October 15, 1985, started out like any other crisp autumn morning in Utah. Then the first pipe bomb went off. It shredded Steven Christensen in a downtown office building, leaving a scene so grisly that seasoned investigators had to steady themselves. Not long after, another blast killed Kathy Sheets. The city froze. People were terrified. Was it a business deal gone wrong? A serial killer? Or something much more sinister buried within the very foundations of the LDS Church? Honestly, the truth turned out to be weirder than any of the initial theories.
Most people recognize the name Mark Hofmann now because of the Netflix series, but the real story of Murder Among the Mormons is a tangled web of greed, brilliant forgeries, and a desperate attempt to protect a religious legacy. Hofmann wasn't just a killer. He was a master manipulator who tricked some of the smartest historians and document collectors in the country. He played on the insecurities of an institution. He knew exactly what they were afraid of, and he used that fear to make millions.
The Forger Who Fooled Everyone
Mark Hofmann was a prodigy, but not the kind you'd want to bring home to meet your parents. He started early. By his teens, he was already experimenting with altering coins. By the time he was in his twenties, he was "discovering" lost documents that seemed to rewrite the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had this uncanny ability to make new paper look centuries old. He used chemicals. He used vacuum chambers. He even mastered the specific handwriting of historical figures like Joseph Smith and Martin Harris.
It’s kind of wild when you think about it. He didn't just write letters; he created a narrative. His most famous "find" was the Salamander Letter. This document claimed that Joseph Smith was led to the gold plates not by an angel, but by a white salamander that transformed into a spirit. For a church based on specific angelic visitations, this was a massive PR nightmare. It suggested the roots of the faith were steeped in folk magic rather than divine revelation.
The Church leaders were in a tough spot. They wanted to preserve their history, but they also didn't want these embarrassing documents leaked to the public. So, they bought them. They tucked them away in vaults. This was exactly what Hofmann wanted. He created a cycle of dependency. He’d find a "problematic" document, the Church or its wealthy donors would buy it to keep it quiet, and Hofmann would walk away with a fat check.
Why the Salamander Letter Mattered
The Salamander Letter wasn't just a piece of paper. It was a weapon. Historians like Leonard Arrington, who were pushing for a more transparent look at LDS history, were caught in the crossfire. They wanted to study these items. Meanwhile, the leadership was trying to manage the fallout. Hofmann knew that as long as he provided "evidence" that challenged the status quo, he had a market.
But forgeries take time. A lot of time. And Hofmann was living a high-stakes lifestyle he couldn't actually afford. He was deeply in debt. He had promised "The McLellin Collection"—a massive, supposedly explosive set of documents—to multiple buyers. The problem? It didn't exist. He hadn't made it yet.
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The Pressure Cooker and the Pipe Bombs
By late 1985, the walls were closing in. Investors were demanding to see the documents they had paid for. Christensen, a document expert and LDS bishop, was getting suspicious. He was the middleman for the McLellin deal. He was pushing Hofmann for delivery. Hofmann was backed into a corner, and that’s when the master forger decided to become a murderer.
The bombs were designed to buy time. He killed Christensen to stop the McLellin deal from collapsing and exposing him. He killed Kathy Sheets—the wife of Christensen’s former business partner—to create a diversion. He wanted the police to think the motive was related to a failing investment firm called CFS Financial. It was a cold, calculated move.
The third bomb nearly killed Hofmann himself. It went off in his car. For a while, he was treated as a victim. The "poor document collector" targeted by the mysterious bomber. But the forensic evidence started to pile up. Salt Lake City detectives Ken Farnsworth and Jim Bell, along with forensic experts like George Throckmorton, began looking at the documents under a microscope. Literally.
They found what they called "alligatoring." Under high magnification, the ink on Hofmann’s forgeries looked like cracked desert mud. It was a side effect of the chemicals he used to artificially age the ink. The jig was up. The "discoveries" that had rocked the foundations of Mormon history were nothing more than chemical experiments and clever lies.
The Legacy of the Forgeries
Even though Hofmann is serving life in prison, the damage he did is permanent. There are still documents in private collections and perhaps even in the Church archives that might be Hofmann forgeries. He was that good. He didn't just forge the writing; he forged the provenance. He would plant a forged document in an old book and then "discover" it in a library. It’s basically impossible to be 100% sure about every item he handled.
This whole saga changed how the LDS Church handles its history. It forced a level of transparency that hadn't existed before. Today, the Joseph Smith Papers Project is a massive effort to publish everything related to the founding of the faith. It’s almost a direct response to the era of "vaulting" documents that Hofmann exploited.
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But the human cost is what people forget. Two people died for a lie. Families were shattered. The trust between historians and the institutions they serve was burned to the ground. When we talk about Murder Among the Mormons, it’s easy to get caught up in the "true crime" thrill of it all, but at its heart, it’s a story about a sociopath who used people's deepest beliefs against them.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Case
You often hear that the Church "knew" the documents were fake and bought them anyway. That's not really supported by the evidence. The truth is more embarrassing: they were genuinely fooled. They believed the Salamander Letter was real. They believed the Oath of a Freeman—a document that would have been the first thing printed in America—was real. They weren't in on the scam; they were the marks.
Another misconception is that Hofmann was some kind of anti-Mormon activist. He wasn't. He didn't care about the theology. He cared about the money and the "high" of fooling people who thought they were un-foolable. He was an equal-opportunity deceiver. He forged documents for the Library of Congress and Daniel Boone signatures. He just found the LDS market to be the most lucrative because of the inherent desire to protect the faith’s image.
Identifying the Forgery Pattern
If you're into historical documents, the Hofmann case is a masterclass in what to look for.
- Ink Cracking: That "alligatoring" effect is the biggest giveaway.
- Too Good to Be True: Hofmann always found the "missing link" documents that historians dreamed of.
- Artificial Aging: He often used chemicals that left a faint blue or purple residue under certain light.
- Vague Provenance: He would claim he found things in "old trunks" or "anonymous collections" in the East.
Actionable Insights for History Enthusiasts
The story of Mark Hofmann is a cautionary tale for anyone who values historical truth. It teaches us that we see what we want to see. The historians wanted the documents to be real because they were "exciting." The Church leaders wanted to control the documents because they were "dangerous." Both sides let their biases override their skepticism.
To avoid falling for misinformation or historical "bombshells," consider these steps:
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1. Demand Provenance
Never trust a document that doesn't have a clear, documented chain of ownership. If someone says they found a 200-year-old letter in their grandma's attic but can't prove where Grandma got it, be skeptical.
2. Look for Confirmation Bias
When you see a "newly discovered" fact that perfectly aligns with your worldview—or perfectly destroys your enemy’s worldview—that is when you need to be the most critical. Hofmann's greatest skill was feeding people exactly what they were already primed to believe.
3. Support Professional Archiving
The best defense against forgers is the rigorous work of professional archivists and forensic historians. Support institutions that prioritize open access and peer-reviewed research.
4. Understand the Motivation
Always ask: Who benefits from this being true? In the case of the Murder Among the Mormons, the benefit was always moving toward Hofmann’s bank account.
Mark Hofmann is currently incarcerated at the Central Utah Correctional Facility. He attempted suicide once, and he’s largely stopped talking to the outside world. The documents he created are still out there, hiding in plain sight, tiny ticking time bombs of misinformation waiting for the next generation of historians to find them. The bombings stopped in 1985, but the ripples of his deception are still felt every time a new piece of history comes to light in Salt Lake City.