1838–1839 — The Missouri Period

The Missouri period of Mormon history is conventionally framed around the 1838 Mormon War and the resulting expulsion of the Saints from the state. The committee has spent the better part of a decade documenting three separate incidents within this period that the conventional history does not mention, but that contemporary newspapers reported, then retracted.

1. May 1838: A report in the Far West Register describes “a tower of light” rising from the temple lot, visible from twenty miles. The report was retracted three days later. The retraction did not name the reporter, who left the county the same week.*
2. August 1838: A report in the Liberty Tribune describes a “shuddering of the ground” felt across three counties, accompanied by “a smell of hot iron.” The reporter, a Mr. ███████, retracted the report a week later. He died of unrelated causes in 1841.
3. October 1838: A report in the Independence Expositor describes “the appearance of a great fire on the horizon, but without smoke.” The paper itself was destroyed by a mob within a fortnight. No retraction was filed, because the paper no longer existed.

The committee considers the October 1838 incident the most consequential of the three.

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