August 26, 2025 • 9 mins
A 15 year old kid walks into the woods to ask some questions about the meaning of life. Nothing unusual there. However, this kid, Joseph Smith, walks out of the woods and starts a movement in the 1820s that leads to spiritual enlightenment for millions... but to violence, murder, and what some consider sexual deviance for others.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, most of us go through a period in
our lives where we ask ourselves the big questions about life,
right like what am I here for? What's next? Is
this all there is? Etc. But there was a time
in America when all sorts of new religions began popping
up to answer those questions, because hey, it was a
new land partly founded on religious freedom. Looking back, there
(00:23):
was a lot of mysticism involved in these new movements,
although honestly, that's true in pretty much every religion even today.
But the founding of the Mormon Church in America sounds
almost like a science fiction novel and a little bit
of a murder mystery. I'm Patty Steele Joseph Smith's Life
of Spirituality with a dose of murder, mayhem, and sex.
(00:45):
That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back when
Europeans first arrived in America, they were mainly looking for
religious freedom, which obviously wasn't really a thing in most
European countries at the time, and that worked for a
(01:07):
couple of centuries, but even those folks eventually had very
little religious tolerance for new ways of finding spiritual fulfillment.
Problem is, as the world rapidly changed with new inventions,
new ways to travel outside of your own community. New
questions arose about life, who we are, and what we're
(01:28):
doing here now. The thing is, the old beliefs weren't
answering all those new questions. That's where Joseph Smith found himself,
as a poor, hardworking teenager, asking a whole lot of questions.
It's the eighteen twenties in upstate New York. New religious
movements were constantly popping up. Finding salvation seemed really urgent,
(01:51):
but also really confusing. Joseph said at that point he
felt spiritually tangled. So in eighteen twenty, at the age
of fifteen, he went into the forest and he prayed,
asking which church he should join. That's when he says
he experienced a vision of God and Jesus Christ that
(02:13):
became the origin story for yet another brand new religion. Okay,
three years past. It's eighteen twenty three, and Joseph says
he had a nighttime visit from an angel called Morony.
The angel tells him about some buried golden plates. He
says they outlined the history of ancient people in North
(02:33):
America and their dealings with God. Joseph says, the angel
tells him to translate the plates and write down the words.
He gets busy, and while Joseph dictates what he sees
on the plates, friends write it all down. Finally, in
early eighteen thirty, the Book of Mormon goes on sale
(02:53):
in Palmyra, New York. Did you see that play? Really funny? Anyway?
That's bring A small group of believers organizes a church,
which will eventually be called the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter day Saints. Okay, so this small spiritual movement
sounds reasonable given the times, right, But that's just the
(03:15):
beginning of what turns into a harrowing and at times
violent blossoming of Mormonism. Joseph doesn't just want this to
be a Sunday religion. He wants it to be a
gathering of people who live in a community of like
minded folks. It's eighteen thirty one and converts follow Joseph
Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, where they build their first temple,
(03:38):
a large white structure that also serves as a school
and community center. A thousand people come to its dedication
in eighteen thirty six. Not long after Joseph and several
congregants say they had a vision of Jesus standing at
the pulpit. Multiple visions of figures from the Bible follow
(03:59):
But within a couple of years there's a huge division
in the church and Joseph is forced to leave. He
heads west with hundreds of followers to independence Missouri. Now
the problem is Missouri is a slave state and a
lot of the incoming Mormons are abolitionists. What's called the
Mormon Wars breakout. The governor of Missouri signs an extermination
(04:22):
order that sounds scary. It aims to chase Mormons out
of the state. Joseph Smith is arrested and he spends
a rough winter in jail under horrible conditions. Then, in
the spring of eighteen thirty nine, during a transfer, he escapes,
helped by guards who are willing to look the other way.
Joseph and his followers head for Illinois, where they receive
(04:45):
a land grant. They build a city called Nauvoux, and
in just a few years it's one of the biggest
cities in Illinois, second in size only to Chicago, and
Joseph Smith runs the place. He's the mayor, head of
the the militia and the charismatic center of a growing social, political,
and economic order. Okay, let's reset here. At this point,
(05:09):
he's thirty five years old and has moved his church
and many of his followers from upstate New York to Ohio,
then to two separate towns in Missouri, and finally to Illinois.
By now he has tens of thousands of congregants. Problem is,
Joseph and church elders start adding new beliefs, most notably
(05:29):
the idea of plural marriage or polygamy, where men can
have more than one wife, and that starts a firestorm
among his followers. Some of them start a newspaper to
attack him, but Joseph orders his militia to destroy the
printing press. As this battle heats up, Joseph announces that
(05:49):
he and a church colleague are running for the US
presidency in the eighteen forty four election. His opponents have
had it. Charges are brought again Joseph in as many
cases as they can drum up, going back years to Ohio, Missouri,
and finally Illinois. Now it's June twenty seventh, eighteen forty four,
(06:11):
a hot Thursday. Joseph, his brother, Hiram Smith, and two
other close associates from the church are being held in
the county jail in Carthage, Illinois. The bad news for
them the guards assigned to watch them are hostile to
the church, and the governor is out of town. It's
a really bad recipe. Late in the afternoon, about one
(06:34):
hundred men in disguise rush the jail. Shots are fired
up a stairwell and Hiram Smith is hit first. He collapses.
Joseph and the other two push against the door, but
they fall back as bullets splinter through the wood. The
mob keeps coming and the room is swarming with lead. Joseph,
(06:55):
for some reason, goes to the window. He begins to fall,
may be trying to jump, maybe after being shot and falling,
but he cries out, oh Lord, my God, and plunges
to the ground outside. The crowd moves in and he
shot again. Hiram dies upstairs. The other two Mormons survive,
(07:17):
but Joseph Smith is dead at the age of thirty eight.
A prophet to his people and a lightning rod to
his critics is finally gone. You'd think that would be
the end, right, I mean, who takes over well in
nauvou the twelve apostles led by Brigham Young, claim they're
in charge. In the winter of eighteen forty six, the
(07:40):
majority of Mormons begin a brutal exodus across Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming,
and eventually to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah,
with Brigham Young as their leader, and the Church of
Latter day Saints has flourished to this day. Now seventeen
and a half million followers read his words, build temples
(08:02):
he imagined, and live their lives based on the concept
of eternity he preached. It's actually one of only a
handful of religions whose membership is considered to be growing rapidly.
So while Joseph Smith's legacy may not be tidy, it
is human, full of improvisation, miscalculation, revelation, grit, love, secrets, ego,
(08:26):
and stubborn faith. But think about it, isn't that exactly
what you would expect from a story that begins with
a fifteen year old kid walking into the woods to
ask an existential question. I hope you like the backstory
with Patty Steele. Please lave a review and follow or
(08:48):
subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also
feel free to dm me if you have a story
you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele
and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group,
(09:10):
and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our
writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't
(09:32):
know you needed to know.
All right, most of us go through a period in
our lives where we ask ourselves the big questions about life,
right like what am I here for? What's next? Is
this all there is? Etc. But there was a time
in America when all sorts of new religions began popping
up to answer those questions, because hey, it was a
new land partly founded on religious freedom. Looking back, there
(00:23):
was a lot of mysticism involved in these new movements,
although honestly, that's true in pretty much every religion even today.
But the founding of the Mormon Church in America sounds
almost like a science fiction novel and a little bit
of a murder mystery. I'm Patty Steele Joseph Smith's Life
of Spirituality with a dose of murder, mayhem, and sex.
(00:45):
That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back when
Europeans first arrived in America, they were mainly looking for
religious freedom, which obviously wasn't really a thing in most
European countries at the time, and that worked for a
(01:07):
couple of centuries, but even those folks eventually had very
little religious tolerance for new ways of finding spiritual fulfillment.
Problem is, as the world rapidly changed with new inventions,
new ways to travel outside of your own community. New
questions arose about life, who we are, and what we're
(01:28):
doing here now. The thing is, the old beliefs weren't
answering all those new questions. That's where Joseph Smith found himself,
as a poor, hardworking teenager, asking a whole lot of questions.
It's the eighteen twenties in upstate New York. New religious
movements were constantly popping up. Finding salvation seemed really urgent,
(01:51):
but also really confusing. Joseph said at that point he
felt spiritually tangled. So in eighteen twenty, at the age
of fifteen, he went into the forest and he prayed,
asking which church he should join. That's when he says
he experienced a vision of God and Jesus Christ that
(02:13):
became the origin story for yet another brand new religion. Okay,
three years past. It's eighteen twenty three, and Joseph says
he had a nighttime visit from an angel called Morony.
The angel tells him about some buried golden plates. He
says they outlined the history of ancient people in North
(02:33):
America and their dealings with God. Joseph says, the angel
tells him to translate the plates and write down the words.
He gets busy, and while Joseph dictates what he sees
on the plates, friends write it all down. Finally, in
early eighteen thirty, the Book of Mormon goes on sale
(02:53):
in Palmyra, New York. Did you see that play? Really funny? Anyway?
That's bring A small group of believers organizes a church,
which will eventually be called the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter day Saints. Okay, so this small spiritual movement
sounds reasonable given the times, right, But that's just the
(03:15):
beginning of what turns into a harrowing and at times
violent blossoming of Mormonism. Joseph doesn't just want this to
be a Sunday religion. He wants it to be a
gathering of people who live in a community of like
minded folks. It's eighteen thirty one and converts follow Joseph
Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, where they build their first temple,
(03:38):
a large white structure that also serves as a school
and community center. A thousand people come to its dedication
in eighteen thirty six. Not long after Joseph and several
congregants say they had a vision of Jesus standing at
the pulpit. Multiple visions of figures from the Bible follow
(03:59):
But within a couple of years there's a huge division
in the church and Joseph is forced to leave. He
heads west with hundreds of followers to independence Missouri. Now
the problem is Missouri is a slave state and a
lot of the incoming Mormons are abolitionists. What's called the
Mormon Wars breakout. The governor of Missouri signs an extermination
(04:22):
order that sounds scary. It aims to chase Mormons out
of the state. Joseph Smith is arrested and he spends
a rough winter in jail under horrible conditions. Then, in
the spring of eighteen thirty nine, during a transfer, he escapes,
helped by guards who are willing to look the other way.
Joseph and his followers head for Illinois, where they receive
(04:45):
a land grant. They build a city called Nauvoux, and
in just a few years it's one of the biggest
cities in Illinois, second in size only to Chicago, and
Joseph Smith runs the place. He's the mayor, head of
the the militia and the charismatic center of a growing social, political,
and economic order. Okay, let's reset here. At this point,
(05:09):
he's thirty five years old and has moved his church
and many of his followers from upstate New York to Ohio,
then to two separate towns in Missouri, and finally to Illinois.
By now he has tens of thousands of congregants. Problem is,
Joseph and church elders start adding new beliefs, most notably
(05:29):
the idea of plural marriage or polygamy, where men can
have more than one wife, and that starts a firestorm
among his followers. Some of them start a newspaper to
attack him, but Joseph orders his militia to destroy the
printing press. As this battle heats up, Joseph announces that
(05:49):
he and a church colleague are running for the US
presidency in the eighteen forty four election. His opponents have
had it. Charges are brought again Joseph in as many
cases as they can drum up, going back years to Ohio, Missouri,
and finally Illinois. Now it's June twenty seventh, eighteen forty four,
(06:11):
a hot Thursday. Joseph, his brother, Hiram Smith, and two
other close associates from the church are being held in
the county jail in Carthage, Illinois. The bad news for
them the guards assigned to watch them are hostile to
the church, and the governor is out of town. It's
a really bad recipe. Late in the afternoon, about one
(06:34):
hundred men in disguise rush the jail. Shots are fired
up a stairwell and Hiram Smith is hit first. He collapses.
Joseph and the other two push against the door, but
they fall back as bullets splinter through the wood. The
mob keeps coming and the room is swarming with lead. Joseph,
(06:55):
for some reason, goes to the window. He begins to fall,
may be trying to jump, maybe after being shot and falling,
but he cries out, oh Lord, my God, and plunges
to the ground outside. The crowd moves in and he
shot again. Hiram dies upstairs. The other two Mormons survive,
(07:17):
but Joseph Smith is dead at the age of thirty eight.
A prophet to his people and a lightning rod to
his critics is finally gone. You'd think that would be
the end, right, I mean, who takes over well in
nauvou the twelve apostles led by Brigham Young, claim they're
in charge. In the winter of eighteen forty six, the
(07:40):
majority of Mormons begin a brutal exodus across Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming,
and eventually to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah,
with Brigham Young as their leader, and the Church of
Latter day Saints has flourished to this day. Now seventeen
and a half million followers read his words, build temples
(08:02):
he imagined, and live their lives based on the concept
of eternity he preached. It's actually one of only a
handful of religions whose membership is considered to be growing rapidly.
So while Joseph Smith's legacy may not be tidy, it
is human, full of improvisation, miscalculation, revelation, grit, love, secrets, ego,
(08:26):
and stubborn faith. But think about it, isn't that exactly
what you would expect from a story that begins with
a fifteen year old kid walking into the woods to
ask an existential question. I hope you like the backstory
with Patty Steele. Please lave a review and follow or
(08:48):
subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also
feel free to dm me if you have a story
you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele
and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group,
(09:10):
and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our
writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't
(09:32):
know you needed to know.
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