Finding Stolen Goods by Cunning Practice
A record in The Hawthorn Archive, preserving folklore with its place, type and source context attached.
Finding stolen or missing property was one of the practical services associated with English cunning folk. Clients might consult a practitioner to identify a thief, locate property or obtain guidance when ordinary investigation had failed.
Recorded methods included astrology, scrying, the sieve and shears, book-and-key techniques and written calculations. The archive evidence demonstrates consultation and belief in these methods, not that the divination produced reliable factual results.
Source trail: historical studies of English cunning practice, including work by Owen Davies and Jim Baker, discussed in the related Journal article.
Related Journal record: Cunning Folk in England.