Download or read book The Mormon Murders written by Steven Naifeh and published by St. Martin's Paperbacks. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On October 15, 1985, two pipe bombs shook the calm of Salt Lake City, Utah, killing two people. The only link-both victims belonged to the Mormon Church. The next day, a third bomb was detonated in the parked car of church-going family man, Mark Hoffman. Incredibly, he survived. It wasn't until authorities questioned the strangely evasive Hoffman that another, more shocking link between the victims emerged... It was the appearance of an alleged historic document that challenged the very bedrock of Mormon teaching, questioned the legitimacy of its founder, and threatened to disillusion millions of its faithful-unless the Mormon hierarchy buried the evidence.
Download or read book Under the Banner of Heaven written by Jon Krakauer and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2004-06-08 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, this extraordinary work of investigative journalism takes readers inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities. • Now an acclaimed FX limited series streaming on HULU. “Fantastic.... Right up there with In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song.” —San Francisco Chronicle Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God; some 40,000 people still practice polygamy in these communities. At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.
Download or read book Salamander written by Linda Sillitoe and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing from thousands of pages of police reports, court documents, interviews, letters, and diaries, Sillitoe's and Roberts's narrative cuts through the complexities of this famous crime investigation to deliver a gripping, Capote-esque tale. They embrace the details but lay them out systematically as seen through the eyes of the detectives, victims, and the perpetrator. The darkest secrets unravel gradually--allowing the reader fleeting glimpses of the infamous white salamander as it ducks in and out of its fabricator's head. What was the "salamander letter" and why were so many people determined to possess--and to conceal--it? Why was this one of the most unusual cases in American forensic history? A skilled con artist by anyone's assessment, Mark Hofmann eluded exposure by police and document authenticators--the FBI, Library of Congress, the LDS historical department, and polygraph experts--until George Throckmorton discovered the telltale microscopic alligatoring that was characteristic of the forgeries. What ensued was a suspense-ridden cat-and-mouse game between seasoned prosecutors and a clever, homicidal criminal. In the end, this story only verifies that some facts are indeed stranger than fiction.
Download or read book Prophet of Death written by Pete Earley and published by . This book was released on 1998-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The 4 O clock Murders written by Scott Anderson and published by Doubleday Books. This book was released on 1993 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church. As compelling as the best fiction, The 4 O'Clock Murders is all the more terrifying because it is true.
Download or read book Victims written by Richard Eyring Turley and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three pipe bombs exploded in Salt Lake County in 1985, killing two people. Behind the murders lay a vast forgery scheme aimed at dozens of other victims, most prominently the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mark Hofmann, a master forger, went to prison for the murders. He had bilked the church, document dealers, and collectors of hundreds of thousands of dollars over several years while attempting to alter Mormon history. Other false documents of Americana still circulate. The crimes garnered intense media interest, spawning books, TV and radio programs, and myriad newspaper and magazine articles. Victims is a thoughtful corrective to the more sensationalized accounts. More important, Richard Turley adds substantially to the record with previously unavailable church documentation and exclusive interviews with church officials, giving this book greater depth and resonance. He also goes beyond the Hofmann case, illustrating how forgeries have hampered the church's efforts to document its history. Victims includes a complete appendix of every known document the church acquired from Hofmann, reviews of trial transcripts and police reports, as well as dozens of photographs, some never before published. Turley, who gave up the practice of law to become a historian, has managed the delicate task of exposing the myths and complexities of this case with skill and objectivity. His unique access to church documents and personnel, together with his understanding of the legal system and Mormon history, afforded him an unparalleled view of how the case affected the church as well as the many others who were involved. Victims will fascinate anyone who does archival work, who cares aboutthe historical record, or who likes to read compelling mystery.
Download or read book Evil Among Us written by Ken Driggs and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the fall of 1974 Robert E. Kleasen invited two young missionaries to his house in Austin, Texas, for deer steaks. Though apprehensive, they felt compelled to go. They should have bolted. Though convicted of homicide, Kleason would later be released from death row on a technicality. Upon hearing of the murders, then-LDS president Spencer W. Kimball was so disturbed that a physician had to be summoned to his home. The reader will mourn with the missionaries' families as details of the crime unfold.
Download or read book Murder of the Mormon Prophet written by LeGrand L. Baker and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 812 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Kirtland Massacre written by Cynthia S. Sasse and published by Zebra Books. This book was released on 1992-12 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Co-authored by an assistant prosecutor of the case, this is an incisive look at Jeffrey Lundgren, a self-proclaimed prophet of a deviant death cult, loosely based on the Book of the Mormon, who drove his followers to commit atrocious crimes--including the "blood sacrifice" murder of an innocent family. Features 14 pages of dramatic photographs. Fine.
Download or read book Carthage Conspiracy written by Dallin H Oaks and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1979-05 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carthage Conspiracy deals with the general problem of Mormon/non-Mormon conflict, as well as with the dramatic story of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and their alleged assassins. It places the infamous event at the Carthage jail (1846) and the subsequent murder-conspiracy trial in the context of Mormon and American legal history, and deals with the question of achieving justice when crimes are politically motivated and popularly supported.
Download or read book The Mountain Meadows Massacre written by Juanita Brooks and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-06 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Fall of 1857, some 120 California-bound emigrants were killed in lonely Mountain Meadows in southern Utah; only eighteen young children were spared. The men on the ground after the bloody deed took an oath that they would never mention the event again, either in public or in private. The leaders of the Mormon church also counseled silence. The first report, soon after the massacre, described it as an Indian onslaught at which a few white men were present, only one of whom, John D. Lee, was actually named. With admirable scholarship, Mrs. Brooks has traced the background of conflict, analyzed the emotional climate at the time, pointed up the social and military organization in Utah, and revealed the forces which culminated in the great tragedy at Mountain Meadows. The result is a near-classic treatment which neither smears nor clears the participants as individuals. It portrays an atmosphere of war hysteria, whipped up by recitals of past persecutions and the vision of an approaching "army" coming to drive the Mormons from their homes.
Download or read book Holy Murder written by Charles Kelly and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-22 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Holy Murder, first published in 1934, is a fascinating, controversial look at the “Avenging Angel” of the Mormon Church, Porter Rockwell. The authors trace the violent history of the Mormon Church beginning with its origins in New York and Illinois, to the flight of its members and their settlement near the Great Salt Lake. Citing numerous sources and interviewing witnesses and descendants, the exploits of Rockwell are detailed to form a picture of a man on the one hand kind to children and his friends, while on the other capable of the most grisly murders of perceived enemies of the church. Although open to criticism for its anti-Mormon bias, attempting to accurately portray Rockwell is difficult as he did not keep a personal diary and many of his activities were shrouded in secrecy. Included are 12 pages of illustrations.
Download or read book A Gathering of Saints written by Robert Lindsey and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2016-06-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The Falcon and The Snowman comes the true story of the 1985 Salt Lake City bombings and one man’s master plan to take down the powerful Mormon empire in this thrilling and fast-paced true crime tale of murder and mayhem depicted in the Netflix documentary Murder Among the Mormons. When a brilliant forger produced documents that threatened the foundations of the Mormon Church, the religions elders, unaware of the falsities, were willing to pay a fortune to suppress the information they exposed. In order to prevent the truth of his forgery from coming out, the man behind them put into motion two bomb explosions and left two people dead in his path. A Gathering of Saints gives readers a look at the bombing that revealed corporate fraud, death squads, religious wars, and numerous other shocking revelations that jeopardized the future of the Mormon Church.
Download or read book The Colony Faith and Blood in a Promised Land written by Sally Denton and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Publishers Weekly Summer Reads Selection “The Colony is one of the most gripping and disturbing true stories I’ve ever come across.” —Douglas Preston An investigation into the November, 2019 killings of nine women and children in Northern Mexico—an event that drew international attention—The Colony examines the strange, little-understood world of a polygamist Mormon outpost. On the morning of November 4, 2019, an unassuming caravan of women and children was ambushed by masked gunmen on a desolate stretch of road in northern Mexico controlled by the Sinaloa drug cartel. Firing semi-automatic weapons, the attackers killed nine people and gravely injured five more. The victims were members of the LeBaron and La Mora communities—fundamentalist Mormons whose forebears broke from the LDS Church and settled in Mexico when their religion outlawed polygamy in the late nineteenth century. The massacre produced international headlines for weeks, and prompted President Donald Trump to threaten to send in the US Army. In The Colony, bestselling investigative journalist Sally Denton picks up where the initial, incomplete reporting on the attacks ended, and delves into the complex story of the LeBaron clan. Their homestead—Colonia LeBaron—is a portal into the past, a place that offers a glimpse of life within a polygamous community on an arid and dangerous frontier in the mid-1800s, though with smartphones and machine guns. Rooting her narrative in written sources as well as interviews with anonymous women from LeBaron itself, Denton unfolds an epic, disturbing tale that spans the first polygamist emigrations to Mexico through the LeBarons’ internal blood feud in the 1970s—started by Ervil LeBaron, known as the “Mormon Manson”—and up to the family’s recent alliance with the NXIVM sex cult, whose now-imprisoned leader, Keith Raniere, may have based his practices on the society he witnessed in Colonia LeBaron. The LeBarons’ tense but peaceful interactions with Sinaloa deteriorated in the years leading up to the ambush. LeBaron patriarchs believed they were deliberately targeted by the cartel. Others suspected that local farmers had carried out the attacks in response to the LeBarons’ seizure of water rights for their massive pecan orchards. As Denton approaches answers to who committed the murders, and why, The Colony transforms into something more than a crime story. A descendant of polygamist Mormons herself, Denton explores what drove so many women over generations to join or remain in a community based on male supremacy and female servitude. Then and now, these women of Zion found themselves in an isolated desert, navigating the often-mysterious complications of plural marriage—and supported, Denton shows, only by one another. A mesmerizing feat of investigative journalism, The Colony doubles as an unforgettable account of sisterhood that can flourish in polygamist communities, against the odds.
Download or read book Blood of the Prophets written by Will Bagley and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-06 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The massacre at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857, was the single most violent attack on a wagon train in the thirty-year history of the Oregon and California trails. Yet it has been all but forgotten. Will Bagley’s Blood of the Prophets is an award-winning, riveting account of the attack on the Baker-Fancher wagon train by Mormons in the local militia and a few Paiute Indians. Based on extensive investigation of the events surrounding the murder of over 120 men, women, and children, and drawing from a wealth of primary sources, Bagley explains how the murders occurred, reveals the involvement of territorial governor Brigham Young, and explores the subsequent suppression and distortion of events related to the massacre by the Mormon Church and others.
Download or read book American Massacre written by Sally Denton and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 1857, a wagon train passing through Utah laden with gold was attacked. Approximately 140 people were slaughtered; only 17 children under the age of eight were spared. This incident in an open field called Mountain Meadows has ever since been the focus of passionate debate: Is it possible that official Mormon dignitaries were responsible for the massacre? In her riveting book, Sally Denton makes a fiercely convincing argument that they were. The author–herself of Mormon descent–first traces the extraordinary emergence of the Mormons and the little-known nineteenth-century intrigues and tensions between their leaders and the U.S. government, fueled by the Mormons’ zealotry and exclusionary practices. We see how by 1857 they were unique as a religious group in ruling an entire American territory, Utah, and commanding their own exclusive government and army. Denton makes clear that in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the church began placing the blame on a discredited Mormon, John D. Lee, and on various Native Americans. She cites contemporaneous records and newly discovered documents to support her argument that, in fact, the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, bore significant responsibility–that Young, impelled by the church’s financial crises, facing increasingly intense scrutiny and condemnation by the federal government, incited the crime by both word and deed. Finally, Denton explains how the rapidly expanding and enormously rich Mormon church of today still struggles to absolve itself of responsibility for what may well be an act of religious fanaticism unparalleled in the annals of American history. American Massacre is totally absorbing in its narrative as it brings to life a tragic moment in our history.
Download or read book The Stranger She Loved written by Shanna Hogan and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2007, Dr. Martin MacNeill—a doctor, lawyer, and Mormon bishop—discovered his wife of 30 years dead in the bathtub of their Pleasant Grove, Utah home, her face bearing the scars of a facelift he persuaded her to undergo just a week prior. At first the death of 50-year-old Michele MacNeill, a former beauty queen and mother of eight, appeared natural. But days after the funeral when Dr. MacNeill moved his much younger mistress into the family home, his children grew suspicious. Conducting their own investigation into their mother's death, the MacNeill's daughters uncovered their father's multiple marital affairs, past criminal record, and falsified college transcripts he used to con his way into medical school. It would take six long years to solve the mystery of Michele's murder and secure a first-degree murder conviction against the once prominent doctor. New York Times bestselling author Shanna Hogan delves into the high-profile case, unmasking the monster beneath the doctor's carefully concocted façade.
