The boom in mormon documents continued into 1983, though camelot was gone, replaced by a grim professionalism. When his schemes began to unravel, he constructed bombs to murder two people in salt lake city, utah. There are several others book on the topic, but i havent read them. Opening the book and thumbing through its pages, she demonstrated to them how she, in seminary scripture study crossreferencing style, had colorcoded the text for the spalding manuscript, b. The enormous success on broadway of book of mormon brings to mind the longest and most difficult miniseries development in the thenwilliam morris agencys history.
Antimormon forger mark hofmann fooled historical experts with master forgeries of various documents. Harris served for a short period of time as scribe for the translation of the golden plates, and assisted in the financing of the first printing of the book of mormon. The most read book in mormon intellectual circles this year will undoubtedly be salamander. The letter attributed to martin harris is now referred to as the salamander letter or the white salamander letter. As a closet apostate, he pretended to be a faithful mormon but actually wanted to discredit the lds church with his fake discoveries. Jeremy runnells was offered an opportunity to discuss his own doubts with a director of the church educational system ces and was assured that his doubts could be resolved. Salamander lettera letter which proved to be embarrassing to the mormon church. The salamander letter was supposedly written by martin harris to william wines phelps, an early convert in the latterday saint movement. When he was 24, smith published the book of mormon. According to latter day saint belief, the golden plates also called the gold plates or in some 19thcentury literature, the golden bible are the source from which joseph smith said he translated the book of mormon, a sacred text of the faith. Drawing from thousands of pages of police reports, court documents, interviews, letters, and diaries, sillitoes and robertss narrative cuts through the complexities of this famous crime investigation to deliver a gripping, capoteesque tale. In 1984, hofmann had revealed the salamander letter, which gave a. Information swapping in the mormon underground, however.
The deseret alphabet, a 38letter writing system developed by mormons copy link facebook twitter reddit flipboard pocket the opening pages of an 1869 copy of the book of mormon, printed in deseret. Mormon stories admin august 20, 2014 church history, general authorities, top 10 church history, top 10 exmormon, top 10 truth claims, top 100, top mormon faith crisis stories 79 comments few people had more of a frontrow seat than brent metcalfe to the goingson surrounding mark hofmann, the salamander letter, and the tragic events of. When we published excerpts in the march 1984 issue of the messenger and indicated the possibility of plagiarism, citing mormonism unveiled and joseph knights account of the discovery of the book of mormon plates, hofmann rejected our. Letter revealing mormon founders belief in spirits. It still is interesting that the lds church created new doctrine to explain that a white salamander was really an angel and when the hoax was revealed just as suddenly undid the doctrine all. The story of the mormon forgery murders by allen d. Roberts study of parallels between ethan smiths view of the hebrews and the book of mormon, the king james text of the book of isaiah and the king. At first the mormon bishop steven christensen trusted mark hofmann, and he bought the salamander letter.
The deseret alphabet, a 38letter writing system developed. Did mark hofmanns salamander letter reveal dishonesty. Palmyra oct 23d 1830 dear sir your letter of yesterday is. Controversial white salamander letter is defended by mormon. Perhaps the most notorious of hofmanns mormon forgeries, the salamander letter, appeared in 1984. I admit also, that the work william law letters, the nauvoo expositor, utah and illinois mormon history, joseph smith, mormonism. As their stories unfoldtheir failures, their struggles, their miraculous triumphsyoull find comfort, solace, insight, and truth. Sheets had helped fund research that authenticated the salamander letter ibid. The infamous story of mark hofmann, the salamander letter, and. Dallin oaks and his changing faith in the salamander. Hofmann forged the salamander letters in which joseph smith apparently was not led to the book of mormon by the angel moroni but by a. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading salamander. The salamander letter was said to have been written by martin harris in 1830.
Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Mark william hofmann born december 7, 1954 is an american counterfeiter, forger, and. In 1983 a person by the name of mark hoffman produced a letter which he claimed had been written by martin harris in 1830 in which he says that joseph smith told him that the spirit guarding the gold in the hill cumorah was transformed from a white salamander that. What is the story of a talking salamander in the church. I remember when all this happened and i find the story as fascinating today as i did so many years ago. Later that morning another package exploded killing kathleen sheets. The salamander letter was a controversial document about the history of the latterday saint movement that later proved to be a forgery. Whether this is so or not, we need to remember that no prophet. It gave a radically different description of josephs smiths retrieval of the golden plates. The publisher aptly sums up the result of the authors determined efforts to produce the book. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished forgers in history, hofmann is especially noted for his creation of documents related to the history of the latter day saint movement. The salamander letter is a letter from martin harris to william w. Finding a historical item like the salamander letters would have been is a once in a career find for most people.
Note that jerald tanner, a prominent antimormon critic, immediately deemed the salamander letter a fraud, while presidency spent hours with hoffman and pursued purchasing multiple items so could hide them in vault just like they hid the 1832 first vision draft. I remain of the opinion that your knowledge of mormonism or the leaders of it is very extensive and as i said before, far greater than mine. A change was coming, too, in the new mormon history, for the faithpromoting finds that blossomed in 1982 now seemed in short supply. Before that i had read a few sunstones, but it was salamander that really changed my life about mormon history. Ces letter my search for answers to my mormon doubts. When you read it youll discover many others as wellreal people, alltoohuman, struggling with problems not too different from your own. Some witnesses described the plates as weighing from 30 to 60 pounds 14 to 27 kg, golden in color, and composed of thin metallic pages engraved with. The letter mark hofmann took on january 11, 1983, to gordon b. It is disingenuous to defame his work because the letters turned out to be forgeries. The letter was one of hundreds of documents concerning the history of lds. It approached the story from a journalistic point of view.
Its been just over 20 years now since mark hofmann, the returned mormon missionary, blew up two innocent people with pipe bombs, and was plea bargained out instead of going to trial. In search of mormons hill warren aston book of mormon conference 2017. Dallin oaks and his changing faith in the salamander letter, or, how the hg decided the truth of the letter was not very useful. Its breadth of information, its farreaching conclusions, and its important lessons will be the topic of discussion in mormon orange juice, as opposed to cocktail, parties from san francisco to washington, d. The salamander letter and the mark hofmann forgeries youtube. Allen roberts, who coauthored with linda sillitoe the book salamander. Roberts and linda sillitoe previously and i will probably read it again. As for the salamander shaped hole quinn revised the book and its excellent. The story of the mormon forgery murders kindle edition by sillitoe, linda, roberts, allen.
Harris, who financed the printing of the book of mormon, is revered by members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints as a. This is a well written book with lots of detail and facts. Joining mormon stories host dan wotherspoon to tell the story of these tragic murders and complex issues are two terrific guests. The salamander letter sandra and jerald tanner venner 01. He forged several lds documents including the controversial salamander letter. The letter was accepted because it seemed to confirm so many arguments that didnt quite have the documentary evidence to close the deal.
As people grew more suspicious of mark hofmanns forgeries, he turned to murder and bombings to cover his tracks. It was nothing less than the oldestknown mormon document. Drexler document laboratory, llc reflects on the salamander letter. This caused several people to start seriously wondering how he was doing so. The story of the mormon forgery murders, which is widely regarded as the most thorough account of the hofmann saga, and curt bench, who at the. Joseph smith claimed the angel moroni appeared to him and told him about the buried ancient record that would later become the book of mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religion that continues to the present with millions of global adherents. Rather than the angel moroni, an old spirit directed joseph to the tre. Steve mayfield and george throckmorton were key players in the capture of mark hoffman, a forgerer and murderer. The salamander letter is a forgery, but the significance of the mystical salamander in folklore, legend, and occult lore including mormon lore is not steeped in deception.
Mormon by saying the joseph showed him the gold plates and that he harris had the book of mormon printed with my own money. The significance of the salamander in mormon and occult. December 23, 1805 june 27, 1844 was an american religious leader and founder of mormonism and the latter day saint movement. The salamander letters were neither the first nor the last ones he claimed to find. Gary sheets who was also a bishop in the mormon church. In 1983 a person by the name of mark hoffman produced a letter which he claimed had been written by martin harris in 1830 in which he says that joseph smith told him that the spirit guarding the gold in the hill cumorah was transformed from a white salamander that joseph saw in the hole in which he was digging. People have found antagonistic references written inside hotel room book of mormons. It was the first book i read that i would call the new mormon history. The churchaffiliated publishing house, deseret book, has been phasing out or renaming titles that used the word mormon, prompting authors to. Dallin h oaks lawyer for the lord lds mormon apostle. His most notorious latterday saint forgery is the salamander letter. It suggested that folk magic was not an early stage that joseph smith abandoned, but was crucial in the book of mormon translation process. Dave explains what hofmann forged the white salamander letter, amongst other things, how the.
The original manuscript of the book of mormon was kept there. Hinckley, by now second counselor in the lds first presidency, was of major significance. The infamous story of mark hofmann, the salamander letter. This document, called the white salamander letter, which the church in the past has insisted is a genuine mormon relic, is the link between the.
The mormon church on friday released photographic copies of an 1825 letter written by church founder joseph smith jr. Of toads, salamanders and spirits mormon discussions. Forgeries related to mormonismmark hofmannchurch reaction to forgeries. Ces letter is one latterday saints honest quest to get official answers from the lds church on its troubling origins, history, and practices. When they hear the word salamander, most will only think of the amphibiousbiological definition, but this creature of lore has many different names and abilities in.
There is a lot of great evidence in that book with the footnotes to back it up to demonstrate folk magic as. In this episode, dave talks about one of the weirdest, most wild happenings in latterday saint church lds church or mormon church. The genius of the salamander letter was the way that hoffman played so brilliantly off of the zietgiest of mormon historians at the time. Mark william hofmann born december 7, 1954 is an american counterfeiter, forger, and convicted murderer. A statement by harris appears in the front of the book of mormon concerning stating that he was shown by an.
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