The
Smith family and their neighbors practiced a form of
folk religion, which, although not uncommon in his time and place, was criticized by many contemporary Protestants "as either fraudulent illusion or the workings of the Devil." Both
Joseph Smith Sr. and at least two of his sons worked at "money digging," using
seer stones in mostly unsuccessful attempts to locate lost items and buried treasure. In a draft of her memoirs,
Lucy Mack Smith referred to folk magic:I shall change my theme for the present, but let not my reader suppose that because I shall pursue another topic for a season that we stopt our labor and went at trying to win the
faculty of Abrac, drawing
magic circles or soothsaying, to the neglect of all kinds of business. We never during our lives suffered one important interest to swallow up every other obligation. But whilst we worked with our hands, we endeavored to remember the service of and the welfare of our souls.
D. Michael Quinn has written that Lucy Mack Smith viewed these magical practices as "part of her family's religious quest" while denying that they prevented "family members from accomplishing other, equally important work."
Jan Shipps notes that while Smith's "religious claims were rejected by many of the persons who had known him in the 1820s because they remembered him as a practitioner of the magic arts," others of his earliest followers were attracted to his claims "for precisely the same reason." Smith reports using seer stones in the translation of the
Book of Mormon, as well as in the reception of several early revelations in the
Doctrine and Covenants.
Scrying In the early 1820s in the
region where Joseph Smith grew up there was a subculture that practiced
scrying through the use of "seer stones" or "peep stones". Smith's hometown of
Palmyra was no exception. Historian
Richard Bushman adds Chauncy Hart, and an unnamed man in Susquehanna County, both of whom had stones with which they found lost objects. In September 1819, Smith reportedly borrowed a stone from local seer Sally Chase and used it to scry the location of a stone that was buried under a tree 150 miles away. Smith usually practiced "peeping" or seeing by putting a stone at the bottom of a white stovepipe hat, putting his face over the hat to block the light, then divining information from the stone. Smith and his father achieved "something of a mysterious local reputation in the profession—mysterious because there is no record that they ever found anything despite the readiness of some local residents to pay for their efforts." According to , Smith was paid 75 cents to locate a stolen roll of cloth with his seer stone, though the cloth was never found.
Treasure digs led by Walters In 1822 and 1823,
Luman Walters served as a
seer for a treasure dig on the property of
Abner Cole in Palmyra.
Alvin Smith, Joseph Smith and their father reportedly participated in this dig. Walters possessed a magical book and a
seer stone, which he used to locate
buried treasure.
Abner Cole recalled that "Walters the Magician" had drawn magic circles and "sacrificed a Cock for the purpose of propitiating the prince of spirits" during the treasure dig. Cole described Walters as having a ceremonial sword, a seer stone, a stuffed toad, and a book in Latin. Cole recalled that Walters was "once committed to the jail of this country for juggling". He also stated that the dig ended in disappointment. Walters claimed the enchantment on the treasure was too great for him to lift. Before departing Palmyra, Walters reportedly singled out Joseph Smith as the one with the power to obtain the treasure. Walters "pointed out Joseph Smith, who was sitting quietly among a group of men in the tavern, and said, 'There was the young man that could find [the treasure]', and cursed and swore about him in a scientific manner: awful!"
Dream visitation of Treasure Guardian Joseph Smith consistently listed September 21–22, 1823 as a pivotal night in his life. Early reports describe that after a night time treasure dig, Smith was in bed when he had a remarkable dream. He was reportedly being visited by a spirit in a thrice-repeating dream. Joseph Sr. explained the "spirit" was a "little old man with a long beard", while a later account based on Oliver Cowdery described "an angel of light" appearing to Smith in a dream. Smith said that on the night of Sunday, September 21, 1823, the spirit of an ancient American, visited him and told him of treasure buried nearby. September 21, 1823 was both a full moon and the
autumnal equinox. --> Benjamin Saunders similarly recalled that during the failed retrieval attempt, "there was something down in the box that looked some like a toad that rose up into a man which forbid him to take the plates."
Alvin's death and necromancy rumor Just weeks after Joseph's report of his dream visitation, his older brother Alvin experienced a case of "
bilious colic". Administered a
calomel cure, Alvin died from mercury poisoning on November 19, 1823, at the age of 25. According to a history written by his mother,
Lucy Mack Smith, as Alvin lay dying, he urged his brother Joseph to fulfill all of the requirements to obtain the treasure. Vogel argues this account of Alvin's deathbed instruction suggests the requirement for Alvin to personally retrieve the treasure was a later addition, dating to after Alvin's death. Alvin's funeral was held at the Presbyterian church. According to an 1893 account by his brother
William, "Rev. Stockton had preached my brother's funeral sermon and intimated very strongly that he had gone to hell, for Alvin was not a church member". William cites this as a reason that Joseph Sr. would not join the Presbyterians. During his life, Alvin Smith had participated in a treasure dig under the direction of
Luman Walters, a travelling necromancer. After Alvin's death on November 19, 1823, the Smith family reportedly "heard a rumor that Alvin's body had been exhumed and dissected. Fearing it to be true, the elder Smith uncovered the grave on September 25, 1824, and inspected the corpse." Following the exhumation, Joseph Smith Sr. printed a notice in the local newspaper on September 29, 1824 explaining that Alvin's body had been exhumed to verify it has not been removed from the grave. In
Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet, historian
Dan Vogel notes that "Joseph Sr.'s explanation for disinterring Alvin's body is questionable because one should have been able to determine if the grave had been disturbed without exhuming the body. It seems probable, therefore, that Joseph Sr. himself may have been the source of the rumor, that the story was a ruse to exhume Alvin's body for its use in attempting to get the gold plates." Historian
D. Michael Quinn, in his book
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, suggests that the newspaper notice published by Smith Sr. is evidence that the "guardian," "spirit" or "angel" commanded Joseph to bring a piece of Alvin's body to the hiding place of the golden plates as a requirement for seeing them. Quinn argues that when Smith did not do this, he was unable to see the plates for a second time and had to wait another year. Additionally, Quinn suggests that this information was obscured in official church history because it implies Smith's participation in
necromancy. Residents of Pennsylvania recalled that in June 1828, Smith briefly joined the Methodist church but resigned after others in the church complained about his membership. One member recalled: "we thought it was a disgrace to the church to have a practicing necromancer, a dealer in enchantments and bleeding ghosts, in it." In 1834, the book
Mormonism Unvailed reported that Joseph Smith had "become very expert in the arts of necromancy, jugling, the use of the divining rod, and looking into what they termed a 'peep-stone'". The book featured an account of Smith neighbor William Stafford who relayed a story of Joseph sacrificing a black sheep to appease an evil spirit guarding a treasure.
Expeditions to Harmony, Bainbridge, and Colesville In October 1825,
Josiah Stowell, a well-to-do farmer from
South Bainbridge,
Chenango County, New York, who had been searching for a lost Spanish mine near
Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania with another seer, traveled to Manchester to visit his son. While there, he consulted Smith "on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys, by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye." According to Stowell, Smith looked into a seer stone in a hat and described Stowell's home and the other buildings on the property. Smith and his father travel to
Harmony hoping to raise money to pay off their Manchester farm. On November 1: Smith, Sr, Smith Jr., and seven others sign a contract for a money digging company in
Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The money digging company stayed at the home of Isaac Hale, father of Smith's future wife
Emma Hale. Smith continued to work for
Josiah Stowell and attended school. Smith directed further excavations on Knight's property and at other locations around Colesville.
Disorderly person arrest and release On March 20, 1826, Smith, age 20, was arrested by Constable Philip De Zeng and taken to court in
Bainbridge, New York, on the complaint of
Josiah Stowell's nephew, who accused Smith of being "a disorderly person and an imposter" for his role as a treasure seer. Examined by the Justice, Joseph Smith Jr, Joseph Stowell and Joseph Smith Sr. all acknowledged Joseph Jr. had a stone he looked at in order to find lost treasure. While the testimony actually implicated Smith as a "glass-looker" Vogel argues multiple points would have suggested leniency in the case. Smith was a minor, only 20 years of age, with his father present as a character witness. Smith had not solicited business as a seer but had instead been recruited to the job by the elder Stowell. Smith did not stand accused of fraud, Josiah Stowell spoke in Smith's defense, and Smith expressed a willingness to discontinue looking into the stone. While the outcome of the case is uncertain, Joseph Smith was freed and allowed to return home. While decades later rumor suggested he might have escaped custody, Vogel dismisses them as Joseph would revisit Bainbridge in the coming years—something he could not do were he a fugitive.
Anticipation of plate recovery In June 1827, Smith Sr. told fellow treasure seeker
Willard Chase that several years ago, a spirit had appeared to Smith and told him about a golden book. In August, Smith and his wife Emma visited
Harmony to retrieve Emma's possessions. According to Peter Ingersoll, who helped move Emma's furniture from Harmony to Manchester, Smith confessed that he could not see anything in the seer stone and promised his father-in-law Isaac Hale that he would give up using it. Smith approached Willard Chase, a carpenter and treasure seeker, asking him to make a strong chest in exchange for a share in the profits generated by the expected treasure. On September 20, Josiah Stowell and Joseph Knight Sr. arrived in
Manchester in anticipation of Smith obtaining the treasure. "A young woman by the name Chase (Sister to Willard Chase) found a green glass, through which she could see many very wonderful things, and, among her great discoveries, she said that she saw, the precise place where 'Joe. Smith kept his gold Bible hid.' And, obedient to her directions, they gathered their forces and laid siege to the cooper shop."
From treasure guardian to angel In Smith's time and place, it was extremely unusual to refer to the spirit of a deceased person as an "angel"; angels were viewed as non-human beings. Vogel argues that "angel" is anachronistic to 1823. In 1830, the local newspaper relayed that "Jo. made league with the spirit, who afterwards turned out to be an angel".
Cowdrey and Kimball Both Joseph Smith Jr. and his father used divining rods. One of Joseph Smith's early
revelations, now canonized in the
Doctrine and Covenants, stated that
Oliver Cowdery had the power to use a
divining rod. Cowdery was told that he had the gift of "working with the sprout, behold it hath told you things. Behold there is no other power save God that can cause this thing of Nature to work in your hands." Wording was changed in later editions of the Doctrine and Covenants referring to Cowdery's rod as the "
gift of Aaron". According to Kimball, he would ask yes–no questions, movement meant "yes" and no movement meant "no". His use of the rod for divining continued until at least 1862.
1830 Hiram Page stone Hiram Page, one of the
Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, was living with his in-laws the
Whitmers in
Fayette, New York. Smith arrived in August 1830 to discover Page using a black "
seer stone" to produce revelations for the church. The revelations were regarding the organization and location of
Zion. Cowdery and the Whitmer family believed the revelations were authentic. In response, Smith announced in a new revelation during the church's September conference that Page's revelations were of the devil (Doctrine and Covenants, ). At the conference there was considerable discussion on the topic. Page agreed to discard the stone and the revelations and join in following Smith as the sole
revelator for the church. The members present confirmed this unanimously
with a vote. The fate of the stone and revelations was not recorded by contemporary sources and has been the subject of interest ever since.
Apostle Alvin R. Dyer stated that he had discovered Page's seerstone in 1955, that it had been passed down through Jacob Whitmer's family. The validity of this claim has been questioned.
Kirtland and Salem treasure hunts In August 1836, upon hearing that "a large amount of money [that] had been secreted in a cellar of a certain house in Salem, Massachusetts", Joseph, Hyrum, Cowdery and Rigdon travelled there and attempted to rent lodgings in the house to find the treasure. In 1836, at the age of 10,
James C. Brewster began to claim that he had been visited by the Angel Moroni, the same angel that Joseph Smith Jr claimed had led him to the golden plates. In November 1837, due to his persistent claims of being a prophet, Brewster was disfellowshipped from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1843, Brewster claimed that in 1836 prior to an Ohio treasure quest, that presiding Patriarch Joseph Smith Sr. "anointed the mineral rods and seeing stones with consecrated oil, and prayed over them in the house of the Lord in Kirtland."
1838 A young woman living at the home of
David Whitmer in Ohio in 1838 reported receiving a number of revelations about the downfall of Joseph Smith by looking through a black stone that she had found. Some disaffected church members followed after her.
1841 Mountford artifacts In 1841, apostles
Wilford Woodruff and
George A. Smith confiscated several seer stones and
grimoires from convert William Mountford in
Staffordshire, England. The grimoires were destroyed and seer stones were sent to Nauvoo. Joseph Smith examined the stones and stated that they were "
Urim and Thummim as good as ever was upon the earth" but that they had been "consecrated to devils."
Mars Dagger Hyrum Smith inherited and passed down several relics to his descendents. These include a "Mars Dagger", Mars being the ruling planet of Joseph Smith Sr.'s birth year. Inscribed on one side of the dagger is the astrological symbol for mars, the occult seal of Mars, and
"Adonay", a Hebrew word for "God". On the blade of the dagger is the zodiacal sign of
Scorpio. Several factors lead scholars to believe that the dagger originally belonged to Joseph Smith Sr.: Palmyra residents where the Smith family resided did not mention Hyrum as a participant in the frequent treasure digs that Joseph Smith Jr. and his father participated in, sources frequently mention Joseph Smith Sr. and his son Joseph Smith Jr. drawing magic circles, the astrological signs on the dagger belonged to Joseph Smith Sr. not Hyrum, and Joseph Sr. ordained Hyrum as a patriarch on his deathbed making him a natural heir of family heirlooms. Amulets, charms and talismans were part of the religious environment of the Smith family and other early Latter Day Saints. Joseph Smith possessed a "Jupiter Talisman," a silver coin shaped device that would have been worn on Smith's body to grant "decisive victory over enemies, to defend against machinations, and to inspire the wearer thereof with the most remarkable confidence." The design of the talisman matches exactly those found in an 1801
grimoire titled
The Magus. Family lore had it that Smith had it on his body the day of his martyrdom. ==Brigham Young==