WHITE SALAMANDER

WHITE SALAMANDER

“Mormon mythology states that Joseph Smith was led to a book of golden plates which contained the text that would become the Book of Mormon in 1823 by an angel named Moroni. The Salamander Letter was a document Hofmann claimed was written in 1830 by Martin Harris, the scribe of the founder of the Mormon Church Joseph Smith. It stated that Joseph Smith was led to the gold plates by a spirit who ‘transfigured himself from a white salamander’ rather than an angel. Not only did a salamander contradict the Church’s version of its history, it also transformed Mormon history from a traditional Christian narrative involving angels to one that involved a folk magic lizard.”

Lauren Kranc, Esquire; The Salamander Letter

"the spirit transfigured himself from a white salamander in the bottom of the hole & struck me 3 times & held the treasure & would not let me have it because I lay it down to cover over the hole"
Excerpt from the Salamander Letter forged by Mark Hofmann

My partner and I are obsessed with cults and fringe religions. Mormonism, as a distinctly American religion started by a notorious fraudster, is particularly interesting to us. So much so, that after reading Jon Krakauer’s excellent book Under the Banner Of Heaven (soon to be a tv series) we decided to attend the Hill Cumorah Pageant in upstate NY. The Pageant is bizarre. It depicted the history of Mormonism from Joseph Smith's encounter with the Golden Plates (translated into English as the Book of Mormon), as well as a dramatization of the "historical" events described therein. It featured more than 700 cast members, 1,300 costumes, and a 10-level stage. Before the performance the extras were walking around the crowd and very willing to let us take photos.

And truly, there are hundreds of people in this performance.

Strangely the dialogue is all prerecorded with sound effect so the actors simply mime the words. But the spectacle is real. There's a huge ship with lightning FX and hoses were used to recreate waves.

Needless to say, this was a wild experience. Hundreds of performers from all over the world dramatizing Smith's, frankly, extremely racist version of religious history while more standard Christian conservatives protested in the parking lot. But we didn't stop there. We went to a Mormon temple. This may seem like an easy task but non-Mormon's are only allowed in temples before they're completed and consecrated. Some temples will do "outreach" before a temple is completed and actually schedule tours. And the one in Philly did just that. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures but it was weird. It had the feeling of a bunch of waiting rooms. I've been in synagogues, churches, Hindu temples...they all have huge open spaces for services. The Mormon temple in Philly seemed like a bunch of dentist waiting rooms, no vast open areas. Anyway, that was a lot of rambling just to say Mormonism is weird and I'm nosy. Anyway....



The first time I heard the story of the white salamander was in the documentary series Murder Among the Mormons. It's basically a forged letter about how Moroni was actually a magical amphibian. What's weird to me is how shocked people were by this. The history of the Mormon church is full of forgeries, backstabbing and fraud. Joseph Smith himself was a "treasure hunter", committed bank fraud, bilked followers out of their savings and even conspired to commit murder. A magical salamander is the least wild thing in this story.