Initially accepted by some document experts and collectors, and rejected by others,[1] the salamander letter generated much discussion and debate inside and outside the Latter Day Saint movement.
"[3] The contents of the letter implied a magical aspect to Smith's life, a controversial subject debated amongst scholars of Latter Day Saint history.
The salamander letter was supposedly written by Martin Harris to W. W. Phelps, an early convert in the Latter Day Saint movement.
Harris served for a short period of time as scribe for the translation of the golden plates, and assisted in the financing of the first printing of the Book of Mormon.
Hofmann may have been inspired by the early anti-Mormon book, Mormonism Unvailed (1834), which claimed that a toad-like animal was rumored to have appeared to Smith in conjunction with the recovery of the plates.
The letter was useful to these organizations because it seemed to support the opinions of Reed Durham, D. Michael Quinn,[6] and others regarding "magical" aspects of Smith's religious experiences.
The letter was initially offered to Don Schmidt of the LDS Church Historical Department on January 3, 1984, by Lyn Jacobs, who wanted to trade it for a $10 Mormon gold piece.
[citation needed] The contents of the letter also seemed too similar to Howe's Mormonism Unvailed to others in the LDS Church's Historical Department.
"[9] Hofmann drew suspicion for discovering so many astounding documents that others had missed, including the so-called "Oath of a Freeman", which he was attempting to sell to the Library of Congress.
[10] By late 1984, Jerald Tanner questioned the authenticity of most if not all of Hofmann's "discoveries", based in large part on their unproven provenance.
That bomb was intended as a diversion, to draw off investigators by causing them to focus on unrelated business dealings between Christensen and Sheets's husband.
The police investigated these bombings, and during a search of Hofmann's home found a studio in the basement where he could create counterfeited documents as well as a semi-automatic carbine which had been converted to full automatic fire.
Although this was enough proof by itself that the letter was a forgery, Throckmorton and Flynn bolstered their case by getting in touch with Frances Magee, the widow of a descendant of Martin Harris.
[14] Church leaders, especially First Presidency member Gordon B. Hinckley, continued to field criticism for some time for "being duped" and being "unable to discern the evil intentions of a man like Hofmann".
"[15] Following the Hofmann trial, in a speech at Brigham Young University titled "Recent Events Involving Church History and Forged Documents", Dallin H. Oaks addressed media critiques of the church, saying: I was saddened but not surprised that the news coverage of the truth about the forgeries and lies of Mark Hofmann was small by comparison with the earlier trumpeting of the claims that his newly discovered documents destroyed faith...
In that kind of atmosphere, they fail to detect a few deceivers, but that is the price they pay to increase their effectiveness in counseling, comforting, and blessing the hundreds of honest and sincere people they see.
The film suggests that Joseph Smith was required to dig up his brother Alvin's body and bring a part of it with him to the hill Cumorah in order to obtain the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon was said to be translated.