What a tangled web we weave

Sometime in the next few days, I'll put up a post honoring a new "Hoffmann of the Month." I haven't decided who July's honoree will be, but one thing is certain--it won't be Mark Hofmann.

Hofmann is perhaps the most notorious person in 20th century Mormon history, but in case you're unfamiliar, here's a very brief summary: Hofmann was a brilliant forger of LDS and "Americana" items, his most famous being the "Salamander Letter." While he was exceptionally talented, eventually people started to catch onto his deceptions, so...he killed two people with homemade bombs in an attempt to cover his tracks. Yikes. He's been in prison now for almost 30 years, and (rightfully) will never get out. If you're interested in more details, this article is a good starting point.

Mark Hofmann is also my first cousin, once removed.

I was too young to remember these events when they were happening, but I now know the story pretty well. While I obviously never condoned my cousin's actions, I have been guilty in the past of taking pleasure in the notoriety. My high school psychology teacher had a bit of a serial killer fetish, and when she found out my connection to Mark, she got excited. I can't deny that I enjoyed the attention. One of my mission companions was first cousins once removed from President James E. Faust, and we would sometimes joke that we were related to an apostle and an apostate, so we canceled each other out.

But a few years ago, my mindset changed, or at least started to change. I was in an Institute class, and in the middle of the lesson the teacher saw a man walking down the hallway and called him into the class. The man had recently been called into the bishopric of one of the other YSA wards that met in the same building. The teacher had known this man since he was a kid, and he began describing how, years ago, the new bishopric counselor's mother had been killed. Mark Hofmann was not mentioned by name, but I could tell from the details that he was the one responsible for the mother's death.

For the first time, the murders my cousin committed became a real thing, not just an interesting bit of trivia that made me stand out during a round of "two truths and a lie." The man would've been about 12 years old when his mother died. Obviously, he had turned out ok, a trustworthy man who is active in the church with a family of his own, but I started imagining how hard his life must've been, growing up without a mom. I felt awful for him, and awful for ever making light of the situation.

It's still a struggle for me--sometimes I'm still a little too excited to tell people who haven't heard of Mark Hofmann all about him. But I'm getting better. And I certainly know better than I did as a teenager how much wickedness and sadness can result from someone who actively tries to deceive his fellow men. This is the topic of the next Gospel Doctrine lesson, and clearly we can all benefit from studying it.