Founders

In the summer of 1836, against a backdrop of economic instability and fervent religious revival, Joseph Smith, accompanied by his brother Hyrum, Oliver Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon, set forth on a journey that would forever connect them to the notorious witch trials that took place centuries earlier in Salem, Massachusetts. This episode brings you the story of seer stones, witch trials, and the life of Joseph Smith.

Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.

Episode sources

Chapters

• 0:00 Pre-roll
• 0:08 Intro
• 1:44 For the Benefit of Zion
• 5:07 This Witch Business
• 11:20 Urim and Thummim
• 15:37 Conclusion
• 17:37 Outro

Transcript

Pre-roll
You’re listening to Enchanted, a podcast on the history of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. I’m Corinne Wieben.

Intro
In the summer of 1836, humid air lay thick and heavy over the northeastern United States. It was in this year, against a backdrop of economic instability and fervent religious revival, that Joseph Smith and his companions set forth on a journey that would forever connect them to the notorious witch trials that took place centuries earlier in Salem, Massachusetts.

They traveled neither as pilgrims nor as proselytizers but as seekers of a different kind, pursuing rumors of hidden treasure that, if obtained, might alleviate the financial burdens pressing on their newly founded church. Joseph Smith, accompanied by his brother Hyrum, Oliver Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon, had received word that a house in Salem contained a cache of silver left behind by a merchant. The notion of searching for buried treasure was a familiar one to Smith, who had spent his early years amidst whispered tales of buried riches and divine revelations that pointed the way to sacred discoveries.

In this episode, I bring you the story of seer stones, witch trials, and the life of Joseph Smith.

For the Benefit of Zion
In Section 111 of the Doctrine and Covenants, a collection of revelations concerning Joseph Smith, the founder and prophet of the Church of Latter Day Saints, the text mentions that Smith and some of his companions visited Salem, Massachusettes in August of 1836, saying:

At this time the leaders of the Church were heavily in debt due to their labors in the ministry. Hearing that a large amount of money would be available to them in Salem, the Prophet, Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, and Oliver Cowdery traveled there from Kirtland, Ohio, to investigate this claim, along with preaching the gospel. The brethren transacted several items of Church business and did some preaching. When it became apparent that no money was to be forthcoming, they returned to Kirtland. Several of the factors prominent in the background are reflected in the wording of this revelation.

1 I, the Lord your God, am not displeased with your coming this journey, notwithstanding your follies.

2 I have much treasure in this city for you, for the benefit of Zion, and many people in this city, whom I will gather out in due time for the benefit of Zion, through your instrumentality.

3 Therefore, it is expedient that you should form acquaintance with men in this city, as you shall be led, and as it shall be given you.

4 And it shall come to pass in due time that I will give this city into your hands, that you shall have power over it, insomuch that they shall not discover your secret parts; and its wealth pertaining to gold and silver shall be yours.

5 Concern not yourselves about your debts, for I will give you power to pay them.

6 Concern not yourselves about Zion, for I will deal mercifully with her.

7 Tarry in this place, and in the regions round about;

8 And the place where it is my will that you should tarry, for the main, shall be signalized unto you by the peace and power of my Spirit, that shall flow unto you.

9 This place you may obtain by hire. And inquire diligently concerning the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this city;

10 For there are more treasures than one for you in this city.

In 1837, Joseph Smith and other leaders of the Church traveled to the city of Kirtland, Ohio, to address serious financial difficulties. The Church had recently established the Kirtland Safety Society, an early attempt at establishing a banking institution, but it had suffered a failure due to poor financial management, bad debts, and a larger economic downturn. This caused significant economic hardship for Smith and the other leaders. Amidst these struggles, some members of the Church even began to question Smith’s leadership.

The revelation in Section 111 occurred after Smith and several others traveled to the nearby city of Salem, Massachusetts, to attempt to recover some financial losses by seeking after a treasure purportedly hidden in the area. The Church had heard rumors about a hidden treasure in Salem, and this had become a point of interest for Smith and his associates.

This Witch Business
That the men were in Salem looking for treasure is corroborated by additional documents, including an account by Ebeneezer Robinson, a disaffected early church member, and a letter from Joseph Smith to his wife. These accounts suggest that a man named Burgess “stated that a large amount of money had been secreted in the cellar of a certain house in Salem, Massachusetts, which had belonged to a widow, and he thought he was the only person now living, who had knowledge of it, or to the location of the house.” As the men remained in Salem and searched the town’s records for any mention of an abandoned cache of gold or silver, they also followed the directive to “inquire diligently concerning the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this city.” The men interpreted this to mean the Puritans who had settled in Salem and perpetrated one of its worst outrages: the Salem witch trials.

The trials began in 1692 when a group of young girls in Salem Village, led by Abigail Williams and Betty Parris, began having strange fits and claimed they were being tormented by witches. Their accusations quickly spiraled out of control, and before long, dozens of people found themselves accused of witchcraft. The Puritan community, already on edge due to religious fears and general anxiety about the unknown in their new wild home, bought into the hysteria. The accused—mostly women, but some men too—were put on trial, often with little to no real evidence against them. Instead, the courts relied on “spectral evidence,” testimony about visions and dreams, which was impossible to prove or disprove.

In the end, twenty people were executed: nineteen by hanging and one, Giles Corey, was crushed to death with heavy stones after refusing to enter a plea. Dozens more were imprisoned, their lives and health often ruined even if they survived and were later released. Eventually, people started questioning the justice of the trials, and in 1693, the nightmare ended. Some of the judges and accusers later apologized, and the government even gave money to the families of those wrongly accused, but the damage had already been done.

While in Salem, Smith and his fellow travelers, researched the Salem witch trials at the local library. As Cowdery, wrote, “This witch business began in 1691, and was so effectually carried on for about two years that the innocent blood of hundreds moistened the earth to gratify the vile ambition of jealous mortals.” In addition to their work in the library, the men also visited the sites of the trials and hangings. Of this, Cowdery wrote, “During my tarry in this country, I have visited Salem, 15 miles from [Boston]. I viewed the hill, immediately to the north-west of the town, on which they used, in olden times when they were very righteous, to hang people for the alleged crime of witchcraft—it still bears the name of ‘witch hill,’ and looks down upon this ancient town like a monument set up to remind after generations of the folly of their fathers.”

In these historical lessons, Cowdery saw a message to the prophet and his disciples, writing:

I am aware that the fact is familiar with us all, but the matter of fact is not. The first appearance of any thing of this nature, was in the family of a priest, by the name of Parris, who, it is said, could not make money fast enough by merchandizing, therefore undertook the traffic in men’s souls—he lived in Salem. After preaching about two years, he contrived to get “a grant from a part of the town, that the house and land occupied, and which had been allotted by the whole people to the ministry, should be and remain to him, &c. as his own estate in fee simple.” At this many of the good people revolted, upon which strife and contention were stirred up. Soon a number of Mr. Parris’ children were sorely tormented—bewitched—thrown down—scratched—pinched—bitten—squeezed, and many other grievous things, by some of the neighbors. The result was, prosecution, imprisonment and death. Remember, by the way, that none of these were afflicted by corporeal hands, but could see the persons’ spirits or appearances coming to, and tormenting them—sometimes in the form of cats, dogs, hogs, &c… A deeper laid plan for the purpose of satiating revenge, upon such a principle, I think I never read of.

Once in Salem, Smith and his companions secured lodgings in the home of a local man, beginning their search with the faith of believers who had long relied on divine guidance. And yet, though they wandered the town, examined records, and sought inspiration from on high, no silver hoard revealed itself. It was a this point that Smith received a new vision. The Lord, he recorded in his journal, spoke of Salem not as a site of hidden wealth, but as a place where the gospel would one day take root and flourish.

Urim and Thummim
In addition to being founders themselves, the men may have felt a kinship with the early community of Salem for other reasons. According to Smith’s account, he had used seer stones to help him receive revelations and recite the Book of Mormon. Seer stones were one of a number of esoteric magical elements in the culture of the nineteenth-century United States, though they were often more associated with scrying or other forms of divination. According to some accounts, Smith would place the stone in the bottom of an upturned hat, put his face over to block the light, and interpret what he saw in the stone’s reflections. It was in this way that Smith dictated the Book of Mormon, the foundational text of the Church of Latter Day Saints, to a team of recorders in 1829.

Sometimes called “spectacles,” “peep stones,” and “show-stones,” seer stones had long been used in western esoteric practices. The place where Smith grew up, the region of western New York bordered by the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains, was one of the major centers of the Spiritualist movement of the nineteenth century. His parents belonged to a group of people known as “Seekers,” people seeking to understand and restore the original doctrines and practices of Christianity in the time of the Apostles. For those breaking from traditional worship and seeking other forms of belief, the esoteric tradition offered a number of options, including astrology, alchemy, mesmerism, folk magic, and mystical traditions like Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, and Masonic ritual.

While these practices may seem antithetical to Christian practice now, many nineteenth-century believers pointed to the examples of magic and miracles in biblical tradition. The boundary between magic and miracle appears in various books of the bible, from Moses and Aaron contending with and defeating Pharaoh’s magicians to high priests using oracular stones named “Urim and Thummim” (also the name Smith gave to his seer stones) in order to divine God’s will. To Seekers, these examples erased the boundaries between illegitimate and legitimate magic and occult and revealed truth. Instead, there was only one divine truth to be discovered through any of these paths. The use of magic to discern the divine also added a revolutionary element, popular among many Americans of the time, that allowed Seekers to free themselves from the interference of church officials.

In 1870, a neighboring farmer described Joseph Smith’s family in an interview, saying, “This Joseph Smith, Senior, we soon learned, from his own lips, was a firm believer in witchcraft and other supernatural things; and had brought up his family in the same belief.” In addition to soothsaying, or trying to foretell the future, the Smith family also apparently took an interest in divining the location of buried treasure. It was a common belief among nineteenth-century Americans not only that buried treasures abounded but that spiritual forces protected them. To access buried gold or silver, treasure hunters needed occult knowledge to keep themselves safe from these guardian spirits.

In light of all this, Joseph Smith’s excitement about the possibility of treasure in Salem shouldn’t surprise us. His belief in the riches hidden by the past and in divination tools was far from novel. In fact, they were typical of his time and place. 

Conclusion
Smith would leave Salem without the material riches he had sought, but with a broader vision for the future. The historical and cultural context of Smith’s era, particularly his background in folk magic and the spiritualist traditions of the time, sheds light on his initial interest in the treasure hunt in Salem. The journey to Salem, driven by the hope of financial recovery, not only highlights the difficult economic circumstances of the time but also reveals a deeper spiritual lesson. The pursuit of material wealth—symbolized by the rumored hidden treasure—is ultimately overshadowed by a message of faith, patience, and trust. Ultimately, the revelation recorded in Doctrine and Covenants redirected Smith’s focus from earthly wealth to a higher, spiritual purpose: the future spread of the gospel in Salem.

The visit also left Smith and his companions with a valuable lesson from the past. On this visit and revelation, Mormon historian Craig Ostler has written, “Evidently, the Lord hoped to warn and educate the early leaders of his church concerning the tendency of some in religious societies to establish their own righteousness by excessively crusading against real and supposed evils among them. When this occurs, innocent individuals suffer at their hands and religion becomes a stink in the land.”

Outro
If you enjoyed this episode, you can subscribe to Enchanted wherever you listen. This episode was produced by me with original music by Purple Planet. You can find them at purple dash planet dot com. If you want to learn more about Joseph Smith and his trip to Salem, be sure to check out the sources link in the show notes. Special thanks to Enchanted’s Patreon patrons for supporting the production of this and every episode. If you want to support Enchanted, please visit patreon dot com slash enchantedpodcast. If you’re looking for a way to support the show that won’t cost you anything, you can always give Enchanted: The History of Magic & Witchcraft a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, Audible, or wherever you listen and recommend it to your friends. You can get in touch with me via email at enchantedpodcast at gmail dot com or follow on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and now Bluesky at enchantedpodcast. As always, for more information and special features, visit enchantedpodcast dot net. I’m Corinne Wieben. Thank you for listening and stay enchanted.