185 years ago today - Feb 28, 1831

"It is well known that Jo Smith never pretended to have any communion with angels, until a long period after the pretended finding of his book, and that the juggling of himself or father, went no further than the pretended faculty of seeing wonders in a "peep stone," and the occasional interview with the spirit, supposed to have the custody of hidden treasures."

"Walters assembled his nightly band of money diggers in the town of Manchester, at a point designated in his magical book, and drawing a circle around laborers, with the point of an old rusty sword, and using sundry other incantations, for the purpose of propiating [sic] the spirit, absolutely sacrificed a fowl, ("Rooster,") in the presence of his awe- stricken companions, to the foul spirit, whom ignorance had created, the guardian of hidden wealth."

[Source: Abner Cole, "Gold Bible, No. 5," Reflector, (Palmyra, NY), 28 February 1831, as quoted in A Topical Guide of Treasure-Seeking Rituals From the American Northeast during the 18th and 19th Centuries, Compiled by Joseph T. Antley (2010)]