Defending the Faith: The story behind James Strang and his sect [and the "Voree" and "Laban" Plates]

The Deseret News ^ | June 9 2011 | Daniel Peterson

[Alex Murphy]

The two sets of inscribed plates that Strang claimed to have found in Wisconsin and Michigan beginning in 1845 almost certainly existed. Milo Quaife's early, standard biography of Strang reflects that, while Strang's angelic visitations "may have had only a subjective existence in the brain of the man who reported them, the metallic plates possessed a very material objective reality."

And they were almost certainly forgeries.

The first set, the three "Voree" or "Rajah Manchou" plates, were dug up by four "witnesses" whom Strang had taken to the plates' burial place. Illustrated and inscribed on both sides, the Rajah Manchou plates were roughly 1.5 by 2.75 inches in size — small enough to fit in the palm of a hand or to carry in a pocket.

Among the many who saw them was Stephen Post, who reported that they were brass and, indeed, that they resembled the French brass used in familiar kitchen kettles. "With all the faith & confidence that I could exercise," he wrote, "all that I could realize was that Strang made the plates himself, or at least that it was possible that he made them." One source reports that most of the four witnesses to the Rajah Manchou plates ultimately repudiated their testimonies.

The 18 "Plates of Laban," likewise of brass and each about 7.5 by 9 inches, were first mentioned in 1849 and were seen by seven witnesses in 1851. These witnesses' testimony was published as a preface to "The Book of the Law of the Lord," which Strang said he derived from the "Plates of Laban." (He appears to have begun the "translation" at least as early as April 1849. An 84-page version appeared in 1851; by 1856, it had reached 350 pages.)

[Alex Murphy]

graphic from The Voree Plates: "The Record of Rajah Manchou of Vorito." at strangite.com

The two sets of inscribed plates that Strang claimed to have found in Wisconsin and Michigan beginning in 1845 almost certainly existed. Milo Quaife's early, standard biography of Strang reflects that, while Strang's angelic visitations "may have had only a subjective existence in the brain of the man who reported them, the metallic plates possessed a very material objective reality." And they were almost certainly forgeries....Among the many who saw them was Stephen Post, who reported that they were brass and, indeed, that they resembled the French brass used in familiar kitchen kettles. "With all the faith & confidence that I could exercise," he wrote, "all that I could realize was that Strang made the plates himself, or at least that it was possible that he made them."

[Boogieman]

Ho ho, the Mormons declaring another man’s claims of angelic visitations and buried “sacred plates” illegitimate. You can’t make this stuff up!

[ravenwolf]

Had they been knowing perpetrators of a fraud with Joseph Smith, they would likely have been far more skeptical of Strang.

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That makes sense but does not convince me.

[Alex Murphy]

Had they been knowing perpetrators of a fraud with Joseph Smith, they would likely have been far more skeptical of Strang.

On the other hand, had they been knowing perpetrators of a fraud with Joseph Smith, they knew that the first scam worked with one group of people, therefore a similar scam might work with another.

[ravenwolf]

On the other hand, had they been knowing perpetrators of a fraud with Joseph Smith, they knew that the first scam worked with one group of people, therefore a similar scam might work with another.

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That could be.