Episode 156: Mountain Meadows Massacre, Pt. 4

About this episode

This episode discusses the Mountain Meadows Massacre, a tragic event in American history involving the deaths of 120 emigrants in 1857.

In September 1857, southern Utah became the stage for one of the darkest tragedies in American frontier history, the Mountain Meadows Massacre. This was no spontaneous clash but a calculated act of religious extremism and territorial paranoia that left 120 emigrants from the Baker-Fancher party dead, while Mormon leaders shifted blame onto Southern Paiute tribes. …

Topics covered

• Mountain Meadows Massacre
• Mormon history
• religious extremism
• American frontier history
• territorial paranoia

Keywords

• Mountain Meadows Massacre
• Utah
• Mormon
• Baker-Fancher party
• Southern Paiute tribes
• religious extremism
• American history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Baker-Fancher party, Mormon, Southern Paiute tribes

Places: Utah

More episodes of Sunstone Mormon History Podcast

• Episode 164: Mormon Mail and the Pony Express · May 8, 2026 · 1h 7m
• Episode 163: The Old Salt Lake Theatre · April 22, 2026
• Episode 162: Madam Pattirini Built Utah · April 2, 2026
• Episode 161: Brave Little Book of Mormon · March 18, 2026
• Episode 160: The Heber J. Grant Journals—Fruits of a New Policy · March 6, 2026
• Episode 159: Books of the Massacre · February 11, 2026