Author: Lindsay Hansen Park

Podcasts

Episode 158: Dan Neal on Polygamy, Murder and Mayhem in Idaho

When family secrets meet frontier justice: A murder that shattered a Mormon community Join Lindsay Hansen Park and journalist Daniel H. Neal for a conversation about... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 157: Mountain Meadows Massacre, Pt. 5

The story shifts from tension to bloodshed. September 1857, Mountain Meadows, southern Utah where a wagon train of emigrant families was betrayed under a flag of... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 156: Mountain Meadows Massacre, Pt. 4

In September 1857, southern Utah became the stage for one of the darkest tragedies in American frontier history, the Mountain Meadows Massacre. This was no spontaneous... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 155: Mountain Meadows Massacre, Pt. 3

Just when we thought we’d talked enough about disappointing Mormon men, George A. Smith pulls us back in. In this unflinching episode, we unpack how the so-called... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 154: Mountain Meadows Massacre, Pt. 2

In Part Two of “The Summer of Conspiracy,” we follow Apostle George A. Smith on his fateful southern tour, an incendiary road trip of sermons, war councils,... Read more.
Podcasts, Sunstone

Episode 153: Mountain Meadows Massacre, Pt. 1

In our most incendiary episode yet, “The Summer of Conspiracy” rips open the shocking truth of how Mormon leaders, consumed by apocalyptic terror and... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 152: FIELD TRIP: Coffin Canes

What do you get when you combine martyrdom, relic worship, secret reburials, and a healing cane made from a coffin? Mormon history at its weirdest and most fascinating.... Read more.
Sunstone

Episode 151: The 1886 Revelation Validated

In a surprising turn, the LDS Church has quietly validated the long-disputed 1886 Revelation given to John Taylor, a document that fundamentalists have clung to... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 150: The Steptoe Expedition

In this episode, Lindsay and Bryan unravel the Steptoe Expedition, a moment of uneasy calm before the storm of the Utah War and Mountain Meadows Massacre. What began... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 149: The Handcart Disaster

What happens when spiritual ambition meets logistical failure? In this episode, we dig into the catastrophic 1856 Mormon handcart disaster, when Brigham Young’s... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 148: The Gathering

Mormonism has always dreamed big and in this episode, we dive into one of its boldest and most disastrous dreams: the great gathering of Zion. Lindsay and Bryan... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 147: The Tragic Tale of Eleanor McLean

Before Mountain Meadows, there was blood in Arkansas. This is the wild, tragic, and shockingly true story of the Mormon apostle murdered over a love triangle, the... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 146: Runaway Judges with John Dinger

In this episode, legal historian John Dinger joins us to uncover the little-known world of rogue probate judges in frontier Utah. These weren’t your average courtroom... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 145: Runaway Officials

In this episode, Lindsay and Bryan dive into one of the most violent and outrageous chapters of early Mormon history: the “Runaway Officials” scandal. When federal... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 144: Mail Bag: Malissa Lott

Once again, through no action or righteousness on their part, another great story landed in the lap of Lindsay and Bryan. That’s right, it’s mailbag time again!... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 143: MAIL BAG

We love our fan mail! Especially when they contain juicy historical details, which is why we’re introducing MAIL BAG EPISODES, where we sometimes share those... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 142: Wild Bill Hickman

In this episode, we delve into the life of one of the most controversial and complex figures of the American West: William Adams “Wild Bill” Hickman, known as... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 141: The Utah War, part two

Join Lindsay and Bryan as they dive into the explosive history of the Utah War for part two of our Utah War series. We explore the complex interplay of guerrilla... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 140: The Utah War, part one

Dive into the chaotic and fascinating history of the Utah War with Lindsay and Bryan. They’ll unravel how political paranoia, religious zeal, and national... Read more.
Podcasts

Episode 139: The History of the Exponent II

The Sunstone Mormon History Podcast recently took off their “regular chronology” hat for a minute and put on the “fantastic new book” hat (it’s hot pink,... Read more.