This is a throwback episode from 2018. Sandra & Jerald Tanner were the first to identify a Hofmann forgery. They were the first to claim the Salamander Letter was a forgery but they didn’t know it was a Hofmann forgery. Even though they didn’t suspect Mark Hofmann was the forger, they were eventually proved correct. Sandra tells how her husband Jerald came to that conclusion, his later illness & death from dementia, and whether she thinks some books in the Bible could be classified as forgeries. Plus at the end of the video, I’ll give a preview of my next interview with Sandra! Check out our conversation…
Don’t miss our other conversations with Sandra: https://gospeltangents.com/people/sandra-tanner
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Gospel Tangents
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“Man Bites Dog” Story: How Anti-Mormon Critics Jerald & Sandra Tanner Were the First to Expose Mark Hofmann Forgery
Sandra Tanner is a long-time critic and historian of Mormonism. She details her interactions with the notorious document forger and murderer, Mark Hofmann. The interviews reveal a profound paradox—what Sandra Tanner called the “man bite dog story”—where the very critics who might have benefited from anti-LDS documents were the ones who first proved them to be frauds.
Here is a breakdown of the shocking discoveries, clever manipulations, and institutional controversies surrounding Hofmann, as shared by Sandra Tanner:
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Shrewd Forger’s Credibility Gambit
Mark Hofmann first approached Sandra Tanner and her husband, Jerald, in 1978 or 1979 after having read their book, Mormonism Shadow or Reality. At this time, Hofmann was an average-looking young man who did not stand out, which actually aided him in his forgery business.
Hofmann’s initial goal was to establish credibility for his future fakes. He visited the Tanners and handed Sandra a photocopy of a one-sheet document—a fraudulent Second Anointing Ceremony. This ritual is considered higher than celestial marriage and promises eternal life (short of murder) to select individuals.
Hofmann spun a detailed, manipulative story, claiming he found the document (purporting to be from the 1912 Salt Lake Temple period) while cleaning out his deceased grandfather’s attic. He insisted he couldn’t share his name because his family was prominent, thus giving the document an air of mystery and protected provenance.
Sandra Tanner realized that Hofmann was attempting to raise the document’s value by having her pass it around, creating a “trail of interest”. However, because the document lacked provenance, Sandra did not publish it, though she did give copies out to people who asked, cautioning them that she could not vouch for it. This established Hofmann’s pattern: planting evidence or information about documents, often having others “find” them (like Jeff Simmonds finding the Anthon transcript pasted in a Bible) to lend them credibility.
Jerald Tanner’s Analysis: Salamander Letter Is Too “Pat”
When the Salamander Letter (a document critical of Joseph Smith, linking him to magic and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in a magic setting) was rumored and surfaced, Jerald Tanner was skeptical. Jerald insisted on seeing the whole typescript of the letter to properly evaluate it.
Jerald’s forensic methodology was based on a prior experience: years earlier, he had successfully argued that a document attributed to Oliver Cowdery was a forgery because it contained phrases lifted directly from Cowdery’s known letters, demonstrating a contrived writing style.
Applying this content analysis to the Salamander Letter, Jerald became convinced it was a fraud. He noted that the wording contained phrases lifted from earlier critical texts, specifically Ed Howe’s Mormonism Unveiled and the Joseph Knight letters. Jerald argued that the similarities in phrasing were “too much” and “too pat”.
Sandra, playing “devil’s advocate,” suggested that the repetitive phrasing could simply be Martin Harris’s standard way of telling his story. But Jerald was “absolutely convinced” that the Salamander Letter was “a product of someone studying Martin Harris”.
Jerald published a pamphlet challenging the letter’s wording, risking defamation lawsuits. He was willing to risk everything because he knew the document was forged. This happened despite the fact that Church historians, including Dean Jessee, had accepted the document as authentic after Hofmann supplied them with fake Martin Harris handwriting samples to verify the signature.
Hofmann’s success in fooling the Church historians was compounded by two factors:
- Preparation: Hofmann had arranged for other innocuous documents to establish a verified Martin Harris handwriting sample for comparison.
- Predisposition: The Church historians were “predisposed to believe such a document would be authentic” because they already knew about Joseph Smith’s early history involving money digging and magic circles.
Attempted Bribery and the Plea Bargain Controversy
After Jerald published his concerns, Hofmann appeared at the Tanners’ store, accusing them of trying to hurt his business and stop him from acquiring crucial historical documents.
Hofmann tried to halt Jerald’s criticism by appealing to Sandra’s interest in Brigham Young’s commingled funds. Hofmann claimed he was in touch with a descendant of Thomas Bullock (Brigham Young’s secretary) who possessed the “Bullock collection,” which supposedly detailed Young’s misuse of Church money. Hofmann argued that if the Tanners continued challenging his work, the Bullock family would refuse to do business with him, and Sandra would “be the one that stops this acquiring of these important collection of Thomas Bullock”.
Jerald, upon hearing the story, was completely cynical and dismissed it as a lie: “I want to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn,” he responded.
Regarding the outcome of the Hofmann case, Sandra was disappointed that the prosecutors negotiated a plea bargain instead of taking the case to a full trial. She believes the prosecuting attorney, being a “good Mormon,” would have been reluctant to subpoena General Authorities (like Gordon B. Hinckley, who had personally done business with Hofmann) and reveal confidential Church finances in court—issues that would have arisen if they attempted to prove the financial motive behind the murder. Ultimately, the prosecution secured a settlement where Hofmann confessed to everything in exchange for a 15 years to life sentence (which became a life sentence when he attempted to hire a hitman to kill the parole board).
Don’t miss our other conversations with Sandra: https://gospeltangents.com/people/sandra-tanner
Copyright © 2025
Gospel Tangents
All Rights Reserved
You can get a Kindle or paperback transcript here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1718038240
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