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There’s the Mormon history you do know … and the Mormon history you don’t. Join Lindsay Hansen Park (Year of Polygamy) and historian Bryan Buchanan as they gossip about their ancestors and dig into all aspects of Mormonism’s astonishing 200-year past—uncovering the little-known stories that chronicle how a six-person church grew into a multi-billion-dollar religion. Episodes for this podcast are released every other week.

This podcast is heavily researched. For information on sources, and for additional reading for each episode's topic, click here.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or stream episodes right here on Sunstone.org.

Episode 148: The Gathering

May 21, 2025

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 pull apart …

Episode 147: The Tragic Tale of Eleanor McLean

April 30, 2025

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 woman caught in …

Episode 146: Runaway Judges with John Dinger

April 15, 2025

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 clerks. Mormons wielded sweeping …

Episode 145: Runaway Officials

April 1, 2025

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 appointees tried to enforce …

Episode 144: Mail Bag: Malissa Lott

March 20, 2025

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! A friend of …

Episode 143: MAIL BAG

February 27, 2025

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 tidbits on an episode. Lindsay …

Episode 142: Wild Bill Hickman

February 11, 2025

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 “Brigham’s Destroying …

Episode 141: The Utah War, part two

January 29, 2025

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 …

Episode 140: The Utah War, part one

January 17, 2025

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 stereotypes collided in the 1850s, leading …

Episode 139: The History of the Exponent II

January 1, 2025

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, thanks for asking). Lindsay …

About Our Hosts

Lindsay Hansen Park is host of the Year of Polygamy podcast and executive director of the Sunstone Education Foundation. A single-mom of three kids by day, and nerd researcher by night, Lindsay lives in Salt Lake City, Utah where she interacts with hundreds of different restoration branches, Latter-day Saints and Mormon fundamentalists. Her adventures have led her to some of the most isolated fundamentalist compounds in the America West where she interacts with modern day outlaws, inlaws and everything in between. Her goal is to widen the conversation about common and shared heritages within the larger Mormon diaspora.

Lindsay
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Bryan Buchanan works at Benchmark Books, surrounded by Mormon history. At night, he herds small children and works on umpteen book projects, some of which might even be published.