Episode 147: The Tragic Tale of Eleanor McLean

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:08)
Picture this, a warm spring day in Arkansas, 1857 So close, Elton. A man lies bleeding in the dirt on a remote farm, 12 miles outside of Van Buren. Six bullet holes riddle his coat, a deep knife wound pierces his heart. For two agonizing hours, he tries desperately to stop the bleeding, using scraps of paper as makeshift bandages. His name is Parley Parker Pratt. He's about to become the first Mormon apostle to be murdered since Joseph Smith.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:40)
But this isn't just a story about murder. It's a tale of religious fervor, forbidden love, plural marriage, and revenge. Dun dun dun.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:51)
Yeah, this just sounds like Netflix making up facts to make Mormons look bad. Can it be a story that ablifts us all? Shows us our common humanity? And doesn't troll Evangelical Twitter to for quotes about how much Mormons suck?

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:04)
I'm on a dramatic roll here. Can you take your persecution complex and place it on your shelf, please? And listen, the Mormons are the victims in this one.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:12)
Listen, my shelf is full. It's got all of Quinn's books up there and you know how big his endnotes were.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:18)
As I was saying, it's about a woman trapped between two men, her legal husband who beats her and locks her away, and her spiritual husband who offers escape but brings destruction. And it's about how this bloody event would help set the stage for an even greater tragedy, the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni case. Wait, I meant the Mountain Meadows massacre. Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:48)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:49)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the everlasting hills, straight out of Zion, this isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:17)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day. Saddle up.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:22)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:30)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast. Before we dive into Pratt's violent end, we need to understand who this man was. Let me tell you, Miss Lindsay, Parley P. Pratt wasn't quite a character. He's born in 1807 in Burlington, New York, so that means he had a good coat. He was a self-made man who became one of early Mormonism's most colorful and controversial figures.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:13)
Does Mormonism need more, quote, colorful characters? I would think not, but here we are. Yes, Pepper Pratt was a spicy one, and we want you to understand more about him, though we've talked about him often on the podcast, especially in our earlier episode. And when I think of him, he's something out of a Dickens novel, right? He's got this, like, jolly little belly and this little tuft of curl on his forehead. And apparently he was charming with the ladies. I don't know how that happened. His formal education was limited, but his mother taught him to read using the Bible. He became what we might call today a religious seeker, constantly searching for deeper truth, and by age 19, he was already preaching. Parley Pepper Pratt preaching at the pulpit. Say that five times fast.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:01)
How about I say in 1827, he married his first wife, Thankful Halsey.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:05)
I'm thankful for Halsey.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:07)
What was that now?

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:08)
It's a music reference. It's nothing.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:10)
Okay. Well, I'm familiar with Halsey, musician, empathetic poet. Frankly, I'm surprised you veered away from the orthodoxy of Taylor Swift here. It's a bit of a heretical position. Next thing we know, you'll be getting all thirsty for an espresso, but I digress. Parley married thankful and settled near Cleveland, but Pratt wasn't content with a quiet life. He felt called to preach, so much so that he sold his farm and set out as a traveling minister.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:36)
And that's when fate intervened. Fate, Ziggy, fate, F-A-T-E.
In 1830, Pratt encountered a book that would forever change his life.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:49)
I would leave me if I could, a collection of poetry. What? Oh, apparently I do know Halsey.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:55)
Wow. He encountered the book, the book, the one that would change his life. You know, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sorry. He was so convinced by it that he traveled to Palmyra, New York to meet the Smith family. By September of that year, he was baptized into the church.