Category: Mark Hofmann
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Hofmann Confesses
Mark Hofmann admits he killed two people and forged Mormon documents. His father also pleaded that he submit to execution to atone for his wrongs, based on the LDS teaching of blood atonement.
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Forged LDS Documents and Cracked Ink
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner After two and a half years of investigation into the documents and activities of the Mormon document dealer Mark Hofmann, we are now able to offer a book on the Salamandergate scandal which rocked Utah and the Mormon Church. This new book is entitled, Tracking the White Salamander—The Story of…
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Lawsuit Over: Unfair Verdict Is Overturned (Clayton Diaries copyright suit)
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner On April 28, 1983, the Mormon scholar Andrew Ehat filed a lawsuit against us (Jerald and Sandra Tanner) in an attempt to stop publication of some extracts from the diaries of Joseph Smith’s private secretary, William Clayton. Because these diaries contain embarrassing material on the origin of polygamy and other…
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The Mormon Document Scandal
Hofmann Charged With Murder and Selling Forgeries By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In the last issue of the Messenger we reported that Mormon document dealer Mark Hofmann was not only a suspect in the October 15th Salt Lake City bombing’s case but that police were also investigating the possibility that Mr. Hofmann had been selling…
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LDS Documents and Murder
By Jerald Tanner As I left the Salt Lake City Post Office on October 15, 1985, I noticed that the east side of Main Street was blocked off by the police. Later I was to learn that a murder had been committed at the Judge Building—less than a block from where I obtained my mail.…
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1826 Trial Record Recovered
By Wesley P. Walters [At our request Wesley P. Walters has prepared the following.] On March 20, 1826, four years before he published the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Jr. was hauled before the local court in Bainbridge, New York. He was accused of being “a disorderly person and an imposter” because of his claim…
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More Discoveries!
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In his book, Nightfall At Nauvoo, the Mormon writer Samuel W. Taylor commented that “the Salt Lake City Messenger, contains some of the liveliest reading ever to emerge from the city of the Saints.” In the Messenger we have tried very hard to provide information that is both accurate and…
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Fake Documents and the Harris Letter
By Jerald Tanner In the Messenger for June 1985, we reported that we had learned that someone had “been making up material and attributing it to Joseph Smith. Since such an individual has the ability to create the text of a document like the Salamander letter, we are making a very serious investigation into this…
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“Salamandergate”: Mormon Church Caught in Magic Cover-up
Jerald and Sandra Tanner summarize the evidence for and against the authenticity of Mark Hofmann’s questionable documents, expressing their views candidly for the record.
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Important Find?
In 1967, Deseret News reported rediscovered Joseph Smith Papyri, identified as Egyptian funerary texts, not Abraham-related. Later, Mark Hofmann claimed to have Facsimile No. 2, alleging fraudulent restorations by Smith.