Mark Hofmann & "Murder Among the Mormons" Pt 1 - Mormon Stories 1405: Sandra Tanner

This week Mormonism and the world (basically) have been captivated by the new Netflix Documentary "Murder Among the Mormons" - which covers the Salt Lake City bombings of 1985, and is currently #2 in the USA on Netflix. (SPOILER ALERT!!!)

While reactions to the documentary (produced & directed by friends Jared Hess and Tyler Measom) have been universally SUPER positive, many progressive and post-Mormons have expressed a wish that the documentary would have spent more time discussing the role of the Mormon church in: a) creating the environment that gave rise to the bombings, b) attempting to cover up/hide its problematic history, and c) obstruct or hinder the investigation of the bombings.

I this epic, 2-part, 6 hour interview with Mormon/Ex-Mormon legend Sandra Tanner, we cover many of the questions/topics/issues that progressive and post-Mormons have been wanting to know about the Mormon church, Mark Hofmann, the bombings, and the investigations, such as:

What do we know about Mark Hofmann's childhood?
When and how did Hofmann loose his Mormon faith?
What are the similarities between Joseph Smith and Hofmann?
What can we ascertain about Mark Hofmann's possible motives for forgery?
What role did the church play in hiding or covering up Hofmann's forgeries and contributing to the environment that led up to the bombings?
Perhaps most importantly, Sandra recounts the inspiring story of her husband, Jerald Tanner, discovering that Hofmann's Salamander Letter was a forgery a FULL YEAR before the bombings.
All this, and so much more.

Part 1 (4 hours) talks mostly about Sandra's memories during and after the bombings.
Part 2 (2 hours) focuses more on Sandra's direct reactions to the documentary Murder Among the Mormons.

We hope you enjoy, and a HUGE thanks to Sandra (and Jerald) Tanner for sharing with us their historic insight. For me, this was a true honor. MORE TO COME!

P.S. If you value Sandra and her contributions to Mormon history, please support Sandra Tanner and Utah Lighthouse Ministry with your donations!!!

Timecodes:
00:00:00 - Summary of Sandra’s background
00:14:51 - Sandra’s understanding of Mark Hofmann’s early life & beliefs
00:19:39 - Hofmann’s exposure to treasure digging and LDS truth claims
00:32:02 - Parallels between Hofmann and Joseph Smith
00:36:12 - Theories surrounding the Golden Plates & Book of Mormon
00:45:30 - Speculations on Hofmann’s faith crisis
00:55:53 - Hofmann’s mission, & his research into Mormon history
00:57:03 - Salamander Letter
00:58:50 – Sandra on intentional deception by church leaders
01:00:58 – Hofmann first comes to the Tanners in 1978 to share first known forgery on the 2nd Anointing
01:09:07 – Hofmann’s lack of empathy
01:12:44 – Hofmann’s ego & desire to pull off the “ultimate deception”
01:14:23 – Hofmann’s desire to embarrass the church & expose the faults their “power of discernment”
01:18:50 – Comparisons of Joseph Smith and Hofmann - their “Ponzi schemes” unraveling into chaos and violence
01:20:56 – Discussion of Anthon transcript
01:28:34 – Jerald Tanner first uncovers forgery in 1960s – Oliver Cowdery pamphlet
01:31:21 – Jerald received pushback on forgery claims
01:39:08 – Hofmann’s Joseph Smith III Succession Forgery
01:54:11 - LDS church “front buyers”
01:57:09 – Hofmann’s claim to have the McLellin collection
02:05:19 – Lyn Jacobs
02:08:18 – Questions regarding Hofmann’s sexuality
02:14:09 - Hofmann’s 1825 Letter from Joseph Smith to Josiah Stowell
02:17:42 – What church leaders knew about Joseph Smith’s use of folk magic and treasure digging
02:21:15 – The Smith family merging of folk magic with Christianity
02:28:52 – LDS General Authorities sanitizing Mormon church history (Hinckley, Oaks, Turley)
02:32:50 – Wilford C. Wood “buying up” valuable church artifacts
02:36:29 – Smearing critics
02:44:40 – Top LDS Church leaders knowing problems with church truth claims, but continuing to mislead members
02:46:55 – “rule” that Joseph Smith can’t be known as an intentional deceiver
02:49:56 – General Authorities Hugh B. Brown & B.H. Roberts - questions in faith
02:59:51 – Integrity of Jerald Tanner.
03:05:53 - Martin Harris
03:07:26 - Potential motives and means for deception
03:12:39 - The Anthon Manuscript & photo of Hofmann with LDS General Authorities
03:32:13 - “Salamander or Moroni?” pamphlet for Sunstone Symposium
03:52:51 - Tanners disrespected by the Mormon history community & treatment of the Tanners by Dialogue and Sunstone
04:01:01 – Sandra’s sister was embarrassed by her work
04:03:05 – Sandra’s motivation to keep going.
04:07:41 – The McLellin papers & other Hofmann forgeries
04:09:11 – discussion of Richard Turley’s book on Hofmann & Mormon church’s obstruction of the murder investigation
04:13:47 – Hofmann’s motives for murder & conviction
04:19:27 - Discussion of first murder
04:23:13 - Brent Ashworth as potential target of Hofmann’s 3rd bomb
04:33:04 - Hofmann’s plan to forge the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon