 Writer Seabury Quinn wrote an article in the August 1925 issue of "Weird Tales" in which, unaware of the hoax, he recounted the plot of "The Amber Witch" as if it were an actual historical event.The story is set during the Thirty Years' War.The purported author, Reverend Abraham Schweidler, almost loses his only child, Maria, to a plot by a rejected suitor, Sheriff Appelmann, who has accused Maria of practicing witchcraft.