Strange Country Ep. 205: Mountain Meadows Massacre

Strange Country

America's home-spun religion of Mormonism has a bloody past. The founder Joseph Smith was murdered, and the Saints run out of various places they settled. This us-versus-them mentality really fermented in the Great Salt Valley where Brigham Young whipped his flock into a frenzy about interlopers and outsiders. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about how that volatile mx led to some Mormons murdering approximately 120 adults and children heading to California in 1857 in Mountain Meadows, and then blamed it on the Paiute.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

Denton, Sally. American Massacre: the Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857. Vintage Books, 2004.

King, Gilbert. “The Aftermath of Mountain Meadows.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 29 Feb. 2012, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-aftermath-of-mountain-meadows-110735627/.

Krakauer, Jon. “For Water Will Not Do.” Under the Banner of Heaven , Anchor Books, 2003, pp. 211–227.

Moore, Carrie. “LDS Church Issues Apology over Mountain Meadows.” Deseret News, Deseret News, 12 Sept. 2007, www.deseret.com/2007/9/12/20040883/lds-church-issues-apology-over-mountain-meadows#flags-wave-at-the-event-marking-the-150th-anniversary-of-the-mountain-meadows-massacre-at-the-memorial-site-near-enterprise.

Smith, Christopher. “Unearthing Mountain Meadows Secrets: Backhoe at a S. Utah Killing Field Rips Open 142-Year-Old Wound.” Mountain Meadows Massacre (CESNUR), The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Mar. 2000, www.cesnur.org/testi/morm_01.htm.