Magic Circles

In the early 1800s in New England there existed a common belief that buried chests and ancient Native American gold were scattered throughout the hills and mounds in the countryside. The Smith family, who shared this belief, engaged in the business of “money digging,” in which local farmers and land owners would pay the Smiths to search for buried treasure on their properties. The Smiths and other treasure seekers used magic circles to help them acquire buried treasure and as a way to protect themselves from evil entities. Magic Circles are considered a form of witchcraft, but folk magic practitioners, such as the Smiths, mixed Christian theology and practice with magic.

Eyewitnesses describe the Smiths as sticking poles around the perimeter of their treasure digs to prevent the pot or chest of treasure from moving. As far as the historical records indicate, the Smiths never found anything, and explained their failures with the rationales that the enchantments protecting the treasure were too strong, the spirit guarding the treasure could not be appeased, and/or that the chest of gold had slid deeper into the earth beyond reach.