Religion, belief systems, cults, and the soul are always interesting material to read about. What attracts people to a particular belief system which other equally intelligent and educated individuals may revile or despise even though the core of that belief may stem from similar foundations? Most religions, fortunately for their followers, were created before print journalism became commonplace. Newspapers and the printed word preserve the less agreeable aspects belief in magic and the occult (more commonly referred to as miracles) which necessarily form the foundation of all religions. Legends are created which become essential to the belief system of the church. Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith in The Mormon Murders reveal how the fear of discredit led to several bombings and killings in Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City, by the late seventies, was known as the fraud capital of the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission called it the "sewer of the securities industry." It ranked third in the nation for business defaults. One enterprising young man sold $613 billion (or nearly 1/2 of the national debt) in fraudulent gold certificates (obviously at way below face value.) He used his Mormon background as authentication. Mormons, believing that God rewards the faithful, are brought up to be particularly trusting and to believe what they are told. Skepticism is frowned upon. It was in this environment of naive trust that Gary Sheets created Consolidated Financial Services, initially, a wildly successful investment corporation.
The police were initially puzzled when Sheets' wife and business partner Steve were killed in separate bomb explosions. Only after a very respected and successful documents dealer named Mark Hofmann was severely injured in another bomb explosion did the pieces begin to fit together. ATF experts discerned almost immediately that Hofmann had to be the mysterious bomber b~cause they realized the bomb had been accidently set off by the bomber as he was arming it; and, the design of the bomb was identical to those which killed Gary Sheets' wife and Steve Christiansen.
The plot began to unravel. Hofmann had been selling forged documents to church officials (including Christiansen, who was a deacon,) that purported to validate all the rumors of scandal surrounding Joseph Smith and the origins of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. The "Salamander Letter" in particular, if legitimate would have been particularly embarrassing to the church. It revealed Smith as a wily con man fascinated by in necromancy, dowsing, and "gold-digging". Hofmann, the investigation disclosed, was an excellent forger who had mastered techniques for aging paper and recreating authentic-looking inks. (The details of research into his forgery techniques by forensic experts is a fascinating story in itself.)
Church officials were in a terrible bind as the story unfolded and did everything possible to prevent the case from coming to trial. Hofmann had made thousands selling the fraudulent documents to the church which then placed them in a vault unavailable for inspection. Hofmann had also persuaded rich Mormons to buy these "anti-Mormon" documents. They would donate them to the church claiming the appropriate tax-deduction. In these instances the church could honestly claim it had not "bought" the documents. The church was in a pickle. If the documents investigators sought as evidence turned out to be authentic it cast grave doubt on the origins of the church; if fraudulent1 church officials needed explain why they were in such a rush to purchase the documents from a con-man. Anyone who doesn't believe how a church can control a city should read this book. Church officials manipulated the trial in many ways to get the result they wanted. ( )