I was foraging for food and natural ingredients not far from my base, when I came upon a brand new lean-to. The owner wasn't around. Right besides the flimsy construction stood a stump. I walked up to it, opened it, and found, amongst other bits and pieces, an Indian feather. I took the feather and promptly walked away.
A little while afterward, a disappointing realization started to make its way through my mind: my first reaction had been to take the feather, not to leave it where that "noob" had left it. The feather could have been taken (stolen?) by anybody else walking by really, as it laid outside of the lean-to's homesteady influence. I merely took advantage of the situation. Better me than them!
...
But what if I had acted differently?
I started to look for an arrowhead, which I quickly found and used to craft an Indian charm. I then headed back to the camp to leave said charm in the stump, exactly where I'd found the feather earlier.
Of course, another person than the lean-to's rightful owner might get it. I'm fine with that. The likelier possibility is that the naive player will find it. At that moment he or she will have a happy surprise and, contrary to expectations perhaps, realize that leaving things unattended is not recommended in Salem. "Positive reinforcement," you might call it.
One fact is certain: the person will never know who did it or why.
Well ... why not?
These forums are often filled with fascinating stories of murder and betrayal. May this one tale, one of many, a few of which I've been privy to, show that Salem is also about other sorts of random acts.
A final note about that episode: between the time I started to think about my initial reaction and the moment I dropped the charm in the stump, I found three feathers lying around in the surrounding woods and fields.