So...I toured ole Brigham's winter home in St. George. Two missionaries from Idaho were the tour guides (well, the man was the guide and the woman followed behind to make sure none of us heathens stole anything, I guess, at least that's how she acted). They were a very well-dressed couple, probably in their late 60s or so.

We go to Brigham's living room and the woman started talking. She was absolutely radiant, holding her hands to her bosom, telling us how when she came into this room she could just see the Saints talking about how to save souls and could just absolutely feel the love and wisdom. She seemed to really mean it, had tears in her eyes.

Having read some church history (a lot, actually), I wanted to grab her and shake her out of her delusion, but I couldn't, of course.

I learned a lot about Mormon faith that day. Then later, after the tour, her husband came over to me and wanted me to write down my name and address so they could send me literature. I wrote down Bonny Abzug (from the Monkey Wrench Gang) and put down a fake address. He was about as smarmy as they come, I thought he was gonna ask me out right in ront of his wife. Barf.

There's really no point to this post except some venting, I guess. How do the Mormon woman stand these smarmy men? The whole episode left me feeling like I was in a loony bin.

I heard that the "This is the Place" monument in SLC IS haunted. I saw it, but did not go in any of the buildings.

I can't remember, if so, I must've blocked it from my mind.

But the whole house felt pretty dysfunctional. I also toured Jacob Hamblin's house, but it didn't feel quite so weird. Probably all in my mind, having read a lot about both. Hamblin's seemed somewhat less depressing, but not by much. All those spare bedrooms with secret stairs...

I'm amazed the guides don't show more embarrassment on behalf of their great leaders - LOL.

There's just an eerie feeling to the whole place.

My parents felt the same way several years ago. While in Las Vegas for a convention, they rented a car to drive around the region and sightsee. After about five minutes in BY's house and hearing blather about how the tourguide wasn't worthy to enter the temple, my father turned to my mother and said, "Let's get the heck out of here before they try to convert us." And so they did.

Sitting a Brighams table while he regails them, with sage counsel:

“This is loving your neighbour as ourselves; if he needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it.”

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 4, p. 220


“Now take a person in this congregation who has knowledge with regard to being saved... and suppose that he has committed a sin that he knows will deprive him of that exaltation which he desires, and that he cannot attain to it without the shedding of blood, and also knows that by having his blood shed he will atone for that sin and may be saved and exalted with the God, is there a man or woman in this house but what would say, ‘shed my blood that I may be saved and exalted with the Gods?’”

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 4, pp. 219-220

Righto! I had read enough about the old bastard to know that was probably exactly what they were talking about. Saints, my ass, they're not even part-time saints.

But the missionary woman was just radiant. What a sucker, is what I was thinking.