'Murder Among the Mormons': What is Salamander letter and who is Mark Hofmann?

Online streaming platforms such as Netflix have been coming up with docuseries that deal with some of the infamous events that have occurred in real life. Murder Among the Mormons is one such docuseries that has been brought by the streaming giant. It depicts that many bombings, murders and documents that work their way towards destroying Mormonism. The series gives a significant amount of focus towards Salamander letter and the bomber from Utah called Mark Hofmann, who misled the LDS church. The role of all these elements in this series has been explained in detail.

What is Salamander letter and how Mark Hofmann misled LDS church

The Salamander letter is a rather controversial document that made questions on the foundation of the Mormon Church in Utah, according to meaww.com. It was confirmed by Kenneth W Rendell, who is a prominent dealer of historical papers, that the Salamander letter was authentic, given that the ink, the paper and the postmark were all consistent with the given period. The letter is a note that claimed that it was a white salamander who had led Joseph Smith to the golden plates, and not angel Moroni. 

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Investigators had a strong belief that Mark Hofmann had sold the letter to a document collector Steven F Christensen on January 6, 1984. It was sold at the cost of $40,000 to Steven, who had plans to authenticate it and donate it to the LDS Church. The letter was apparently written by Martin Harris to W W Phelps, who was an early convert in the Latter Day Saint movement. It talked about how certain animals have supernatural powers. The letter also claimed that salamander transformed itself into a spirit that would not give Smith the plates unless his brother, Alvin Smith was also present. 

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Murder Among the Mormons is all set to make its premiere on Netflix on March 3. It has been co-directed by Jared Hess, who is also responsible for Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre and Gentleman Broncos. The focus incident in this series is focused on the incident where two pipe bombs went off, that killed Steve Christensen. 

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