There once was a small town in the midwest...

[Scrivener7]

2. I have an ancestor from the early 1800s who, like Joseph Smith, was a "treasure digger." He'd

use a dowsing rod and dig up treasures from people's land. Like silver candlesticks and caches of coins.

One day, he told his neighbors he had dug up Captain Kidd's treasure. He said he had sent it to Philadelphia to convert it to cash and when the cash came back he would share it with the community. His neighbors were so grateful, they showered him with gifts and money. But of course when the day the cash for Captain Kidd's treasure was supposed to arrive, my ancestor had moved far away and was never heard from again.

This is a really, really old con.