Episode Details

Joseph Smith began his public life peering into a stovepipe hat, claiming a magical stone could reveal buried treasure. Within fifteen years, he had founded a new religion, built a city, assembled a private militia, declared himself a candidate for president of the United States, and been murdered by a mob. No figure in American religious history traveled a more improbable or more violent arc.

This episode traces Smith from his folk-magic origins through the Book of Mormon, the founding of the Church of Latter-day Saints, the practice of plural marriage, and the assassination at Carthage Jail that transformed a controversial prophet into a martyr.

• Smith's treasure-hunting youth and the seer stone that preceded the golden plates
• The Book of Mormon, the founding of a new church, and the rapid growth that alarmed neighbors
• The practice of plural marriage, the Nauvoo Legion, and the presidential campaign
• The arrest, the mob attack on Carthage Jail, and the martyrdom that cemented his legacy