Sunstone Magazine

In 1954, California LDS bishop Devere Baker set out to prove that Lehi could have sailed from the Persian Gulf to Guatemala—by sailing his own raft, which he called the Lehi. Samuel Taylor tells about Baker’s 25-year endeavor—and how he went through six Lehis in the process.

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 powers, defied federal authority, and turned probate courts into parallel governments under Brigham Young’s theocracy. What happens when local law outruns the Constitution? Tune in …

How much can we heal from the wounds our religious community gave us? Stephen Carter explores the “hero cycle” story structure to find out.

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 U.S. law in Utah Territory, they faced threats, beatings, and sabotage from a theocratic regime that ran more like a mafia than a government. From …

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 a listener was going through some papers of her mother’s and found an affidavit from a woman claiming to be a plural wife of Joseph …

The Baseball Baptism era is a controversial one in LDS history. Richard Mavin gives a first-hand account of how it all happened in Britain and how his mission experience both thrilled and haunted him for the rest of his life.

Probably the most controversial period of Mormon missionary history was from about 1960–1962 when more than 100,000 boys were baptized into the LDS Church worldwide—sometimes without realizing it. They were on a baseball field one moment and being baptized the next. In this episode, D. Michael Quinn tells the story of the Baseball Baptism era …

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 and Bryan usually find enough rabbit holes on their own but sometimes they get pushed into them without warning (don’t worry, it’s less dangerous than …

LDS testimony meetings are usually tedious affairs. Yet we have them every month. Why? Anthropologist David Knowlton compares testimony meeting with similar rituals worldwide to see if it’s doing its job—or if we should toss it.

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 Angel.” Hickman’s life was a paradox: he was a devoted father to 35 children, a trusted enforcer for Mormon leaders, and a self-proclaimed murderer of …