Sunday, April 25, 2010

Did Jan Shipps Accidentally Inspire the Salamander Letter Forgery?

This weekend I had the pleasure of dining with Jan Shipps (and a number of other wonderful people) after the end of the CMSSA Conference. Over our over-priced cuisine, which Armand Mauss generously paid for, Jan told a fascinating story.

Apparently, she once gave a guest lecture on "the Prophet Puzzle" at Utah State University. After class, a bright-eyed young student approached her and asked, "how would you solve the Prophet Puzzle?" Off the top of her head, Jan replied, "Well, I guess you would need to find a letter from one of Joseph's faithful followers that talks about his money-digging."

A few weeks later, Mark Hofmann's infamous Salamander Letter was "discovered". Jan was later informed by the professor who had invited her to lecture at USU that the bright-eyed student who had asked her that question that day was Mark Hofmann.

Coincidence?

2 comments:

the narrator said...

that was a crazy story to hear from her.

Tod Robbins said...

Devilry!