Trivia

This episode seems inspired by the case of forger and murderer Mark Hofmann, who in the late 1980s falsified historical Mormon documents and then "discovered" and sold the said documents back to the Mormon church. The falsified church documents supposedly proved that Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith had practiced black magic. After selling the falsified documents to the church and swearing that he'd given them the only copy, Hofmann leaked the story to the press so as to shame Smith and expose the supposed cover-up. Hofmann eventually murdered two people and confessed to both the killings and the multiple forgeries. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison in Utah. See more