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For the second part of our Mark Hofmann coverage, we take a closer look at one aspect of Hofmann’s strange story: his dealings with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When Hofmann “found” what became known as the Salamander Letter in 1984, it sent shockwaves through the LDS church. The letter, which was supposedly written by early church figure Martin Harris, talked of church founder Joseph Smith, Jr. getting the golden plates from a white, talking salamander. As researcher and critic of Mormon history Sandra Tanner said in the Netflix docuseries
Murder Among the Mormons, “Instead of God and angels, it was now it’s salamanders and magic.” We’ll look at how this letter and Hofmann’s many other forged Mormon documents affected the LDS church and community this Friday at noon.
Sandra-tannerJoseph-smith-jrMartin-harrisJesus-christMark-hofmannNetflixSalamander-letterJoseph-smithMurder-amongBenjamin-parkReligious-dispatchesMormon-churchMurder Among the Mormons has gripped viewers with its eye-opening three episodes.
The documentary tells the shocking true story of the 1985 bombings in Salt Lake City which shocked the nation and threatened the sanctity of the Mormon Church as a whole.
One of the leading figures at the centre of the scandal was Mark Hofmann, a former document dealer within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Church (LDS Church), and many are wondering where he is now. Here's what we know…
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Murder Among the Mormons: who is Mark Hofmann?
Mark Hofmann, who is now 66 years old, was born and raised in Utah among the LDS church. He soon became well-known for dealing forged documents and letters within the Mormon community, and the most famous of those was the Salamander Letter, which detailed the history of the LDS church.
Salt-lake-cityUtahUnited-statesSteve-christensenJesus-christFrancesca-shillcocknetflixMark-hofmannMormon-churchNetflixDay-saints-churchMurder-amongLatter-day-saints-churchMark Hofmann’s notorious and deadly legacy will always be inextricably tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the impact of his machinations spread far outside of Utah and the church. The new documentary about the case,
Murder Among the Mormons, was one of the most-watched shows on Netflix the week it dropped. The three-part series explores how Hofmann fooled a nationwide community of scholars, investigators and collectors, the bombings that killed two people and, finally, the mistakes he made that led to his capture.
The documentary makers, Jared Hess (
Napoleon Dynamite) and Tyler Measom (
An Honest Liar), interviewed former LDS Church Historian Richard Turley for the true crime series. When I spoke to him following its release Turley described himself as a “fly on the wall” during the Hofmann bombing and forgery investigations. He later wrote a book detailing his observations called
UtahUnited-statesMountain-meadowSalt-lake-citySalt-lake-countyAmericanWilliame-mclellinJared-hess-napoleonJesus-christMark-hofmannMark-hofmann-mclellinMark-hofmann-michael-georgeA handheld camera wobbles and zooms in on Mark Hofmann sitting on the floor of his 1985 living room, bouncing a baby on his knee as he watches a news story about himself. We hear the voice of longtime Utah TV news anchor Randall Carlisle delivering the headline, “the police theory that Mark Hofmann was forging documents was a real surprise to the community of scholars and collectors who worked with Hofmann.”
The Netflix documentary series
Murder Among the Mormons includes the scene from one of Hofmann’s many home videos. The three-part series reached the top 10 on Netflix this week. Through interviews and news reports, the documentary unfolds the rise of Hofmann as a prolific purveyor of rare historical documents, the subsequent bombing that killed two people and his ultimate exposure as a forger and fraudster.
UtahUnited-statesNew-yorkSalt-lake-cityMichelle-kingJesus-christLas-vegasMark-hofmannRandall-carlisleSteven-christensenRichard-turleyJoseph-smith