Note: Paul H. Dunn was a Mormon General Authority for 30 years. He rose to prominence with his extraordinary war stories and experiences as a professional baseball player. All of his famous and glamorous stories were exposed as lies, but only many years after selling millions of dollars of books and tapes to fellow Mormons. Senator Orrin Hatch even tried to use his influence as a US Senator from Utah to stop the investigative report on the Paul H. Dunn, since it would embarrass the Mormon Church. The details of Orrin Hatch and the Arizona Republic story are found below.
| Subject: | Was anyone really offended when Paul H. Dunn announced... |
| Date: | Jan 31 13:27 2003 |
| Author: | estebanito |
| he was lying about his FPS's [Faith Promoting Stories] all those years? |
| Subject: | I was, he spoke to us when I was a kid.... |
| Date: | Jan 31 13:41 |
| Author: | danboyle |
| he came to our MIA meeting, wednesday night, I was on the front row. Loved his stories. I was TOTALLY PISSED off when the truth came out. Now I never hesitate to mention his name when my tbm mom tells me about some quasi-church function, I'll say "Is Paul H Dunn speaking?" It always gets me a stare from her. I remember she got "invited" to an investment seminar, for retired people, at the "Joseph Smith Building". I commented to her what a scam it was to hold a financial seminar there, and followed with "Who's speaking?....Paul H Dunn?" I got a good stare for that one. |
| Subject: | I had already left when that was exposed, I was not surprised, |
| Date: | Jan 31 14:15 |
| Author: | Primrose |
| My own brother has told tales about the Church for years and still
is. I think it is a common thing for Mormons to make up things to try to prove to themselves and others that it is true. Before I joined, my brother told me they found thousands of bones in the Hill Cumorah. It was a lie and I based my joining on things like that. |
| Subject: | Not offended, but shaken. |
| Date: | Jan 31 14:33 |
| Author: | Frank |
| That was when I really believed that General Authorities were men of
honesty and integrity. Integrity was N. Eldon Tanner's nickname I had read in Church
magazines. Now I realize that like the word "truth" the definition for many of these words for the Lord's chosen may be quite different from what you or I could find in a dictionary at the local library. |
| Subject: | Re: Was anyone really offended when Paul H. Dunn announced... |
| Date: | Jan 31 14:50 |
| Author: | Wease |
| Hell YES! Living overseas most my life I found it inspirational to
hear his tapes about being a good "patriot", true believer and his sports
stories. He seemed like cool, and normal guy who could relate to the younger members of
the church. Despite some of my own internal questioning I found peace and joy listening to
his tapes. When I was in school in Virginia I had him sign my Book of Mormon at a Stake conference. I had met my religious hero. While on my mission in Mississippi and ,Louisianan more of the Church shine lost its luster. Due to the fact that in scripture discussions some evangelicals kicked our ass. (but we missionaries would nor admit it) Several years after my mission my mother in law was defending Paul H. Dunn, I had informed her that had thrown away my Book of Mormon with Dunn's autograph, and that I had burn his tapes. I told her that he was a "Liar" and that he had made a mockery of the men and women who gave their lives for our country during WWII. I reminded her that my mother lost two of her uncles at the Normandy invasion. PAUL H. DUNN is a SH*T HEAD. |
| Subject: | I work in professional sports, and started having Paul Dunn doubts when... |
| Date: | Jan 31 15:03 |
| Author: | Mr. Happy |
| I did some research on his minor league baseball playing days. I
have access to (or know people who have access to) VOLUMES of statistical data on
professional baseball (major and minor league). For the fun of it one day, I decided to
gather all of my reference materials together and find out just how good a pitcher Elder
Dunn truly was. In his talks he never said how good he was or how many games he won or
lost, so I thought I would look it up. Strangely, I couldn't find anything. I even went to
some higher sources for help (no I didn't pray about it) and they couldn't find anything
either. Of course, I thought there must have been something wrong with me and my stats. Like maybe 116 pages of baseball stats with Paul Dunn's name on them disappeared. It was nice to know that I wasn't nuts when he finally fessed up. What used to get me was how many people were so "filled with the spirit" when he spoke. Interesting since he was so full of crap. I wish I had some of his tapes with all of his stories. They would make great white elephant gifts at a TBM Christmas party. |
| Subject: | That's a lying spirit they were filled with. I attended BYU 76-78.. |
| Date: | Jan 31 15:11 |
| Author: | beaglie |
| And he was a big hero then. One of my good friends absolutely adored
him. I remember the Osmonds worshipped him as well. All-concerned Donny had to seek Paul's
advice when Marie decided to have her ears pierced. I guess Paul told Donny it was alright
and Donny was relieved. beaglie |
| Subject: | Bro. Dunn really served to build my faith........ |
| Date: | Jan 31 15:25 |
| Author: | Route66Kid |
| .....too bad it turned out to be founded on bullsh*t. When I was being fellowshipped by the mishes as an impressionable adolescent, Paul H. Dunn tapes were standard listening fare in their pit. All those stories about his hairbreadth escapes from death in the battles of Guam and Okinawa during the war really augmented my desire to believe the whole church package. When I learned of the truth of Bro. Dunn's tall tales I wasn't so much offended as I was disappointed. I wasn't angry about it till later when I was in the midst of my spiritual departure from the faith. I now think he should have recorded some sort of apology tape to come clean from all the yarns he spun under the guise of truth. |
| Subject: | Audiotapes. |
| Date: | Jan 31 15:37 |
| Author: | Route66Kid |
| I can't name any books in which Bro. Dunn entered the falsehoods of his wartime and minor league baseball exploits, but there were numerous audiotapes. After listening to them several times over, the stories as he told them tend to stick in one's memory. I wouldn't know where to begin to look for them unless someone has some left over from their mission. |
| Subject: | Re: Audiotapes. |
| Date: | Jan 31 18:33 |
| Author: | ben |
| I still have a whole box of them, haven't listened to any of them in years. taped them all on my mission so they are over 20 years old. i wonder if they still even play. We used to play them all the time to our investigators. What fools 19 year olds can be, so easily duped. but then again it took me another 20 years before i saw the light myself. |
| Subject: | Re: Audiotapes. |
| Date: | Jan 31 21:52 |
| Author: | Randy J. |
| I never owned any of his tapes, but some of my missonary companions did, and I still remember listening to them. One of his speeches was titled "Prepare to be used." Ironic, isn't it? |
| Subject: | Well, about the only thing I miss is...... |
| Date: | Jan 31 15:32 |
| Author: | Bob |
| the "burning in my busom" that his stories used to give
me. Wait a minute!!!! You mean....you mean....the spirit was telling me it was all
TRUE...when it really wasn't!! Where's my Book of Mormon. Maybe I'd better read that good old promise again. Best Wishes!! I'm DUNN for the day. |
| Subject: | Paul Dun spoke at our University ward at Texas A&M |
| Date: | Jan 31 15:37 |
| Author: | rpm |
| back in the late 80s. He told a story about how he was walking at night in the secret underground tunnels in SLC, making his way to the COB, when he happened to run into the true and living prophet at that time: Ezra T. Benson (I think it was him, or SWK). Anyhow, it seems that the Oracle of God was huddled up in a corner, shivering, completely beside himself: he had lost his way. Paul Dunn then related, teary eyed, how he kindly took the aged Seer by the hand and led him to his apartment. Paul told a lot of lies in his days, I know, but somehow, this story rings true. rpm |
| Subject: | Offended is too mild a term.....(cussing inside) |
| Date: | Jan 31 15:44 |
| Author: | One Who Knows |
| I was ANGRY!!! That SOB was held up as the example of how all the male members should have been. His speeches set standards for us that no one could live. The guilt he created in me was overwhelming and I'll hate him until I die. I also hate myself for buying into his bullshit. |
| Subject: | I had everyone of his books and all of his tapes... |
| Date: | Jan 31 16:05 |
| Author: | Bashful |
| I can remember crying while listening to them over and over. My now
ex and I would talk of how righteous and loving he was. In our eyes he was next to
perfect. How little did we know..Once the truth came out I was stunned and shocked but we
never really talked about it, beyond how sad it was.It seems as tho there was some denial,
on both of our parts, as to him actually doing the lying...I was so brainwashed at that
time that it seems like a fog now. It's like I was living but not alive. What a load of shit? |
| Subject: | Yes, I was and still am (F bomb) ... |
| Date: | Jan 31 16:09 |
| Author: | Weeder |
| F*ck him for screwing with my head at such a young age. (Though in some ways he helped me see the "truth" about the Holy Ghost) |
| Subject: | Isn't story telling one of the bedrock principles of Mormonism? |
| Date: | Jan 31 16:18 |
| Author: | Frank |
| I'm sorry to say I believed all of that. But looking back now, it
seems like Paul H. Dunn is only different in that he was revealed publicly to be a liar. We still have these sanctimonious stories about Joseph Smith and that little problem of the Book of Mormon being pure horse manure... actually, I think it was a massive herd of deer being chased by a tapir! And the mountain of droppings was called a elephantine pile of dung, shortened in the BoM to just elephants. |
| Subject: | I believe that HE was the 1st crack in my armor (cussing) |
| Date: | Jan 31 18:16 |
| Author: | estebanito |
| of belief. F_CK THAT LYING SOB! NO ONE even talks about the damage that asshole did. I can't believe I spent all those hours listening to that ass. I really thought he was different from the rest of those GAs, so excited about life, so protected, so spiritual. What a F_CKER! All those years I pinned my faith on his stories. So BRAVE! I could be like him, stalwart like him, a Christian soldier like him. Man, I have some anger towards that man, I hope he burns in a fiery hell. Too bad there isn't one, if there was I'd toss his ass straight in there. |
| Subject: | Re: I believe that HE was the 1st crack in my armor (cussing) |
| Date: | Jan 31 18:35 |
| Author: | ben |
| between Dunn, George P. Lee, and Mark Hofman, my armor didn't crack, it disolved and blew away like dust. |
| Subject: | I'm not sure he ever really announced it.... |
| Date: | Jan 31 19:04 |
| Author: | Sophia |
| He certainly didn't come clean until he was caught in his lies. My
recollection is that once he was caught, he gave a kind of passive voice, "mistakes
were made" type mea culpa, and explained that he just wanted to speak in parables,
like Jesus did. Never mind that Jesus didn't try to pass off his parables as autobiographical truth. I was already jaded by the time Paul Dunn's lies were exposed, so I wasn't offended or disillusioned. It just seemed to me that he got caught doing what a lot of other GAs do. Yawn |
| Subject: | I remember hearing that he was a crock |
| Date: | Jan 31 19:31 |
| Author: | Bob |
| I remember my mom talking about it. I also remember my uncle in
Idaho talking about it. Mom was not too pleased, but my uncle and his family kinda said
fetch, flip and scrud, and laughed about it. I remember knowing that he was wrong to do what he did. I also remember thinking that it wasn't that bad because he wasn't an apostle or in the first presidency. When I heard Gordon lie, I realized that he and Dunn were the same. It was through the process of hearing church leaders lie that I decided not to follow the prophet. I decided that the prophet could not be responsible for my actions...especially if he was dishonest. I left the church. Bob |
| Subject: | I was published in the Tribune regarding Dunn |
| Date: | Jan 31 21:14 |
| Author: | EnochIpsen |
| It was my first letter in the Trib's Public Forum. Yes, I did mean
to put "The Church" in caps and was pleased the Trib published it that way! March 14, 1991 "Another Fraud" Jim Bakker is currently in jail for defrauding the people who trusted him. Mark Hofman is in jail for murder committed while trying to cover up his fraudulent activities. Paul H. Dunn has made quite a bit of money selling tapes and books of his own personal inspirational experiences which have turned out to be lies (not parables as he would have us believe). This, to me, is nothing more or less that fraud in the same league (major?) as Bakker and Hofman. I could believe the line of parables if the story had begun, "There was a young man who, while serving his country at war..." rather than, "While I was fighting the Japanese on Okinawa in World War II..." If Elder Dunn truly was not trying to do anything more than inspire the youth of "The Church," then surely he, The Church and Deseret Book will be more than happy to refund the full cover price of any returned fraudulent Pual H. Dunn books. Of course, if he is not willing to do this, I would hope that The Church would seriously consider his "good standing" in The Church when next asked in a temple recommend interview, "Are you honest in your dealings with your fellow man?" |
| Subject: | Even though I heard about this years after I left I was disappointed |
| Date: | Jan 31 21:55 |
| Author: | Matt |
| in Paul H. Dunn, I have to say. Why? Because he was a hero of mine. His Baseball stories and his war stories were stirring stuff. To find out they were all lies, just like the lies Joseph Smith came out with, well, YES, I WAS disappointed in Mr Dunn. |
| Subject: | The day I received a phone call from Senator Orrin Hatch asking me to help him protect Paul H. Dunn from media investigation . . . |
| Date: | Feb 10 05:03 |
| Author: | steve benson |
| I was going through some old files today and came across some
recollections I had written down about a phone call I received some years ago from Senator
Orrin Hatch, asking me to help him protect Paul H. Dunn from media scrutiny. The account of the Hatch call was originally intended as part of a presentation I gave at a Sunstone symposium shortly after leaving the Mormon Church, but because of time constraints, it was left unmentioned. Below is the account from the prepared text: "One day [Senator Orrin Hatch] called me asking a favor. He had heard that my colleagues at the Arizona Republic were investigating allegations that Elder Paul H. Dunn had manufactured claims about his war and baseball careers. He asked me to prevail on my reporter friends to kill the investigation. "The senator was making the request, he said, because Paul Dunn was 'a good friend' whom he wished to protect from Lynn Packer, a Mormon journalist who had made the charges, [and] whom Hatch accused of having 'an axe to grind against the Church.' "I felt very uncomfortable and asked Senator Hatch if he had looked into the allegations against Elder Dunn to see if they were true. He admitted he had not. I told him I could not, in good conscience, interfere with the developing story. The phone conversation quickly ended, with Senator Hatch saying he might get back to me. He never did. The story, of course, later ran and Elder Dunn confessed he had, indeed, exaggerated his exploits." |
| Subject: | The article exposing Dunn ran in the Arizona Republic on February 16, 1991 . . . |
| Date: | Feb 10 06:13 |
| Author: | steve benson |
| At the time it was being researched and written, I was working for
the Morning News Tribune in Tacoma, WA. I was in Tacoma from late 1989 to the summer of
1991. Hatch's call to me was during that time frame, most likely in late 1990 or early 1991. Below are excerpts from the Arizona Republic expose' on Dunn, authored by investigative reporter Richard R. Robertson: "SALT LAKE CITY -- Among Mormons, Elder Paul H. Dunn is a popular teacher, author and role model. As a prominent leader of the Church . . . for more than 25 years, he has told countless inspirational stories about his life: "Like the time his best friend died in his arms during a World War II battle, while imploring Dunn to teach America's youth about patriotism. "Or how God protected him as enemy machine-gun bullets ripped away his clothing, gear and helmet without ever touching his skin. "Or how perseverance and Mormon values led him to play major-league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals. "But those stories are not true. "Dunn's 'dead' best friend isn't dead; only the heel of Dunn's boot caught a bullet; and he never played baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals or any other major-league team. "Dunn acknowledged that those stories and others were untrue, but he defends fabrications as necessary to illustrate his theological and moral points. "He compares his stories to the parables told by Jesus--acknowledging, however, that Jesus' parables weren't about himself . . . "Other Mormon leaders apparently were concerned about this in September 1989, because, within weeks of investigating allegations that his war and sports stories were fabricated, they quietly placed Dunn, 66, on 'emeritus' status 'for health reasons.' "As a 'general authority' since 1964, Dunn had been among the top 90 men who govern the 7.3 million-member worldwide church. "The church also pressured Salt Lake City freelance writer Lynn Packer, a Mormon, not to publish stories about Dunn's fabrications. In the fall, after the church had terminated Packer's teaching contract at Brigham Young University for pursuing the story, he provided information he has collected over the past four years to The Republic. "Despite Dunn's 'retirement,' his grandfatherly demeanor and down-home, self-deprecating storytelling style continue to make him a popular public speaker and author. "He also remains the most prolific author among current and former church leaders. He receives royalties from 23 inspirational cassette tapes and 28 books . . . They are among the more popular items in LDS bookstores. . . . "Dunn... said he doesn't consider it deceitful to exaggerate or alter facts. "He said his technique is to 'combine' elements of several true stories to create a single story that will better convey a message and capture an audience's interest. . . . "'The combining of stories seems justifiable in terms of illustrating a point. My motives are pure and innocent,' Dunn said during an interview in Salt Lake City attended by his attorney and a friend. "'I haven't purposely tried to embellish or rewrite history. I've tried to illustrate points that would create interest,' Dunn explained. 'Combining war stories is simply putting history in little finer packages.'. . . Dunn's retirement occurred within two weeks of the probe into his storytelling practices by top church officials, who had been given copies of Packer's findings. "Dunn said he cooperated with the church's investigation but was not advised of its conclusions. He denied that it was connected to his retirement, which he insisted was for poor health that has since improved. . . . the university [Brigham Young University] terminated Packer's teaching contract, in part because he wanted to publish a story about his findings." |
| Subject: | So Orrin Hatch was asking you to lie in order to protect a liar? |
| Date: | Feb 10 07:20 |
| Author: | Matt |
| Nice. What a moral man Hatch is. (not) |
| Subject: | "poor health that has since improved"...now that's funny! |
| Date: | Feb 10 08:38 |
| Author: | EnochIpsen |
| So in a very short space of time the reason for his expulsion is
gone? C'mon, where's the question, "Why didn't god know he was going to get
better?" Enoch |
| Subject: | Oh, to be at a Hatch press conference... |
| Date: | Feb 10 08:13 |
| Author: | Stray Mutt |
| ...say, back when he had presidential delusions. "Senator, isn't it true that you once tried to quash an unflattering story about one of your church's apostles without first learning whether the charges were true (which they were) or not? Don't you think that demonstrates a tendency to rush to judgment and a willingness to use your influence in questionable ways?" |
| Subject: | This is what happens when you expose the LIES of the leaders... |
| Date: | Feb 10 10:47 |
| Author: | SusieQ#1 |
| "Much more galling than Dunn's lies and excuses was the fate of
the person who first brought them to light, Brigham Young University professor Lynn
Packer. After four years of research, as Packer prepared to publish his findings, BYU
terminated his teaching contract. Parker's departmental chairman, Gordon Whiting,
explained that Parker had violated "church and university policies that
prohibit public criticism of church leaders, even if the criticism is true."
In the meantime, Dunn, a General Authority in the LDS Church for nearly 30 years, was
placed on emeritus status for "health reasons." He was never publicly
reprimanded or disciplined by the Church, although he did issue an apology in an LDS
newspaper. Dunn died in 1998." http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~wmwines/WASP/essays/literary_hoaxes.html |
| Subject: | Dunn (cussing) |
| Date: | Feb 10 10:43 |
| Author: | estebanito |
| Mail Address: |
| Of all the mormons I [ever] wanted to physically hurt, it's Paul H. "I am a f*cking LIAR" Dunn. I still feel so much anger towards that guy. And to see Hatch cover his ass regardless of what he lied about or did makes the whole thing more disgusting... |
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