Historian Rodger I. Anderson:
“Long before Joseph Smith’s neighbors alleged that he hunted for buried money by occult means, the art of magical treasure hunting was widespread in America. Accounts of men pursuing enchanted treasures with divining rods are especially prevalent throughout the eighteenth century and suggest that the practice had become ritualized very early on. The buried treasure was located by a divining rod and immobilized by charms, magic circles, or special steel rods driven into the ground. Incantations were recited to protect the diggers from “certain malicious Demons who are said to hunt and guard such Places.”
“Long before Joseph Smith’s neighbors alleged that he hunted for buried money by occult means, the art of magical treasure hunting was widespread in America. Accounts of men pursuing enchanted treasures with divining rods are especially prevalent throughout the eighteenth century and suggest that the practice had become ritualized very early on. The buried treasure was located by a divining rod and immobilized by charms, magic circles, or special steel rods driven into the ground. Incantations were recited to protect the diggers from “certain malicious Demons who are said to hunt and guard such Places.”
