simon Landry Philadelphia; 1969: The city is...by Simon Landry Philadelphia; 1969: The city is in turmoil as the race riots rage on. James Monroe, an up and coming journalist, stumbles across a dangerous plot that could turn the tides in the ci...
-
$19.95The deck has always been stacked against you. T...The deck has always been stacked against you. Then an attractive woman promises love, respect, employment, and a home. Wouldn’t you be hooked? ...
-
$22.95by Joan West Carlisle Crime Cases #5, A Christo...by Joan West Carlisle Crime Cases #5, A Christopher Snow and Erin McCoy Mystery Dispatched to a possible kidnapping site, Carlisle Homicide Detective Erin McCoy, her K-9 Officer Shadow, and other K...
-
$14.95Sean Flynn Mystery Book 1Veteran newspaper repo...Sean Flynn Mystery Book 1Veteran newspaper reporter Sean Flynn never imagined that a routine story about a fatal car crash would expose a dark secret about the highest reaches of Pennsylvania state...
-
$16.95by Sarah JonesBeth Gardner knows what she wants...by Sarah JonesBeth Gardner knows what she wants. As she approaches her thirtieth birthday, her life has progressed like the to-do list stuck to her refrigerator. Fulfilling job? Check. Condo in a t...
-
$14.95by Steve Kious Murder on the Quilt is a genealo...by Steve Kious Murder on the Quilt is a genealogical murder mystery. After his mother dies Nick Coy unexpectedly discovers he was adopted. He decides to trace his biological family, a journey that...
-
$24.95by Mark MittenLiving in a remote mountain ski t...by Mark MittenLiving in a remote mountain ski town called Quandary, Sheriff Breckenridge “Breck” Dyer has a lot of problems. The sheriff's department is broke. He’s down to one deputy. The cell pho...
-
$27.95For years Charley Sylvester has buried himself ...For years Charley Sylvester has buried himself as the Obituaries Editor of a major New York daily. When he decides to take a vacation in one of his old hunting grounds as a correspondent in Italy, ...
-
$16.95by Patty Bialak Pasha Stern, a successful accou...by Patty Bialak Pasha Stern, a successful accountant with an uncanny talent for forensics uncovers a multi-million-dollar international crime during a routine corporate audit. Trained in computer p...
-
$16.95by Steve Laracy A Milo Forbes Mystery When Milo...by Steve Laracy A Milo Forbes Mystery When Milo Forbes, an unsuccessful private detective from the crowded streets of San Diego, finds himself stranded in the backwater desert town of Cordoba, he’s...
-
$19.95by JC Gatlin Every murder has a story.Every sto...by JC Gatlin Every murder has a story.Every story begins at home. Tampa newscaster Tori Younger is saddened to learn her childhood friend, Brooke Martin, hung herself from the old water tower in th...
-
$19.95Conspiracy, intrigue, deceit, and murder in the...Conspiracy, intrigue, deceit, and murder in the holiest of sanctuaries result from man's ultimate fall – thou shall not covet. ~~~ THE VATICAN’S VAULT is based on religious and historical events th...
-
$24.95A lighthearted morning trip to test a new drone...A lighthearted morning trip to test a new drone turns deadly for attorney Alexa Williams and two close friends when they find a stranger’s bullet-riddled body in a remote field in rural Pennsylvani...
-
$16.95by Shelly Frome At the outset, Miranda Davis ha...by Shelly Frome At the outset, Miranda Davis has nothing much going for her. The tourists are long gone by October in the quaint Carolina town of Black Mountain, her realty business is at a standst...
-
$16.95by Robert Walton The Greek countryside and a be...by Robert Walton The Greek countryside and a beautiful woman might seem like enough to satisfy anyone’s vacation plans, but the intrepid archaeologist Harry Thursday seems bereft of a good time if ...
-
$16.95The Man Who Hated History is a suspense novel t...The Man Who Hated History is a suspense novel that borrows from both whodunnit and psychological mystery genres to fashion a political whowuzitdunto. French police inspector Robert Frenaud, as meti...
-
$22.95by Joan West Carlisle Crime Cases #3, A Christo...by Joan West Carlisle Crime Cases #3, A Christopher Snow and Erin McCoy Mystery In Darkness at First Light, Carlisle Homicide Detectives Christopher Snow and Erin ‘Mac’ McCoy discover an unidentifi...
-
$19.95by Dennis M Clausen In the fall of 1926, itiner...by Dennis M Clausen In the fall of 1926, itinerant laborer Judd McCarthy disappears while traveling between two small towns in the Midwest. Thirty-three years later, lawyer Joel Hampton thinks he i...
-
$19.95by Dennis M Clausen Rachel Sims, a young Midwes...by Dennis M Clausen Rachel Sims, a young Midwestern farm wife, disappears in 1952 under mysterious circumstances. Twenty-two years later, Laura Fielding, a young woman with a history of broken rela...
Recently Viewed Products
Captivating historical fiction about Pennsylvania's Hex Belt and the Ringtown Witch. Very detailed descriptions and very accurate historically. Having collected Pennsylvania folktales and legends, including witchcraft stories, over the last 50 years, I was impressed with how accurately he describes Pennsylvania witchcraft beliefs and practices. I had never heard of Susan Mummy, also known as the Ringtown Witch, and his story of her sad life and eventual demise kept me turning the pages to find out how it all ended.
The author brought such a human factor to all characters in this book but especially to the two main ones. Two people not necessarily likable to others but explained so well that you understand why they are -the way they are. I can tell this story was well researched and told with such care. Historical archives were such a plus. I enjoyed this book and the new understanding I have of the pawpaw culture. Read it in a weekend and have recommended it to friends.
Such an interesting story based on real events.
This is a great read. I thought I would start a couple of pages but I found myself half way through the book. I hope you had the same experience..