INTRODUCTION: The Buried "Treasure" of Joe and Hyrum Smith's Post-Mortem Photographs
Evidence proves that photos of Joseph's earthly remains are in existence--but, in spite of that fact, that Joe's death mask somehow managed to get mismatched with his dead brother Hyrum's.
Is there no help for the widow's son identification?
So, where in the hell are these post-mortem photos pf Joe and Hyrum Smith? Actually, one is featured here, as pointed out by RfM poster "anon666," further down in this thread. This one happens to be a genuine photograph of Joe Smith's assassinated skull:
("Figure 5--1928 Photographs of Joseph Smith's Skull,"
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qMImbhr6vOQ/UagM3aELUrI/AAAAAAAAAlk/xTS-deb6R8s/s320/skull+photos+-+Joseph+Smith.jpgm, at: "The Joseph Smith Photograph," by Rick Brunson,
http://www.brunson20.com/2013/05/the-joseph-smith-photograph.html?m=1)
Another question: Where are Joe and Hyrum's bodies presently buried?
Let's do some post-Halloween sleuthing. Given Joe's penchant for digging up the backwoods of Palmyra, New York, in search of cool stuff that he claimed reposed beneath the turf, he would want us to do exactly that.
Don't worry, though. We won't be relying on Joe's grab bag of occult-magic incantations, peepstones, animal sacrifices, witching sticks and astrological talismans that he had handy to conjure up spirits, bleeding ghosts and buried treasure. (Oh, and we won't be using Hyrum's voodoo ceremonial dagger, either).
Instead, we'll rely on early 20th-century camera technology, since, well, that's all we've got (although the employment of late-20th century tools has helped us further figure out what we're actually looking at).
As to the current location of Joe and Hyrum's bodies, keep in mind that they were initially moved to keep their undying critics from digging them up and (how to put this politely?) mutilating them.
Ewwww.
Welcome to their world.
_____
--Photographs of the Mortal Remains of Joe and Hyrum Smith Have Uncovered Some Basic Identity Issues
First off, it's not the Mormon outfit in Salt Lake City but, instead, the formerly-named Reorganized Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints (now knowm as the Community of Christ) that owns both the bones and the photos of those bones:
"In the Smith Family cemetery in the Community of Christ [formerly the RLDS Church] section of old Nauvoo, there is one large tombstone/monument that lists the names from left to right 'Hyrum Smith Joseph Smith and Emma Smith.' Joseph actually lies beneath Hyrum's name and Hyrum lies beneath Joseph's name; this in effect makes Joseph apart from Emma.
"Here is the rest of the story:
"A public viewing was held on 29 June 1844, after which empty coffins weighted with sandbags were used at the public burial. (This was done to prevent theft or mutilation of the bodies). The actual coffins bearing the bodies of the Smith brothers were initially buried under the unfinished Nauvoo House, then disinterred and reburied under an out-building on the Smith homestead. The exact location of the gravesite was soon lost to memory.
"In 1928, Frederick M. Smith, president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and grandson of Joseph Smith, fearing that rising water from the Mississippi River would destroy the gravesite, authorized civil engineer William O. Hands to conduct an excavation to find Joseph and Hyrum's bodies. Hands conducted extensive digging on the Smith homestead and located the bodies. The remains--which were badly decomposed--were examined and photographed and the bodies were re-interred beside Emma Smith on higher ground. They did not notify Joseph Fielding Smith--who was the closest descendant of Hyrum--that they were doing this. It really made him mad when he found out.
"Anyway, one of the skulls had a missing facial area. The other skull still had much of the face intact. Since it was known that Hyrum had been shot just to the side of his nose, the RLDS assumed that the skull that was missing a facial area must have been Hyrum's, so when they reburied them they put the name of Hyrum over the skull with the missing facial bones.
"Then in 1993, a forensic team compared the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum to the photographs of their exhumed skulls and found that Joseph's death mask fit the skull with the missing facial bones. Apparently, 'when Joseph fell from the second-story window at Carthage Jail in June of 1844, he suffered facial fractures. Because death occurred only minutes after this event, the bones never healed together and as decomposition of the soft tissues progressed in the grave, the fragments fell from the face, leaving a void in the skull." Hyrum's skull is intact, except for the piece missing where he was shot."
(". . . Top 10 Things You Didn't Know about Joseph Smith's Death." posted in commentary section by "Hueffenhardt," 28 April 2006)
Another account, from which the above was apparently borrowed:
"Joseph and Hyrum Smith's bodies were returned to Nauvoo the next day [28 June 1844]. The bodies were cleaned and examined, and death masks were made preserving their facial features and structures.
"A public viewing was held on June 29, 1844, after which empty coffins weighted with sandbags were used at the public burial. (This was done to prevent theft or mutilation of the bodies). The coffins bearing the bodies of the Smith brothers were initially buried under the unfinished Nauvoo House, then disinterred and deeply reburied under an out-building on the Smith homestead.
"In 1928, Frederick M. Smith, president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and grandson of Joseph Smith, fearing that rising water from the Mississippi River would destroy the grave site, authorized civil engineer William O. Hands to conduct an excavation to find Joseph and Hyrum's bodies. Hands conducted extensive digging on the Smith homestead, and located the bodies, as well as finding the remains of Joseph's wife, Emma, who was buried in the same place. The remains—-which were badly decomposed—-were examined and photographed, and the bodies were re-interred."
("Death of Joseph Smith," under "Internment,"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Joseph_Smith)
As to where these post-mortem photos are, the RLDS/Community of Christ has openly acknowledged that they are in existence but are reportedly being kept confidential for privacy reasons, although it was the RLDS Church which allowed them to be photographed in the first place. Too late. As noted above, at least one of them is now on the Internet.
In an article entitled, "The Skull: A Missing Link," the following is noted:
"While researching the death of Joseph Smith Jr., we came across information that he and his brother Hyrum were exhumed, examined and photographed in 1928 by the RLDS Church.
"Out of respect for the Prophet and the Smith Family, we will not publish the actual photographs.
"However, back in 1993, the authors received permission from the RLDS Church to have copies of these exhumation photographs studied by a team of experts in Forensic Pathology, This was first time the RLDS Church allowed the photographs to be taken from their vaults for study. Years prior to this, tracings of these photos were made by Utah artist William Whitaker.
"These will be used here to illustrate the findings of the experts.
"A study of the RLDS photographs shows that Joseph's skull is missing the facial area. That his facial bones were missing was made even more puzzling when we found that his brother Hyrum's facial bones were intact, even though he was shot in the face at the time of his death.
"We therefore considered that when Joseph the Prophet fell from the second-story window at Carthage Jail in June of 1844, he suffered facial fractures. Because death occurred only minutes after this event, the bones never healed together and as decomposition of the soft tissues progressed in the grave, the fragments fell from the face, leaving a void in the skull."
"[From] Fig. 6: The remains of the skull of Joseph Smith [as] traced by William Whitaker from the exhumation photographs taken by the RLDS Church in 1928: Notice that Joseph's skull is missing the facial bones. Previously it had been assumed that this void resulted from decomposition in the grave. Evidence reveals that there is more than just decomposition to the story these bones reveal.
[From] Fig. 6A . . . : The remains of the skull of Hyrum Smith, brother of Joseph, [as] traced by William Whitaker from the exhumation photographs taken by the RLDS Church in 1928. The fact that Hyrum's skull is intact, except for the piece missing where he was shot, proves that decomposition is not the reason for the void in Joseph's skull. Hyrum was buried right next to Joseph."
"This is not the end of this study, currently there are other experts and scientific analyses scheduled. We are confident that their findings will continue to add insight into the face, life and times of Joseph Smith."
("The Skull: The Missing Link,"
http://silverepicent.com/photofound/photofound/Photograph_Found/The_Skulls.html_____
Botching the Identification of Joe Smith's Skull by Mismatching Joe's Death Mask with the One that Went with Hyrum's Face
In an article entitled, "Forensic Evidence: A Closer Look," the claim is made that--based on archival material provided with the permission of the RLDS Church--the death mask of Joseph Smith has actually been mismatched with the body of his slain brother, Hyrum:
"I opened up the hybrid image of the skull and jaw [of Joseph Smith] in Photoshop Image Editor and created a new layer to receive the death mask and pasted it into that layer. I had to work with the scale of the death mask so that it would correspond to the size of the skull images.
"The software I used allowed me to maintain exact ratios as I moved the scale up and down. I was thus able to keep the image in a correct aspect ratio to the original image as I worked with it. My first discovery was that Joseph's death mask needed to be tilted back more at the top. Joseph had a high, sloping forehead.
"In order to capture the full facial features, George Cannon apparently tilted the plaster cast down at the top of the head to cover the full detail. This would explain why Joseph's mask makes his chin look weak and recessed when the mask is laid flat on a table.
"When Joseph's mask is compared to Hyrum's, it is immediately clear that they were not cast at the same angle. Joseph's mask must be rotated upward at the bottom to be in the same plane as Hyrum's. I needed to rotate the image of Joseph's mask out at the bottom and back at the top to correct this discrepancy.
"I made the necessary adjustments of rotation and scale and moved the transparent image of Joseph's death mask over the image of the skull and jaw.
"They matched perfectly!
"The death mask lined up at almost every location of the front skull profile. In fact, the only adjustment needed was caused by eight-degree rotation of the skull photo from a perfect right angle. Once that was corrected, I had no doubts. This skull (the one the RLDS officers had identified as Hyrum's) belonged to Joseph's death mask. Joseph's skull [when aligned] with Hyrum's death mask [was] [n]ot a match." . . . "[A] 3D model of Joseph with skull [and] death-mask overlay [of Joseph Smith is a match]."
"The likeness itself was striking. I was looking at an image of Joseph based on physiological data never before used in examining his appearance. I believe this image to be more accurate than anyone had seen in over 150 years. I wasn't finished yet. Much would yet need to be done to prepare and present to the world an image of Joseph that was accurate in every respect. But I could see him before me now, on the screen of my computer, and I knew that we were going to have enough information to complete the work and allow people to see Joseph with more accuracy than he had been seen since 1844."
("Forensic Evidence: A Closer Look,"
http://web.archive.org/web/20040406094315/http://home.fuse.net/stracy/forensic.htm)
_____
--Follow-up and Expanded Research on the Search for Joe's Tell-Tale Skull
For detailed examination of Joe Smith's death mask, see:
--"A Comparison with the Death Mask," at:
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP2.HTM; update, "A Comparison with the Death Mask,"
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/The_Death_Mask.html; and update, "Another Daguerreotype,"
at:
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Appendix_D.htmlFor analysis of facial fractures found on Joe Smith's skull, see:
--"Did Joseph Smith Receive Facial Fractures?,"
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP4.HTM; update: "Did Joseph Smith Receive Facial Fractures?,"
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Facial_Fractures.html; "Facial Fractures Explain the Differences Between the Death Mask and the JS Photograph," at:
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP5.HTM; and update, "Facial Fractures Explain the Differences Between the Death Mask and the Photograph,"
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Differences.htmlFor access to and assessment of the research, see:
--"How Can I Get the Graphic File?," at:
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP6.HTM; and update, "Nearing Twenty Years. . . . A Perspective...,"
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Conclusion.htmlFor the overall, expanded site on the research per Joe Smith's skull and supporting daguerreotype, see:
--"Photograph Found: a 20-year Perspective," at:
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Welcome.htmlFor the death masks of Joe and Hyrum Smith, displayed side-by-side, see:
(https://mormonhistoryguy.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/js235a.jpg)
Accompanying the above death-mask photo is the following historical explanation of the Mormon lore travels and marvels of Joe Smith's decomposed remains:
"The body of Joseph Smith plays a prominent role in Mormon lore about the early Saints. The early Saints often commented on how they expected the Prophet to look, walk or talk. Yet how the Saints perceived Joseph’s body shape-shifted as the worlds in which they lived changed. Embedded in Joseph’s body (or the memory thereof) are the fears, insecurities, and hopes for the Mormon community in the 19th-century.
"As always, memory troubles the historical narrative. The Joseph depicted before the 1844 assassination differs a great deal from the Joseph remembered after it. All accounts of his childhood come to us from late reminiscences that bear the marks of a generation of memory-making. Pomeroy Tucker recalled Joseph to be an unimposing figure: 'a dull-eyed, flaxen-haired, ragged boy' thought to be "proverbally good-natured . . ., rarely if ever indulging in any combative spirit toward any.' Another neighbor remembered him to be 'big-bodied with small hands for his size' (John Henry Evans, 'Joseph Smith,' p. 37). Joseph’s friend and benefactor, Newell Knight, recalled that one of Joseph’s most 'peculiar characteristics' was his physical prowess: 'I never knew any one to gain advantage over him' (Newell Knight, 'Autobiographical Sketch'). Joseph’s mother presents a much more intimate and vulnerable picture of young Joseph. Lucy tells the story of her son’s string of childhood illnesses: typhus, infection, and pain marked his childhood (Lucy M. Smith, 'Biographical Sketches,' Chapter 16). Having dodged several assassination attempts, illness, and mind-numbingly painful surgery, Joseph was acutely aware his own body’s vulnerability. . . .
"His ordinariness caused Saints and outsiders to question the exact nature of this strange religious sect; when Joseph wanted to toy with pretentious pastors, he asked them to engage with him in physical competitions of strength. Yet observers both within and outside the Church recalled the almost paralyzing steadiness of his eyes. With the 'serene and steady penetrating glance of his eye,' Parley P. Pratt wrote, he could 'penetrate the deepest abyss of the human heart, gaze into eternity, penetrate the heavens, and comprehend all worlds.' A St. Louis newspaper editor also noticed that 'the Prophet’s most remarkable feature is his eye . . . almost veiled by the longest, thickest light lashes you ever saw belonging to a man' (Henry Lewis, 'The Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated,' p. 250).
"Yet Joseph was acutely aware of his own physical imperfections. His childhood leg surgery had left him walking with a limp noticeable to all. An 1832 tarring and feathering broke loose one of Joseph Smith’s teeth, leaving his voice with a distinctive whistle for the next 10 years. But his reputation as an athlete became renowned, even besting a Missouri guard in wrestling in spite of his own weakened condition (Baugh, 'Joseph Smith’s Athletic Nature'). His body was not Olympian; it was rough-hewn, revealing the vulnerabilities of a frontier life coupled with the drive and dedication his followers knew so well.
"In June 1844, Joseph Smith submitted himself to arrest at Carthage Jail. He had long understood that he had a limited lease on life. His childhood traumas had taught him that much. But it wasn’t in his temperament to roll over and die, even when he knew what fate had in store. While awaiting trial at Carthage Jail, Joseph had a small pistol smuggled into his cell, but the gun misfired, leaving Joseph severely out-armed. He was dead in a manner of moments.
"The Death Masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith
"The funeral procession seared the Saints. Zina Jacobs, one of Joseph’s plural wives, recognized how vulnerable the Saints actually were: 'Little did my heart ever think that mine eyes should witness this awful scene' (Jacobs Diary, June 29, 1844). Lucinda Harris, also a plural wife, was seen 'standing at the head of Joseph Smith’s body, her face covered [as] her whole frame convulsed with weeping' ('The Prophet’s Death,' [in] 'Deseret Evening News,' 1875). Fearful of desecration, the Saints hid the corpses in the Mansion House while bags of sand were 'buried' in the public tomb. The bodies were later buried in the Nauvoo House Garden. That fall, Emma Smith requested that they be exhumed and reburied underneath the 'bee house.' Before the burial, the gravediggers cut a lock of Joseph hair and gave it to Joseph’s pain-scarred widow. The destruction of the house and erosion of the soil made it impossible for later family members to identify the site.
"The ongoing efforts to move the corpses prevented the Saints from sacrilizing (or antagonists from desecrating) any grave site. The graves were not be marked until the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints feared that floods would destroy the corpses. For the next 75 years, few knew exactly where Joseph’s and Hyrum’s bodies rested. In 1928, the RLDS church exhumed the corpses and marked the grave (Susan Easton Black, 'The Tomb of Joseph'). . . .
"In the wake of Joseph’s death, the Saints needed to believe that their leader could not be cut down so easily. Memorials of the slain prophet emphasized that Joseph continued to exercise power over the Saints beyond the grave. 'Tell the world,' W.W. Phelps said at Joseph’s funeral, 'that the great name of Joseph Smith will go down to unborn worlds.' Joseph 'is an angel now.' The 'vials of wrath ought to be poured out upon the wicked…who can do it better than Joseph?' (Phelps funeral sermon, June 29, 1844). In 1847, Brigham [Young] remembered nostalgically how Joseph could take profound truths, 'circumscribe [them] and wound it round his finger.' Joseph’s knowledge rivaled 'the Angels that av been myriads of years with God' (General Church Minutes, May 23, 1847).
"As rivaling factions jockeyed to take over the Church, the Saints evoked the spirit of Joseph to establish the prophetic legitimacy. At various times, followers of claimed to have a visionary experience from Joseph Smith. In 1855, George Miller, a former follower of Brigham Young, 'saw Joseph Smith in the heavens in a glorified state.' Joseph spoke to Miller: 'God bless you, brother Miller. I am instructing my successor in the prophetic office, how to manage and conduct the affairs of the Church.' Miller understood the message as an endorsement of the Strangites (George Miller, letter, July 4, 1855). A supporter of the Twelve in Cincinnati saw Joseph 'appear[ing] unto me' as he 'stretched a rod across the City' to protect her from the impending floods of December 1847. (Cincinnati Member, letter to Twelve, Cincinnati [OH], 1848). Sidney Rigdon claimed that it had been 'shown to him that this Church must be built up to Joseph and that all the blessings we receive must come through Joseph.' Rigdon 'had been ordained [spokesman] to Joseph and he must come to Nauvoo & see that the Church was governed in a proper manner' (William Clayton journal, August 7, 1844). Brigham Young convinced the Saints that the Twelve held the right to leadership. Some witnesses remember seeing Young miraculously take on Joseph Smith’s voice and appearance (Jorgenson, 'A Collective Spiritual Witness').
"Joseph’s presence was felt in the realm of Mormon popular and visual culture as well. Most Saints had to rely on word of mouth regarding the details of the martyrdom, but details of the killings had become a part of the Latter-day Saints’ oral culture. Early in 1845, Hosea Stout saw the martyrdom’s first artistic rendering done by W.W. Major (Hosea Stout diary, March 7, 1845). On August 6–only two days before Brigham Young had miraculously assumed Joseph’s appearance, Stout paid 12.5 cents to see Philo Dibble’s traveling lecture series exhibiting artist Robert Campell’s 'splendid painting representing :THE MASSACRE of JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH"' ('Nauvoo Neighbor,' July 30, 1845, [original emphasis]).
"In 1846, Brigham’s Saints left these relics of the restoration behind, but their bodies continued to serve as rallying icons for the Saints’ still simmering anger towards their persecutors. It was commonplace to speak of avenging the 'blood of the prophets'–-'the best blood of the 19th-century' (D&C 135:6). The Smith brothers’ bodies lay as a hidden--but altogether real--testament to the wickedness of the United States; their murders had sealed its fate ('Deseret News,' May 30, 1855, p. 4).
"But the martyrdom needed to be visualized in order for it to be internalized. In 1848, Church leaders gave their official approval to to Dibble’s presentation. He showed the Saints the Smith brothers’ death masks, a painting of Joseph Smith before the Nauvoo Legion and a depiction of his death ([Hosea] Stout had initially opposed being included in the painting, for it also depicted men who "betrayed the prophet and patriarch to death and also other men who had disgraced their calling as officers”). For the first time, the Saints as a body were allowed to visualize the death of their beloved leader. Wilford Woodruff thought the exhibition to be "one of the most interesting sceneries ever presented to man" (Wilford Woodruff journal, April 7, 1848). Even the national gallery of art in London could not compare. The presentation was so popular that John Taylor used the death masks to make small busts of the brothers to be sold to the Utah Saints. Dibble included other paintings in his presentations, but those of Joseph Smith’s life and death were by far the most popular.
"By the end of the [19th] century, Joseph assumed a stature that transcended mere mortality. He first book length hagiography of Joseph Smith was written by a man who never knew him: George Q. Cannon. Relying upon the memories of an aging population long molded by persecution and the rose-colored lens of hindsight. Cannon said of Joseph: 'His physical person was the fit habitation of his exalted spirit' that seemed to 'combine all attractions and excellence' (Cannon, 'Life of Joseph Smith,'pp. xxv-xxvi). Dibble’s exhibition had re-made Joseph into a demigod, the realization of Mormons’ hopes to attain the status of deity.
"Though flawed, Joseph’s body grew in the public eye from being odd, [rhymes with 'seer,' an archaic word meaning 'strange], and ordinary to being an evidence of God’s mandate. No matter one’s brand of Mormonism, Joseph’s presence validated them. Joseph Smith’s body--whether as a corporeal reality, a supernatural spiritual sensation, or a dearly-held memory--demonstrated the dangerous realities of mortality while, at the same time, presenting the Saints evidence of God’s mandate; No matter one’s brand of Mormonism, Joseph’s presence validated them.
("Death Cannot Conquer The Hero: Joseph Smith’s Body and the Evolution of an Icon," by "mormonhistoryguy,"
https://mormonhistoryguy.wordpress.com/)
*****
CONCLUSION: Unmasking the Face of Mormonism's Founding Faker
We'll end with another forensic photographic confirmation of Joe Smith's skull. The featured exhumation photo served as the basis for a traced drawing later made by William Whitaker of the photo that was originally taken by the RLDS Church in 1928 (see Whitaker's drawing here:
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP3.HTM):
"A Photographic Comparison of Joseph's Injuries
"In 1928, the RLDS Church began a quest to find the buried remains of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The Church was worried that rising lake water would destroy the final resting place of the men, and that a more suitable gravesite was needed. The graves were finally found after a difficult struggle to locate the hidden spot where they had been secretly buried. The remains of both Joseph and Hyrum were located under a buried brick foundation of what appeared to be an outbuilding of some kind.
"The then-prophet of the RLDS Church, Fred M. Smith, told excavators that the Hyrum’s skull could be identified by a bullet hole through the right side of the face, near the nose. Unfortunately, President [Fred M.] Smith was mistaken about the placement of bullet, It was, in fact, on the left side of the nose and the RLDS Church did not have a death mask in its possession for comparison.
"The skulls of the two men were photographed and their remains were again laid to rest, this time on higher safer ground. These photos remain in the archives of the Community Church of Christ (formally RLDS). [Note: A photo of Joe Smith's skull, taken in 1928 by the RLDS Church. is included in this article]/
"Understanding that the two skulls were mislabeled helps us understand which one we should use for a photographic comparison. Unfortunately, the Joseph Smith photo and the photograph of his skull are shot at two different angles, but still tiny details in both tell an incredible story. Below is a side by side comparison of the photograph and RLDS photo.
"Note the slanted indentation on Joseph's nose in the right picture. What brute force could have created this and was it enough to break his nose? I have always contended that his nose was crooked and appeared broken; something only the unedited photo of Joseph has been able to show. In the left picture you can also see what appears to be a raised scar stemming from an identical indention mark in the nose. Below is a side view of Joseph’s skull. Note the fracture lines that would be consistent with the broken bend of his nose.
"I then went to the death mask. Would it show any signs of this scar? Remembering that only second and third edition masks were available, I upped the contrast to examine it closer. Each time the mask was copied tiny details were lost but luckily enough remains for a comparison.
"From what I can see from the death mask, there does appear to be a raised scar that runs from his nose to the corner of his right tear-duct, another conformation of this injury. Sadly, this early Mormon prophet had many opportunities in which such an injury could have been sustained and the unedited photograph shows more injuries then just the one we are speaking about.
"There is scar on his left eye brow and eye lid, which is also present on the death mask. Another scar runs above the right side of his upper lip to his nose, this can be observed on the death mask as well. A personal written account from March 24, 1832, tells of when Joseph was attacked by a mob, the assailants attempted to shove a glass vial of tar into his mouth but it broke against his teeth.
"With such positive forensic evidence, I wonder what argument my critics could come up with. When Joseph Smith III had his father's daguerreotype photographed in 1879, no artwork showed his father's injuries, the RLDS Church did not have a copy of the death mask, and it would be another 50 years before the prophet and his brother would have their graves moved."
("A True Photographic Image of Joseph Smith, Jr.: Joseph Smith Mystery Solved by ABC4 News," by Kim Marshall, 18 June 2011,
http://josephsmithjrphoto.blogspot.com/)
Historical investigation has put a whole new face on Joe Smith--one which his worshippers ended up confusing with the death mask of his co-gunned down brother Hyrum. Leave it to modern-day technology to demonstrate how the faithful got it deathly wrong.
Yes, to be sure, the Mormon faithful have ended up force-shaping a whole new face for Joe--one which Mormonism, in its demonstrably dishonest and disreputable way, has been trying to paste on him for years. That effort by the Cult That Joe Built has been an exquisitely poor fit.
Reburying Joe Smith's Corpse & Mismatching His Death Mask: His Skull Photo
INTRODUCTION: The Buried "Treasure" of Joe and Hyrum Smith's
Post-Mortem Photographs
Evidence proves that photos of Joseph's earthly remains are in existence--but, in spite of that fact, that Joe's death mask somehow managed to get mismatched with his dead brother Hyrum's.
Is there no help for the widow's son identification?
So, where in the hell are these post-mortem photos pf Joe and Hyrum Smith? Actually, one is featured here, as pointed out by RfM poster "anon666," further down in this thread. This one happens to be a genuine photograph of Joe Smith's assassinated skull:
("Figure 5--1928 Photographs of Joseph Smith's Skull,"
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qMImbhr6vOQ/UagM3aELUrI/AAAAAAAAAlk/xTS-deb6R8s/s320/skull+photos+-+Joseph+Smith.jpgm, at: "The Joseph Smith Photograph," by Rick Brunson,
http://www.brunson20.com/2013/05/the-joseph-smith-photograph.html?m=1)
Another question: Where are Joe and Hyrum's bodies presently buried?
Let's do some post-Halloween sleuthing. Given Joe's penchant for digging up the backwoods of Palmyra, New York, in search of cool stuff that he claimed reposed beneath the turf, he would want us to do exactly that.
Don't worry, though. We won't be relying on Joe's grab bag of occult-magic incantations, peepstones, animal sacrifices, witching sticks and astrological talismans that he had handy to conjure up spirits, bleeding ghosts and buried treasure. (Oh, and we won't be using Hyrum's voodoo ceremonial dagger, either).
Instead, we'll rely on early 20th-century camera technology, since, well, that's all we've got (although the employment of late-20th century tools has helped us further figure out what we're actually looking at).
As to the current location of Joe and Hyrum's bodies, keep in mind that they were initially moved to keep their undying critics from digging them up and (how to put this politely?) mutilating them.
Ewwww.
Welcome to their world.
_____
--Photographs of the Mortal Remains of Joe and Hyrum Smith Have Uncovered Some Basic Identity Issues
First off, it's not the Mormon outfit in Salt Lake City but, instead, the formerly-named Reorganized Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints (now knowm as the Community of Christ) that owns both the bones and the photos of those bones:
"In the Smith Family cemetery in the Community of Christ [formerly the RLDS Church] section of old Nauvoo, there is one large tombstone/monument that lists the names from left to right 'Hyrum Smith Joseph Smith and Emma Smith.' Joseph actually lies beneath Hyrum's name and Hyrum lies beneath Joseph's name; this in effect makes Joseph apart from Emma.
"Here is the rest of the story:
"A public viewing was held on 29 June 1844, after which empty coffins weighted with sandbags were used at the public burial. (This was done to prevent theft or mutilation of the bodies). The actual coffins bearing the bodies of the Smith brothers were initially buried under the unfinished Nauvoo House, then disinterred and reburied under an out-building on the Smith homestead. The exact location of the gravesite was soon lost to memory.
"In 1928, Frederick M. Smith, president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and grandson of Joseph Smith, fearing that rising water from the Mississippi River would destroy the gravesite, authorized civil engineer William O. Hands to conduct an excavation to find Joseph and Hyrum's bodies. Hands conducted extensive digging on the Smith homestead and located the bodies. The remains--which were badly decomposed--were examined and photographed and the bodies were re-interred beside Emma Smith on higher ground. They did not notify Joseph Fielding Smith--who was the closest descendant of Hyrum--that they were doing this. It really made him mad when he found out.
"Anyway, one of the skulls had a missing facial area. The other skull still had much of the face intact. Since it was known that Hyrum had been shot just to the side of his nose, the RLDS assumed that the skull that was missing a facial area must have been Hyrum's, so when they reburied them they put the name of Hyrum over the skull with the missing facial bones.
"Then in 1993, a forensic team compared the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum to the photographs of their exhumed skulls and found that Joseph's death mask fit the skull with the missing facial bones. Apparently, 'when Joseph fell from the second-story window at Carthage Jail in June of 1844, he suffered facial fractures. Because death occurred only minutes after this event, the bones never healed together and as decomposition of the soft tissues progressed in the grave, the fragments fell from the face, leaving a void in the skull." Hyrum's skull is intact, except for the piece missing where he was shot."
(". . . Top 10 Things You Didn't Know about Joseph Smith's Death." posted in commentary section by "Hueffenhardt," 28 April 2006)
Another account, from which the above was apparently borrowed:
"Joseph and Hyrum Smith's bodies were returned to Nauvoo the next day [28 June 1844]. The bodies were cleaned and examined, and death masks were made preserving their facial features and structures.
"A public viewing was held on June 29, 1844, after which empty coffins weighted with sandbags were used at the public burial. (This was done to prevent theft or mutilation of the bodies). The coffins bearing the bodies of the Smith brothers were initially buried under the unfinished Nauvoo House, then disinterred and deeply reburied under an out-building on the Smith homestead.
"In 1928, Frederick M. Smith, president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and grandson of Joseph Smith, fearing that rising water from the Mississippi River would destroy the grave site, authorized civil engineer William O. Hands to conduct an excavation to find Joseph and Hyrum's bodies. Hands conducted extensive digging on the Smith homestead, and located the bodies, as well as finding the remains of Joseph's wife, Emma, who was buried in the same place. The remains—-which were badly decomposed—-were examined and photographed, and the bodies were re-interred."
("Death of Joseph Smith," under "Internment,"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Joseph_Smith)
As to where these post-mortem photos are, the RLDS/Community of Christ has openly acknowledged that they are in existence but are reportedly being kept confidential for privacy reasons, although it was the RLDS Church which allowed them to be photographed in the first place. Too late. As noted above, at least one of them is now on the Internet.
In an article entitled, "The Skull: A Missing Link," the following is noted:
"While researching the death of Joseph Smith Jr., we came across information that he and his brother Hyrum were exhumed, examined and photographed in 1928 by the RLDS Church.
"Out of respect for the Prophet and the Smith Family, we will not publish the actual photographs.
"However, back in 1993, the authors received permission from the RLDS Church to have copies of these exhumation photographs studied by a team of experts in Forensic Pathology, This was first time the RLDS Church allowed the photographs to be taken from their vaults for study. Years prior to this, tracings of these photos were made by Utah artist William Whitaker.
"These will be used here to illustrate the findings of the experts.
"A study of the RLDS photographs shows that Joseph's skull is missing the facial area. That his facial bones were missing was made even more puzzling when we found that his brother Hyrum's facial bones were intact, even though he was shot in the face at the time of his death.
"We therefore considered that when Joseph the Prophet fell from the second-story window at Carthage Jail in June of 1844, he suffered facial fractures. Because death occurred only minutes after this event, the bones never healed together and as decomposition of the soft tissues progressed in the grave, the fragments fell from the face, leaving a void in the skull."
"[From] Fig. 6: The remains of the skull of Joseph Smith [as] traced by William Whitaker from the exhumation photographs taken by the RLDS Church in 1928: Notice that Joseph's skull is missing the facial bones. Previously it had been assumed that this void resulted from decomposition in the grave. Evidence reveals that there is more than just decomposition to the story these bones reveal.
[From] Fig. 6A . . . : The remains of the skull of Hyrum Smith, brother of Joseph, [as] traced by William Whitaker from the exhumation photographs taken by the RLDS Church in 1928. The fact that Hyrum's skull is intact, except for the piece missing where he was shot, proves that decomposition is not the reason for the void in Joseph's skull. Hyrum was buried right next to Joseph."
"This is not the end of this study, currently there are other experts and scientific analyses scheduled. We are confident that their findings will continue to add insight into the face, life and times of Joseph Smith."
("The Skull: The Missing Link,"
http://silverepicent.com/photofound/photofound/Photograph_Found/The_Skulls.html_____
Botching the Identification of Joe Smith's Skull by Mismatching Joe's Death Mask with the One that Went with Hyrum's Face
In an article entitled, "Forensic Evidence: A Closer Look," the claim is made that--based on archival material provided with the permission of the RLDS Church--the death mask of Joseph Smith has actually been mismatched with the body of his slain brother, Hyrum:
"I opened up the hybrid image of the skull and jaw [of Joseph Smith] in Photoshop Image Editor and created a new layer to receive the death mask and pasted it into that layer. I had to work with the scale of the death mask so that it would correspond to the size of the skull images.
"The software I used allowed me to maintain exact ratios as I moved the scale up and down. I was thus able to keep the image in a correct aspect ratio to the original image as I worked with it. My first discovery was that Joseph's death mask needed to be tilted back more at the top. Joseph had a high, sloping forehead.
"In order to capture the full facial features, George Cannon apparently tilted the plaster cast down at the top of the head to cover the full detail. This would explain why Joseph's mask makes his chin look weak and recessed when the mask is laid flat on a table.
"When Joseph's mask is compared to Hyrum's, it is immediately clear that they were not cast at the same angle. Joseph's mask must be rotated upward at the bottom to be in the same plane as Hyrum's. I needed to rotate the image of Joseph's mask out at the bottom and back at the top to correct this discrepancy.
"I made the necessary adjustments of rotation and scale and moved the transparent image of Joseph's death mask over the image of the skull and jaw.
"They matched perfectly!
"The death mask lined up at almost every location of the front skull profile. In fact, the only adjustment needed was caused by eight-degree rotation of the skull photo from a perfect right angle. Once that was corrected, I had no doubts. This skull (the one the RLDS officers had identified as Hyrum's) belonged to Joseph's death mask. Joseph's skull [when aligned] with Hyrum's death mask [was] [n]ot a match." . . . "[A] 3D model of Joseph with skull [and] death-mask overlay [of Joseph Smith is a match]."
"The likeness itself was striking. I was looking at an image of Joseph based on physiological data never before used in examining his appearance. I believe this image to be more accurate than anyone had seen in over 150 years. I wasn't finished yet. Much would yet need to be done to prepare and present to the world an image of Joseph that was accurate in every respect. But I could see him before me now, on the screen of my computer, and I knew that we were going to have enough information to complete the work and allow people to see Joseph with more accuracy than he had been seen since 1844."
("Forensic Evidence: A Closer Look,"
http://web.archive.org/web/20040406094315/http://home.fuse.net/stracy/forensic.htm)
_____
--Follow-up and Expanded Research on the Search for Joe's Tell-Tale Skull
For detailed examination of Joe Smith's death mask, see:
--"A Comparison with the Death Mask," at:
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP2.HTM; update, "A Comparison with the Death Mask,"
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/The_Death_Mask.html; and update, "Another Daguerreotype,"
at:
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Appendix_D.htmlFor analysis of facial fractures found on Joe Smith's skull, see:
--"Did Joseph Smith Receive Facial Fractures?,"
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP4.HTM; update: "Did Joseph Smith Receive Facial Fractures?,"
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Facial_Fractures.html; "Facial Fractures Explain the Differences Between the Death Mask and the JS Photograph," at:
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP5.HTM; and update, "Facial Fractures Explain the Differences Between the Death Mask and the Photograph,"
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Differences.htmlFor access to and assessment of the research, see:
--"How Can I Get the Graphic File?," at:
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP6.HTM; and update, "Nearing Twenty Years. . . . A Perspective...,"
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Conclusion.htmlFor the overall, expanded site on the research per Joe Smith's skull and supporting daguerreotype, see:
--"Photograph Found: a 20-year Perspective," at:
http://www.photographfound.com/Photograph_Found/Welcome.htmlFor the death masks of Joe and Hyrum Smith, displayed side-by-side, see:
(https://mormonhistoryguy.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/js235a.jpg)
Accompanying the above death-mask photo is the following historical explanation of the Mormon lore travels and marvels of Joe Smith's decomposed remains:
"The body of Joseph Smith plays a prominent role in Mormon lore about the early Saints. The early Saints often commented on how they expected the Prophet to look, walk or talk. Yet how the Saints perceived Joseph’s body shape-shifted as the worlds in which they lived changed. Embedded in Joseph’s body (or the memory thereof) are the fears, insecurities, and hopes for the Mormon community in the 19th-century.
"As always, memory troubles the historical narrative. The Joseph depicted before the 1844 assassination differs a great deal from the Joseph remembered after it. All accounts of his childhood come to us from late reminiscences that bear the marks of a generation of memory-making. Pomeroy Tucker recalled Joseph to be an unimposing figure: 'a dull-eyed, flaxen-haired, ragged boy' thought to be "proverbally good-natured . . ., rarely if ever indulging in any combative spirit toward any.' Another neighbor remembered him to be 'big-bodied with small hands for his size' (John Henry Evans, 'Joseph Smith,' p. 37). Joseph’s friend and benefactor, Newell Knight, recalled that one of Joseph’s most 'peculiar characteristics' was his physical prowess: 'I never knew any one to gain advantage over him' (Newell Knight, 'Autobiographical Sketch'). Joseph’s mother presents a much more intimate and vulnerable picture of young Joseph. Lucy tells the story of her son’s string of childhood illnesses: typhus, infection, and pain marked his childhood (Lucy M. Smith, 'Biographical Sketches,' Chapter 16). Having dodged several assassination attempts, illness, and mind-numbingly painful surgery, Joseph was acutely aware his own body’s vulnerability. . . .
"His ordinariness caused Saints and outsiders to question the exact nature of this strange religious sect; when Joseph wanted to toy with pretentious pastors, he asked them to engage with him in physical competitions of strength. Yet observers both within and outside the Church recalled the almost paralyzing steadiness of his eyes. With the 'serene and steady penetrating glance of his eye,' Parley P. Pratt wrote, he could 'penetrate the deepest abyss of the human heart, gaze into eternity, penetrate the heavens, and comprehend all worlds.' A St. Louis newspaper editor also noticed that 'the Prophet’s most remarkable feature is his eye . . . almost veiled by the longest, thickest light lashes you ever saw belonging to a man' (Henry Lewis, 'The Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated,' p. 250).
"Yet Joseph was acutely aware of his own physical imperfections. His childhood leg surgery had left him walking with a limp noticeable to all. An 1832 tarring and feathering broke loose one of Joseph Smith’s teeth, leaving his voice with a distinctive whistle for the next 10 years. But his reputation as an athlete became renowned, even besting a Missouri guard in wrestling in spite of his own weakened condition (Baugh, 'Joseph Smith’s Athletic Nature'). His body was not Olympian; it was rough-hewn, revealing the vulnerabilities of a frontier life coupled with the drive and dedication his followers knew so well.
"In June 1844, Joseph Smith submitted himself to arrest at Carthage Jail. He had long understood that he had a limited lease on life. His childhood traumas had taught him that much. But it wasn’t in his temperament to roll over and die, even when he knew what fate had in store. While awaiting trial at Carthage Jail, Joseph had a small pistol smuggled into his cell, but the gun misfired, leaving Joseph severely out-armed. He was dead in a manner of moments.
"The Death Masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith
"The funeral procession seared the Saints. Zina Jacobs, one of Joseph’s plural wives, recognized how vulnerable the Saints actually were: 'Little did my heart ever think that mine eyes should witness this awful scene' (Jacobs Diary, June 29, 1844). Lucinda Harris, also a plural wife, was seen 'standing at the head of Joseph Smith’s body, her face covered [as] her whole frame convulsed with weeping' ('The Prophet’s Death,' [in] 'Deseret Evening News,' 1875). Fearful of desecration, the Saints hid the corpses in the Mansion House while bags of sand were 'buried' in the public tomb. The bodies were later buried in the Nauvoo House Garden. That fall, Emma Smith requested that they be exhumed and reburied underneath the 'bee house.' Before the burial, the gravediggers cut a lock of Joseph hair and gave it to Joseph’s pain-scarred widow. The destruction of the house and erosion of the soil made it impossible for later family members to identify the site.
"The ongoing efforts to move the corpses prevented the Saints from sacrilizing (or antagonists from desecrating) any grave site. The graves were not be marked until the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints feared that floods would destroy the corpses. For the next 75 years, few knew exactly where Joseph’s and Hyrum’s bodies rested. In 1928, the RLDS church exhumed the corpses and marked the grave (Susan Easton Black, 'The Tomb of Joseph'). . . .
"In the wake of Joseph’s death, the Saints needed to believe that their leader could not be cut down so easily. Memorials of the slain prophet emphasized that Joseph continued to exercise power over the Saints beyond the grave. 'Tell the world,' W.W. Phelps said at Joseph’s funeral, 'that the great name of Joseph Smith will go down to unborn worlds.' Joseph 'is an angel now.' The 'vials of wrath ought to be poured out upon the wicked…who can do it better than Joseph?' (Phelps funeral sermon, June 29, 1844). In 1847, Brigham [Young] remembered nostalgically how Joseph could take profound truths, 'circumscribe [them] and wound it round his finger.' Joseph’s knowledge rivaled 'the Angels that av been myriads of years with God' (General Church Minutes, May 23, 1847).
"As rivaling factions jockeyed to take over the Church, the Saints evoked the spirit of Joseph to establish the prophetic legitimacy. At various times, followers of claimed to have a visionary experience from Joseph Smith. In 1855, George Miller, a former follower of Brigham Young, 'saw Joseph Smith in the heavens in a glorified state.' Joseph spoke to Miller: 'God bless you, brother Miller. I am instructing my successor in the prophetic office, how to manage and conduct the affairs of the Church.' Miller understood the message as an endorsement of the Strangites (George Miller, letter, July 4, 1855). A supporter of the Twelve in Cincinnati saw Joseph 'appear[ing] unto me' as he 'stretched a rod across the City' to protect her from the impending floods of December 1847. (Cincinnati Member, letter to Twelve, Cincinnati [OH], 1848). Sidney Rigdon claimed that it had been 'shown to him that this Church must be built up to Joseph and that all the blessings we receive must come through Joseph.' Rigdon 'had been ordained [spokesman] to Joseph and he must come to Nauvoo & see that the Church was governed in a proper manner' (William Clayton journal, August 7, 1844). Brigham Young convinced the Saints that the Twelve held the right to leadership. Some witnesses remember seeing Young miraculously take on Joseph Smith’s voice and appearance (Jorgenson, 'A Collective Spiritual Witness').
"Joseph’s presence was felt in the realm of Mormon popular and visual culture as well. Most Saints had to rely on word of mouth regarding the details of the martyrdom, but details of the killings had become a part of the Latter-day Saints’ oral culture. Early in 1845, Hosea Stout saw the martyrdom’s first artistic rendering done by W.W. Major (Hosea Stout diary, March 7, 1845). On August 6–only two days before Brigham Young had miraculously assumed Joseph’s appearance, Stout paid 12.5 cents to see Philo Dibble’s traveling lecture series exhibiting artist Robert Campell’s 'splendid painting representing :THE MASSACRE of JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH"' ('Nauvoo Neighbor,' July 30, 1845, [original emphasis]).
"In 1846, Brigham’s Saints left these relics of the restoration behind, but their bodies continued to serve as rallying icons for the Saints’ still simmering anger towards their persecutors. It was commonplace to speak of avenging the 'blood of the prophets'–-'the best blood of the 19th-century' (D&C 135:6). The Smith brothers’ bodies lay as a hidden--but altogether real--testament to the wickedness of the United States; their murders had sealed its fate ('Deseret News,' May 30, 1855, p. 4).
"But the martyrdom needed to be visualized in order for it to be internalized. In 1848, Church leaders gave their official approval to to Dibble’s presentation. He showed the Saints the Smith brothers’ death masks, a painting of Joseph Smith before the Nauvoo Legion and a depiction of his death ([Hosea] Stout had initially opposed being included in the painting, for it also depicted men who "betrayed the prophet and patriarch to death and also other men who had disgraced their calling as officers”). For the first time, the Saints as a body were allowed to visualize the death of their beloved leader. Wilford Woodruff thought the exhibition to be "one of the most interesting sceneries ever presented to man" (Wilford Woodruff journal, April 7, 1848). Even the national gallery of art in London could not compare. The presentation was so popular that John Taylor used the death masks to make small busts of the brothers to be sold to the Utah Saints. Dibble included other paintings in his presentations, but those of Joseph Smith’s life and death were by far the most popular.
"By the end of the [19th] century, Joseph assumed a stature that transcended mere mortality. He first book length hagiography of Joseph Smith was written by a man who never knew him: George Q. Cannon. Relying upon the memories of an aging population long molded by persecution and the rose-colored lens of hindsight. Cannon said of Joseph: 'His physical person was the fit habitation of his exalted spirit' that seemed to 'combine all attractions and excellence' (Cannon, 'Life of Joseph Smith,'pp. xxv-xxvi). Dibble’s exhibition had re-made Joseph into a demigod, the realization of Mormons’ hopes to attain the status of deity.
"Though flawed, Joseph’s body grew in the public eye from being odd, [rhymes with 'seer,' an archaic word meaning 'strange], and ordinary to being an evidence of God’s mandate. No matter one’s brand of Mormonism, Joseph’s presence validated them. Joseph Smith’s body--whether as a corporeal reality, a supernatural spiritual sensation, or a dearly-held memory--demonstrated the dangerous realities of mortality while, at the same time, presenting the Saints evidence of God’s mandate; No matter one’s brand of Mormonism, Joseph’s presence validated them.
("Death Cannot Conquer The Hero: Joseph Smith’s Body and the Evolution of an Icon," by "mormonhistoryguy,"
https://mormonhistoryguy.wordpress.com/)
*****
CONCLUSION: Unmasking the Face of Mormonism's Founding Faker
We'll end with another forensic photographic confirmation of Joe Smith's skull. The featured exhumation photo served as the basis for a traced drawing later made by William Whitaker of the photo that was originally taken by the RLDS Church in 1928 (see Whitaker's drawing here:
http://comevisit.com/lds/CHAP3.HTM):
"A Photographic Comparison of Joseph's Injuries
"In 1928, the RLDS Church began a quest to find the buried remains of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The Church was worried that rising lake water would destroy the final resting place of the men, and that a more suitable gravesite was needed. The graves were finally found after a difficult struggle to locate the hidden spot where they had been secretly buried. The remains of both Joseph and Hyrum were located under a buried brick foundation of what appeared to be an outbuilding of some kind.
"The then-prophet of the RLDS Church, Fred M. Smith, told excavators that the Hyrum’s skull could be identified by a bullet hole through the right side of the face, near the nose. Unfortunately, President [Fred M.] Smith was mistaken about the placement of bullet, It was, in fact, on the left side of the nose and the RLDS Church did not have a death mask in its possession for comparison.
"The skulls of the two men were photographed and their remains were again laid to rest, this time on higher safer ground. These photos remain in the archives of the Community Church of Christ (formally RLDS). [Note: A photo of Joe Smith's skull, taken in 1928 by the RLDS Church. is included in this article]/
"Understanding that the two skulls were mislabeled helps us understand which one we should use for a photographic comparison. Unfortunately, the Joseph Smith photo and the photograph of his skull are shot at two different angles, but still tiny details in both tell an incredible story. Below is a side by side comparison of the photograph and RLDS photo.
"Note the slanted indentation on Joseph's nose in the right picture. What brute force could have created this and was it enough to break his nose? I have always contended that his nose was crooked and appeared broken; something only the unedited photo of Joseph has been able to show. In the left picture you can also see what appears to be a raised scar stemming from an identical indention mark in the nose. Below is a side view of Joseph’s skull. Note the fracture lines that would be consistent with the broken bend of his nose.
"I then went to the death mask. Would it show any signs of this scar? Remembering that only second and third edition masks were available, I upped the contrast to examine it closer. Each time the mask was copied tiny details were lost but luckily enough remains for a comparison.
"From what I can see from the death mask, there does appear to be a raised scar that runs from his nose to the corner of his right tear-duct, another conformation of this injury. Sadly, this early Mormon prophet had many opportunities in which such an injury could have been sustained and the unedited photograph shows more injuries then just the one we are speaking about.
"There is scar on his left eye brow and eye lid, which is also present on the death mask. Another scar runs above the right side of his upper lip to his nose, this can be observed on the death mask as well. A personal written account from March 24, 1832, tells of when Joseph was attacked by a mob, the assailants attempted to shove a glass vial of tar into his mouth but it broke against his teeth.
"With such positive forensic evidence, I wonder what argument my critics could come up with. When Joseph Smith III had his father's daguerreotype photographed in 1879, no artwork showed his father's injuries, the RLDS Church did not have a copy of the death mask, and it would be another 50 years before the prophet and his brother would have their graves moved."
("A True Photographic Image of Joseph Smith, Jr.: Joseph Smith Mystery Solved by ABC4 News," by Kim Marshall, 18 June 2011,
http://josephsmithjrphoto.blogspot.com/)
Historical investigation has put a whole new face on Joe Smith--one which his worshippers ended up confusing with the death mask of his co-gunned down brother Hyrum. Leave it to modern-day technology to demonstrate how the faithful got it deathly wrong.
Yes, to be sure, the Mormon faithful have ended up force-shaping a whole new face for Joe--one which Mormonism, in its demonstrably dishonest and disreputable way, has been trying to paste on him for years. That effort by the Cult That Joe Built has been an exquisitely poor fit.
_____
("Reburying Joe Smith's Corpse & Mismatching His Death Mask: His Skull Photo," by Steve Benson, 5 November 2015) 08:24PM