Mark Hofmann "fooled" men that "could not be fooled" for five years (Church leaders), selling them forged documents for huge amounts of money. Then he killed two innocent people, just to give him "time" to forge more. He dropped his own 3rd bomb, which may or may not have been for himself.
CBS was planning a miniseries in the late 1980s, but Gordon B. Hinkley ("The Hinkster") ended that, with a personal call to the then President of CBS. Had that miniseries aired, no doubt thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Mormons would have resigned.
Now, the Mark Hofmann documentary (interviews and dramatic recreations) is under production. It is called "FORGER". Google it. When does it come out? I have no idea, but, the producers are well-known in the industry, have strong ties to major media, and are hoping to sell the documentary to a major cable or streaming network. Finally....the truth will be told. The documentary will lead to probably a few thousands resignations, at least. Most Mormons won't watch it, passing it was "anti-Mormon lies" without examination.
I'm curious about how it will portray tscc corporate hq. One of the producers is Jared Hess (of Napoleon Dynamite fame) who apparently has connections with TC Christensen and has worked on Mollywood comedies like The Singles Ward and The RM. According to Wikipedia, he is currently a Mormon.
The executive producer is Geralyn White Dreyfous. Her documentaries have won major awards (Sundance). I would imagine this documentary will be thorough and another embarrassing, public view of LD$ Inc.'s history.
I hope they do a deep dive into the specific documents the church purchased from Hoffman. Hopefully more current members will realize LD$ Inc. has been trying desperately to hide its history that is truly crazy.
I still remember this rather vividly. When his faith promoting stuff came out I recall being very excited even though some of the finds were rather trivial such as Ishmael being Sarai’s father. That phony letter was transcribed and proudly displayed at Nauvoo when I visited.
The salamander letter threw many for a loop. I was in my “every historical finding no matter how weird could still be fit into a gospel framework” phase, so I saw it as just another fascinating find. I remember being bewildered that Jerald Tanner openly questioned its authenticity...in retrospect a prophetic perspective. Equally proud, the then named RLDS church promoted its forged succession blessing at Nauvoo as well.
After the farce was exposed I read the three books that were written on the subject. I used to have them but I disposed of most of my Mormon books. I was a young high councilor then and my Stake President asked me to deliver a talk on the subject.
I am still pleased with the talk as I read it today except for the rousing faith promoting final paragraph.
I will look forward to this documentary.
For trivia, I remember that in Under the Banner of Heaven the author mentioned that one of the Lafferty brothers was Hofmann’s cell mate.
I think I remember that Jon Krakauer contacted Mark Hofmann with the hope of writing a book about him and Hofmann of course refused, but told him his cellmate was the Rafferty brother, and that's how "Under the Banner of Heaven" came to be written.
Not that I have any connection but I've mentioned here before that father of my daughter-in-law is Mark's first cousin and they look much alike. They don't of course talk about him but as I understand it's been a long time since any of the family has had any contact with his ex or his children.
I had read the book, and remember looking at that photo of Hofmann signing something, as GBH and several others were looking on, with benign expressions.
It hit me: What about DISCERNMENT??? One of the mishies had impressed upon me that you must NEVER lie to a bishop or SP, because they have DISCERNMENT, and they will know if you are lying.
Not too long after that, I began watching R-rated movies, but the worst thing I "confessed" to the bishop was that I didn't read my Scriptures as often as I should. I managed to look abashed about this. He bought it. Every syllable. I got my temple recommend. And by then, I realized what a high-class con job it all was.
My cats have more discernment than some bishops I have met.
I have visited Mark in prison and, although it has been a while since my last visit, I can tell you he absolutely hates any publicity. He won't be interviewed or have anything to do with this. Sad, because he made a copy of the lost 116 pages he was about to release before his capture. He had a lot more damage to do to the church.
I have a family member who was a good friend of Steve C. He told me that Mark had given the GAs a preview sample taste of the manuscript, and this is what really set them off to have Steve look into what Hofmann was doing. In 1985-6 I had several friends well connected with BYU intellectuals and they apparently had a few pages of what they claimed were a sample manuscript. It's been a long time and I don't recall exactly where they got it, Dean Jesse or Hugh Nibley. Would be interesting to know how scared the GAs were after the Salamander Letter etc.
Anybody interested in this MUST read "The Mormon Murders" by Steven Naifah and Gregory White Smith. It is long. 500 pages. But a must for those interested in what really happened!
Every public library in the U.S. has a copy of "The Mormon Murders. Fantastic read. Shows you how the Church operates in the shadows, when they think nobody is watching.
thedesertrat1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Anybody interested in this MUST read "The Mormon > Murders" by Steven Naifah and Gregory White > Smith. > It is long. 500 pages. But a must for those > interested in what really happened!
On a side note, Mark came to my ward one evening in the 1980s to give a fireside. He described some of his "finds", and said he had a real doozy to be revealed in the near future.
This was in the era when Sunstone was going strong, and Sterling McMurrin and Leonard Arrington were still respected by the church leadership. I barely paid attention, for the simple reason that it all fit with the spirit of the times. I guess that's why Hofmann felt he could get away with it. That's also why the church leaders were able to believe him. If only I had known...
You forgot to say, that IMMEDIATELY after Mark Hofmann spoke, the bishop got up and said:
"Brothers and Sisters, like all other Mormon bishops, I have the spirit of Discernment. Which means that I KNOW that Brother Hofmann has a lot to repent of, and I encourage you all to disregard everything he has said to you this morning."
slskipper Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > On a side note, Mark came to my ward one evening > in the 1980s to give a fireside. He described some > of his "finds", and said he had a real doozy to be > revealed in the near future. > > This was in the era when Sunstone was going > strong, and Sterling McMurrin and Leonard > Arrington were still respected by the church > leadership. I barely paid attention, for the > simple reason that it all fit with the spirit of > the times. I guess that's why Hofmann felt he > could get away with it. That's also why the church > leaders were able to believe him. If only I had > known...
tscc: (one of their fav lines) "all this is OLD NEWS" .... our people have had access to this info for Years, they've processed it with faith & forgiving (CHOKE)
seriously, they can't deal with ANYTHING of Substance!