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Primary sourceBook1886

The Salem Witchcraft, the Planchette Mystery, and Modern Spiritualism

Harriet Beecher Stowe; Samuel Robert Wells · 1886

A book by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Samuel Robert Wells on witch trials and spiritualism, heard here in a modern volunteer audio reading.

Stowe co-authored this work on witchcraft and spiritualism, showing her engagement with contested ideas beyond slavery.

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Harriet Beecher Stowe and Samuel Robert Wells, The Salem Witchcraft, the Planchette Mystery, and Modern Spiritualism, 1886. LibriVox volunteer audio reading.

About this source

What it is

This is a written work by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Samuel Robert Wells, published by Fowler & Wells. It reprints a review of Charles Upham's history of Salem witchcraft, alongside writing on planchette use and modern spiritualism, with notes by the Phrenological Journal's editor.

Why it matters

The text looks back at how ignorance and prejudice once led to persecution and death, while also exploring contested ideas like spiritualism that interested many Victorians, including Stowe. It shows her engaging publicly with questions of belief, science, and superstition beyond her antislavery writing.

Look closer

  • Why might Stowe have been interested in writing about both witch trials and spiritualism?
  • What does the language used about 'bigotry,' 'prejudice,' and 'superstition' tell you about the author's purpose?
  • How does this recording differ from hearing the author's own voice?

Note: the audio is a modern LibriVox volunteer reading, not Stowe's own voice.

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Harriet Beecher Stowe on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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