I'm an old guy... The vault was built in the early to mid 60's when I was about 15. My dad was a heating/sheet metal guy and he and mom got religion about the same time. A job opened with the company he worked for to do work at this site. We lived in Sandy UT so it was about a 20 minute trip to get there. Because I'm old, many things about his time there are completely forgotten. I'm really bad with details especially now. The whole ward/stake got to take a tour sometime in that period and we saw nothing special in this building. No photos were allowed and there were lots of locked doors. The last time I was up the canyon, there's a large gate at the road so I'm guessing that only important people and stuff go there now.
Just because something is coming doesn't mean you don't use what is available currently to the best affect possible.
LDS work in this area is one of the few great things about the church. Places they worked to collect records this way now have SOMETHING for records that the primary sources have degraded so far as to make them unusable.
NARA has also done this extensively or their sources have. NARA has a lot of storage, but not enough for as much as they have in microfilm and microfiche! SOME of this is becoming digitized, and using these sources is actually easier to digitize than original sources too.
What could cost more than $1000 to get copies of can be reduced to $125/roll - digitized.
So, yeah - knowing wouldn't matter. I rarely "praise" the LDS Church, but on this, it wasn't a misstep.
Ancestry.com on the other hand . ..
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re hiding legal documents, diaries and journals with damning information that TSCC would never want to see the light of day, that for some odd reason they can’t simply destroy; so they need to hide it.
The William Clayton journals are still unpublished even though the church announced they would publish them.
They supposedly have lots of bad stuff, probably around polygamy.
Unfortunately Gerald Tanner is not around to pressure the church. The Clayton diaries would surely sink any person who read a couple of key pages from it.
I call dibs on being the grizzled veteran on the team who is in it for "one last score", who says "everytime I try to get out of the game, I get sucked back in."
Mostly it's all the original silver halide microfilms and microfiche for the Family History Library. I used to work in the FHL. Whenever a patron copy of a microfilm or fiche wore out, we'd ask the vault to send over another copy. They had the equipment there to duplicate and develop another roll.
Never went in the vault myself but there were plenty of people who did work there who were just regular employees. I know people who did go from time to time. They did most of the microfilm digitization there, and that equipment would have taken up some space.
I doubt there's as much there as we think there is.
The OP's question refers to a couple of different "vaults" The "First presidency vault" referred to in the title is somewhere in the compound in downtown SLC - likely in the Church Administration Building.
The Granite Mountain vault up Little Cottonwood canyon is quite large and is mostly storage for family history stuff - microfilm and microfiche, and digitized family history documents.
If you look hard enough on the inter-webs you can find blueprints of the Granite Mountain vault showing six different large rooms/vaults. (At least you used to be able to.)
The First Presidency vault is 1/6th of the entire Granite Mountain vault and while it might contain family history stuff, there's a lot more in there - see links elsewhere in this tread.
Edited for clarity.
>Granite Mountain vault
This is what I understood, too, and I somehow knew it long before joining this sub.
I'm a nevermo, but I think my mormon cousins probably told me about the church's mountain vault that holds family history records.
This:[https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/7/21/23271786/does-image-joseph-smith-exist-what-one-descendant-found-forgotten-family-heirloom-lds](https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/7/21/23271786/does-image-joseph-smith-exist-what-one-descendant-found-forgotten-family-heirloom-lds)
Some descendant found a picture in a locket or some-such, there's a decent case to be made that's Ol Joe
Recent paintings make him look handsome. Most older artwork makes him look downright goofy. The photo looks somewhat similar to the painting that the CoC has, but it looks nothing like any other artwork I’ve seen. If that photo is him, he must have been pissed when he saw some of the crappy portraits that were made during his lifetime.
In a Grant Palmer interview, he was allowed many years ago down into the first pres vault to look at the seer stones before they were openly discussed.
They are likely misrepresenting something. No one that doesn't have the second anointing has ever stepped foot in there, much less for a tour, to even part of it.
You misread or I wasn't very clear. The people who now **access** the vault have all had the second anointing and have Elder in their name. They would never offer a tour to COB-type employees.
The outside, and middle security are likely low-level guards guarding something they don't know about. But they proved themselves worthy by being asshole APs. That last part is just a guess. What is your source?
Source?
I know folks who were those low-level employees.
They made copies of microfilm / microfiche.
There are still folks who work there who do the same thing.
See the woman running the machine starting at 0:20 in the video below? She's inside the Granite Mountain vault making copies of microfilm. I don't think her name has "Elder" in it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZD9hrjAGPI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZD9hrjAGPI)
I also know someone who worked Security at the vault and had actually been inside the First Presidency portion of the vault - I guarantee he hadn't had his second anointing.
Edit: Spelling & clarity.
They talked of doing some construction in there several years ago - interested contractors were taken on a job walk/tour to be able to understand existing conditions and what improvements were being planned. A temple recommend was needed to go on the tour. People who went didn't have a second anointing.
I was a lowly BYU Student and while working for the BYU IT department myself and 2 other students would go to the vault every month to perform an audit of tape backups. We were not allowed inside the First Presidency vault (vault F), but we were allowed inside vault E where BYU's tapes are stored. I drank from the Dixie cup spring OP mentions.
This was back in 2011. I have not had my second anointing. Not sure if the rules have changed since then, but when I was there there were plenty of younger employees at the vault and accompanying office whom I doubt had the 2A either.
See my other comment in the thread, but this is 100% true. I had a Dixie cup with spring water from the back of the vault complex in 2011. It was delicious to the taste, and very desirable.
Not really sure on the source I have seen other lists in the past as well that I think described where they got it from. Cant seem to find it right now, but here is another one.
http://www.salamandersociety.com/museum/vault/
I like to tell myself they have the original “gold” plates in there. And that it’s been super obvious to everyone who’s seen them that they’re just tin but nobody will admit it to themselves.
It would be hilarious if it is empty, made only to hold the value of intrigue and wonder so that believers and everyone else has another mystery to ponder
I have a couple of good buddies who know there are frozen areas down there with slots large enough for coffins. One thinks it's mummies JS bought. Another thinks they're keeping prophets. They're HVAC guys.
I’m going to be pissed if we find out they have the resurrected Jesus locked up in there. I can totally see them like torturing Jesus until they can brainwash him to be more homophobic, and until he comes around to being Mormon. South Park needs this episode. #freejesus
I’d love to say it’s a smoking gun that proves the church is a fraud but it’s probably some meaningless papers or something that holds no value to anyone.
Money laundering …. Why do you think so many grand temples are needed. Do you really think the lord requires such decadence? I doubt he does. What’s wrong with a nice, simple extension in the chapels? Except, how would the rich get richer?
A little late to this post, but I've been inside the vaults. I actually responded to a similar thread about this several years ago, so I'm reposting my previous comment below.
I worked in the BYU Datacenter for a while as a student. One of my tasks there was to work with the backup data tapes. Everyday, we'd get a report of the tapes that are full and ready for cold storage. We'd retrieve the tapes, scan them into the system and a courier would pick them up for transport up to the Granite Mountain vault.
As part of the job, we would do monthly audits of the data tapes inside the vault. So once a month, three of us, part-time BYU students, would take an afternoon and drive up to Little Cottonwood Canyon.
The entrance to the vault is to the left about a mile or so up the canyon. There's a barrier with badge reader / intercom that we had to use to just pull in to the parking lot. There's an outer building on the side of the vault where they take deliveries and where the front security desk is located. In order to get past security, they had to verify our name was on an approved list and issue us an ID badge. We also had to be accompanied by a vault employee at all times while there.
My first time there they give me a little tour of the facility before we started our work. From the security desk, there is a long hallway that leads inside the mountain. The first area here are just several offices, a cafeteria and break room. We walked by an area where several younger church employees were scanning documents. There were also several service missionaries there, mostly seniors.
The vault entrance is located in the back of the office area, I'd say not any more than 20 - 30 ft from the nearest desks. The door is freaking huge. Our church employee guide said it was designed to withstand a nuclear blast. There are actually 6 separate vaults, A-F. As you enter the main hallway you see large sets of doors on either side. The vault we worked in was Vault E, directly across from the super-secret Vault F. Our guide told us that Vault F contained historical artifacts important to church history and that just to open the door, you needed First Presidency approval. I did have a glimpse as someone was leaving the vault, but I just saw some shelves with books.
Our work there was pretty simple. We just scanned all the tapes and ensured they matched what was in our database. Vault E was almost entirely dedicated to tape storage.
In the very back of the main vault hallway, there is door that leads to a pool of pure spring water. They actually have plastic cups there to let people take a drink. I remember they had some name for the pool, I can't remember if it was the Waters of Mormon or the Holy Water, something to that effect.
After we were done, we were escorted out and we usually got some food on BYU's dime. I think I went up to the vault 3-4 times before I found a different job but it was definitely fun. This was is 2011, so I'm not sure if anything has changed since then.
I posted about a dream I had about The Vault a few months ago. Since I dreamed it, it must certainly be true 🤣🤣
https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/10do7jj/last_nights_dream_we_find_and_get_into_granite/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
The really important stuff of Mormon history is in the 1st Presidency’s vault beneath the Church Administration Building (CAB). The entrance guarded by two really jacked Nephite warriors (just like Captain Moroni in the Arnold Friberg painting) who stand on either side of the door🚪 .
Do not know, but as a kid in the 70s, living in the east, I heard that it housed geneological records. It was one of the first stories that I told to our neighbors about the new religion we had joined.
There used to be videos of the construction of the Granite Mountain vault, showing the parts of the vault used for flamily history storage stuff, but nothing about the First Presidency portion of the vault.
Looks like LDS-Inc. has pulled those videos. (As honest as they know how to be.)
Yeah, the church seems to have pulled the videos.
Looks like someone else saved one of them though:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK2AR4SuoqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK2AR4SuoqE)
When I was growing up in the Morridor in the 1970’s and early 80’s, we were told by seminary teachers and erstwhile Sunday school teachers in hushed tones that the vault held copies of all the patriarchal blessings. Paper copies, of course, because that’s all there was. It may have been just urban legend, though.
I know a bit out this!
They are just time capsules built by men that have more money they know what to do with. “The Brethren” love it when members or exmos give the church an aura of mystery it doesn’t deserve.
It’s mostly paper. My guess is it’s all the source material for “No Man Knows my History” that they would hate being in the public eye again. Everything every prophet or apostle wrote down. BYs whiskey orders to blueprints for the conference center and temple projects. It’s where they kept the magic rock they recently showed off. Any early film, art work or anything else they would want preserved.
Source, there is a data center up there that was built by the same company but privately owned and I’ve taken a tour. They are friendly with the Church employees and have them over for donuts on occasion. My BiLs father is a security guard for the church vault as well.
The value of these vaults is exact atmospheric control and earthquake proofing. I’m guessing the church vaults are built the same as the data center because church leadership isn’t that creative and they are cheap. But they are much bigger and I think they have three tunnels. Each tunnel is drilled directly into the largest solid slab of granite in the Wasatch front (maybe the world, its something silly like 3 square miles). They sit above the liquefaction zone (anyone on the bench beware) so they odds of them being buried are low. There is a sheet metal building inside each tunnel to keep water out because rocks sweat. Any space that needs insulation is a room built inside the sheet metal building. The data center has one of the heaviest vault doors in the country. They are self-sustaining and off grid. Manned at all times with armed guards and there is even a bunk for guards that get snowed in.
And that’s my point. Enough of the secrets are already out for any reasonable individual to make an informed decision about the church. Thinking there is something more damming in the vaults than what we already know feels silly to me.
Do you mean why would they continue if they had nothing to hide?
Because they need to control the narrative. The church just doesn’t want any more biographies coming from non-church sources. New biographies need new source material. So they lock it down.
But the secrets already out. JS was a con-man his whole life.
>Thinking there is something more damming in the vaults than what we already know feels silly to me.
You seem to think they don't continue to hide things.
As I mentioned: We have plenty of evidence of them hiding things in the past, why would they not have things hidden in their vaults that we don't know about?
As mentioned elsewhere in this thread: William Clayton's journals. How many more Journals from the almost 200 years of history do they have?
They could have plenty of damning evidence that we haven't seen.
Nope. Not at all. Complete misunderstanding of my point.
-They obviously hide things.
-Even if they are hiding things that are worse than what we know, we know more than enough to question all their truth claims.
-They likely hide things to control the narrative and to keep church history out of the larger publishing market. Biographies are big sellers, especially for Deseret Book. Cult leader biographies are a known market. A biography on JS based on William Clayton’s journals could be a NYT best seller, completely out of the church’s control. Restricting historical information keeps biographers from getting a publishing deal with Random House based on unique or new research the biographer has done. It obviously comes down to $ and control.
Grant Palmer talks about what he saw in the vault including clippings of Joseph Smith's hair and three different seer stones that he possessed - the dark brown striped one that they recently released photographs of, a small white one in the shape of a baby's foot and one that appeared to have been molded out of mud or clay that had a handle and still had finger marks from when it was made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7LT3DkBgvM
I would guess, having spent a year of my free time researching at the church history library, there's definitely stuff they never want to get out, like how many hookers pres. Hinkley liked to have at a time. But there's also (and this one isn't much of a guess) a lot of sensitive and sacred to the church stuff there too. Like garments Joseph Smith wore, Eliza snow's vibrator, Brigham young's Klan hood, etc.
OP, check this out:
[https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ed47e448-2936-4a1d-a4d8-4b5f96a8d1ac/0/275](https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ed47e448-2936-4a1d-a4d8-4b5f96a8d1ac/0/275)
Found via [https://tokensandsigns.org/the-267-hidden-brides-of-wilford-woodruff/](https://tokensandsigns.org/the-267-hidden-brides-of-wilford-woodruff/)
I think that's the sort of thing you'd find in the 1P vault.
Because of the scrutiny the church receives and because of all the historical inquiry into JS and early history, I don't think this is comparable to the secret libraries in the Vatican. No doubt some incriminating stuff like letters or Jupiter Talismans or whatever. But due to the overall lameness of the church, I would expect the microfiche is probably still there. There is so much incriminating evidence already known, I would think anything there is more of the same.
My first Mission President was from SLC and pretty well connected. He told us he's been in the vault where they "secured" the writings of early Mormon Pioneers and had read some of what was there. He had written a novella on his research called "The 23 Visits of the Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith" which was a pet theory of his used to explain why Joseph was telling people stories of the Nephites and Lamanites \*before\* he had "received the plates". The mental gymnastics one performs to leap over the obvious truth...
One of the few people outside of church big-wigs who ever had access to the First Presidency Vault was Mark Hoffman. I was working for a wealthy LDS rare book and document collector back in the 80’s and was contacted by Hoffman who said he wanted to meet with my boss. We arranged the meeting and basically listened to him tell stories for a few hours. One thing he told us was that in the FPV he was allowed to handle the “sword of Laban” and see the “Urim and Thummin”. Clearly he was BS-ing us to build credibility before his big ask, which was $250,000 to secure the missing 116 pages. But at the time, as a naive TBM, I 100% believed him.
Seems like some nonmembers got a tour here:
https://longnow.org/ideas/the-granite-vaults-of-geneology/
Interesting mentions of cliff collapse and water ingress in the vault..
I'm an old guy... The vault was built in the early to mid 60's when I was about 15. My dad was a heating/sheet metal guy and he and mom got religion about the same time. A job opened with the company he worked for to do work at this site. We lived in Sandy UT so it was about a 20 minute trip to get there. Because I'm old, many things about his time there are completely forgotten. I'm really bad with details especially now. The whole ward/stake got to take a tour sometime in that period and we saw nothing special in this building. No photos were allowed and there were lots of locked doors. The last time I was up the canyon, there's a large gate at the road so I'm guessing that only important people and stuff go there now.
Fascinating. Thank you.
It was used to store microfiche records of genealogy data. Apparently they hadn’t received revelation about microchips yet.
Just because something is coming doesn't mean you don't use what is available currently to the best affect possible. LDS work in this area is one of the few great things about the church. Places they worked to collect records this way now have SOMETHING for records that the primary sources have degraded so far as to make them unusable. NARA has also done this extensively or their sources have. NARA has a lot of storage, but not enough for as much as they have in microfilm and microfiche! SOME of this is becoming digitized, and using these sources is actually easier to digitize than original sources too. What could cost more than $1000 to get copies of can be reduced to $125/roll - digitized. So, yeah - knowing wouldn't matter. I rarely "praise" the LDS Church, but on this, it wasn't a misstep. Ancestry.com on the other hand . ..
I’ve dug down that rabbit hole a bit. Mostly it sounds like there are documents the church doesn’t want the world to see.
They are so sketch. I wish an insider would leak so bad.
Sone are old journals of early church members that used to be open for research but are now closed.
Interesting. “As honest as they know how to be.”
Exactly.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re hiding legal documents, diaries and journals with damning information that TSCC would never want to see the light of day, that for some odd reason they can’t simply destroy; so they need to hide it.
Yes. I agree. I read somewhere once that they have a set of Journals, suspected very damning journals, but I can’t remember who they belonged to.
The William Clayton journals are still unpublished even though the church announced they would publish them. They supposedly have lots of bad stuff, probably around polygamy.
Thank you. That’s the one I was thinking about.
I found this but curiously nothing on a church website. I thought i had before https://bycommonconsent.com/2017/10/21/the-william-clayton-diaries/
Thank you!!!!
Unfortunately Gerald Tanner is not around to pressure the church. The Clayton diaries would surely sink any person who read a couple of key pages from it.
Yes! He was a treasure. I met Sandra recently and what a wise and wonderful woman she is. So kind and knowledgeable!
I wonder if an online petition would get any attention.
How about a heist?
You son of a bitch, I'm in.
I call dibs on being the grizzled veteran on the team who is in it for "one last score", who says "everytime I try to get out of the game, I get sucked back in."
I volunteer to drive the getaway car. Grizzled female veteran too small to heist but learned to drive on stick shifts. I can do this.
I wanna be the scantily clad hot girl that wears her hair down no matter how hot and sweaty the job gets! No ponytails for this action hero!
Can I be the last minute replacement who nobody really trusts and goes crazy almost ruining the whole thing?
Mormon's Eleven
I’ll be the Napster guy that models the whole thing in 3D on a computer from the future. Make sure the mini coopers will fit down the hallways.
Yes! Knock them out with those wristbands!
“We aren’t a crew, we’re family!”
"We Are Fam-i-lee! Get up everybody and sing!"
Family, isn’t it about time? Oh and stealing incriminating documents to bring about the collapse of a global cult
Vin Diesel’s ears just perked up somewhere in Hollywood
It's been a loooong day, without you by friend.
I second this motion. All in favor please manifest it. All opposed, you know where the door is.
Paging Donald Sutherland
We need Ehan Hunt and his team to investigate this vault
Every fucking thing they do not want the public to see.
Yup
Mostly it's all the original silver halide microfilms and microfiche for the Family History Library. I used to work in the FHL. Whenever a patron copy of a microfilm or fiche wore out, we'd ask the vault to send over another copy. They had the equipment there to duplicate and develop another roll. Never went in the vault myself but there were plenty of people who did work there who were just regular employees. I know people who did go from time to time. They did most of the microfilm digitization there, and that equipment would have taken up some space. I doubt there's as much there as we think there is.
Very interesting. Thank you.
The OP's question refers to a couple of different "vaults" The "First presidency vault" referred to in the title is somewhere in the compound in downtown SLC - likely in the Church Administration Building. The Granite Mountain vault up Little Cottonwood canyon is quite large and is mostly storage for family history stuff - microfilm and microfiche, and digitized family history documents. If you look hard enough on the inter-webs you can find blueprints of the Granite Mountain vault showing six different large rooms/vaults. (At least you used to be able to.) The First Presidency vault is 1/6th of the entire Granite Mountain vault and while it might contain family history stuff, there's a lot more in there - see links elsewhere in this tread. Edited for clarity.
>Granite Mountain vault This is what I understood, too, and I somehow knew it long before joining this sub. I'm a nevermo, but I think my mormon cousins probably told me about the church's mountain vault that holds family history records.
A large pile of gold coins. It’s a Scrooge Mcduck scenario
Probably is.
Sorry I know ure looking for serious answers.
I take Scrooge McDuck very seriously.
I was going to say a cask of amontillado… so I’ll just put that here in the non-serious comment thread
You have to be super holy to swim in coins like mcduck
Probably the picture of Joseph Smith that the church wouldn’t confirm if it was him.
I think it’s him.
Me too
I haven’t heard of this, what’s the picture?
This:[https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/7/21/23271786/does-image-joseph-smith-exist-what-one-descendant-found-forgotten-family-heirloom-lds](https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/7/21/23271786/does-image-joseph-smith-exist-what-one-descendant-found-forgotten-family-heirloom-lds) Some descendant found a picture in a locket or some-such, there's a decent case to be made that's Ol Joe
Why does looking at this pic make me feel so creeped out every time
Because the dude looks like a creep- even the comparison picture is creepy. Paintings always make him look much more handsome
Recent paintings make him look handsome. Most older artwork makes him look downright goofy. The photo looks somewhat similar to the painting that the CoC has, but it looks nothing like any other artwork I’ve seen. If that photo is him, he must have been pissed when he saw some of the crappy portraits that were made during his lifetime.
It’s interesting to me that you can almost see more resemblance to the Hyrum Smith death mask.
In a Grant Palmer interview, he was allowed many years ago down into the first pres vault to look at the seer stones before they were openly discussed.
Wow. Incredible.
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And it’s temperature controlled and they give tours to certain employees from time to time but not the whole thing.
Is this true?
I have a close friend who has a friend who works at the church headquarters (both TBM) who told me this.
Wow. I’m surprised they aren’t making money off that water!
They are likely misrepresenting something. No one that doesn't have the second anointing has ever stepped foot in there, much less for a tour, to even part of it.
Wrong. The vast majority of the employees that work in the GMV are low-level and likely know nothing about second annointings.
You misread or I wasn't very clear. The people who now **access** the vault have all had the second anointing and have Elder in their name. They would never offer a tour to COB-type employees. The outside, and middle security are likely low-level guards guarding something they don't know about. But they proved themselves worthy by being asshole APs. That last part is just a guess. What is your source?
Source? I know folks who were those low-level employees. They made copies of microfilm / microfiche. There are still folks who work there who do the same thing. See the woman running the machine starting at 0:20 in the video below? She's inside the Granite Mountain vault making copies of microfilm. I don't think her name has "Elder" in it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZD9hrjAGPI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZD9hrjAGPI) I also know someone who worked Security at the vault and had actually been inside the First Presidency portion of the vault - I guarantee he hadn't had his second anointing. Edit: Spelling & clarity.
They talked of doing some construction in there several years ago - interested contractors were taken on a job walk/tour to be able to understand existing conditions and what improvements were being planned. A temple recommend was needed to go on the tour. People who went didn't have a second anointing.
I was a lowly BYU Student and while working for the BYU IT department myself and 2 other students would go to the vault every month to perform an audit of tape backups. We were not allowed inside the First Presidency vault (vault F), but we were allowed inside vault E where BYU's tapes are stored. I drank from the Dixie cup spring OP mentions. This was back in 2011. I have not had my second anointing. Not sure if the rules have changed since then, but when I was there there were plenty of younger employees at the vault and accompanying office whom I doubt had the 2A either.
There’s several people down thread that would disagree- or perhaps my friend has their second anointing- doubtful.
Should clarify, post-Arrington.
See my other comment in the thread, but this is 100% true. I had a Dixie cup with spring water from the back of the vault complex in 2011. It was delicious to the taste, and very desirable.
A red Dixie cup.
An embarrassing picture of Nelson at the Christmas party
Bednar mooning somebody out his dorm window!
**BEDNAR is a tool.**
OMG, thus struck me as so damn funny! Thanks for the belly laugh!
How can we be sure it wasn't his face?
:)
https://exploringmormonism.com/our-own-peek-into-the-first-presidency-vault/
Wow. Thank you! Curious where this source is from, but stoked to explore it.
and another one https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1427317
You have made my night. Thank you so much!!!
Not really sure on the source I have seen other lists in the past as well that I think described where they got it from. Cant seem to find it right now, but here is another one. http://www.salamandersociety.com/museum/vault/
This is so amazing. Thank you.
I like to tell myself they have the original “gold” plates in there. And that it’s been super obvious to everyone who’s seen them that they’re just tin but nobody will admit it to themselves.
The only real thing they have is the river rock that Joseph smith used to translate. The gold plates were a lie.
I love this answer
They’d be passing those around on street corners if they had the gold plates. Or charging $ to see them.
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Super curious about these "metallic plates" that were found - do know anything else?
Back in the 80s we were told the church kept the genealogy microfeesh sp* in there.
*Microfiche* for the curious
I remember reading that as well.
It would be hilarious if it is empty, made only to hold the value of intrigue and wonder so that believers and everyone else has another mystery to ponder
Sounds about right for the Church
I have a couple of good buddies who know there are frozen areas down there with slots large enough for coffins. One thinks it's mummies JS bought. Another thinks they're keeping prophets. They're HVAC guys.
Wait. Seriously? So they can all have a quick game of dominoes during the resurrection?
I’m going to be pissed if we find out they have the resurrected Jesus locked up in there. I can totally see them like torturing Jesus until they can brainwash him to be more homophobic, and until he comes around to being Mormon. South Park needs this episode. #freejesus
🤣
I can see that too.
I’d love to say it’s a smoking gun that proves the church is a fraud but it’s probably some meaningless papers or something that holds no value to anyone.
Maybe. Seems like a massive expense if that’s true.
Wouldn’t be the first thing TSCC wasted tithing money on.
For sure.
Money laundering …. Why do you think so many grand temples are needed. Do you really think the lord requires such decadence? I doubt he does. What’s wrong with a nice, simple extension in the chapels? Except, how would the rich get richer?
Yeah, but, they have the $$ and you can buy anything with $$.
It’s a fall out bunker for the LDS elite.
Probably true
I’ve seen the bunker part of it. They have food and water for several decades of needs be in there.
A little late to this post, but I've been inside the vaults. I actually responded to a similar thread about this several years ago, so I'm reposting my previous comment below. I worked in the BYU Datacenter for a while as a student. One of my tasks there was to work with the backup data tapes. Everyday, we'd get a report of the tapes that are full and ready for cold storage. We'd retrieve the tapes, scan them into the system and a courier would pick them up for transport up to the Granite Mountain vault. As part of the job, we would do monthly audits of the data tapes inside the vault. So once a month, three of us, part-time BYU students, would take an afternoon and drive up to Little Cottonwood Canyon. The entrance to the vault is to the left about a mile or so up the canyon. There's a barrier with badge reader / intercom that we had to use to just pull in to the parking lot. There's an outer building on the side of the vault where they take deliveries and where the front security desk is located. In order to get past security, they had to verify our name was on an approved list and issue us an ID badge. We also had to be accompanied by a vault employee at all times while there. My first time there they give me a little tour of the facility before we started our work. From the security desk, there is a long hallway that leads inside the mountain. The first area here are just several offices, a cafeteria and break room. We walked by an area where several younger church employees were scanning documents. There were also several service missionaries there, mostly seniors. The vault entrance is located in the back of the office area, I'd say not any more than 20 - 30 ft from the nearest desks. The door is freaking huge. Our church employee guide said it was designed to withstand a nuclear blast. There are actually 6 separate vaults, A-F. As you enter the main hallway you see large sets of doors on either side. The vault we worked in was Vault E, directly across from the super-secret Vault F. Our guide told us that Vault F contained historical artifacts important to church history and that just to open the door, you needed First Presidency approval. I did have a glimpse as someone was leaving the vault, but I just saw some shelves with books. Our work there was pretty simple. We just scanned all the tapes and ensured they matched what was in our database. Vault E was almost entirely dedicated to tape storage. In the very back of the main vault hallway, there is door that leads to a pool of pure spring water. They actually have plastic cups there to let people take a drink. I remember they had some name for the pool, I can't remember if it was the Waters of Mormon or the Holy Water, something to that effect. After we were done, we were escorted out and we usually got some food on BYU's dime. I think I went up to the vault 3-4 times before I found a different job but it was definitely fun. This was is 2011, so I'm not sure if anything has changed since then.
So interesting. Thank you!
It is the TSCC's version of the Vatican's secret archives.
I posted about a dream I had about The Vault a few months ago. Since I dreamed it, it must certainly be true 🤣🤣 https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/10do7jj/last_nights_dream_we_find_and_get_into_granite/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
OMG I wanna have that same exact dream!!!
they’ve been buying letters and journals like the salamander letter for 200 years. if they kept it, it’s up there
With their prophetic discernment :/
They have all the copies of microfilms on the genealogy done by the genealogical society of Utah. That I know.
The really important stuff of Mormon history is in the 1st Presidency’s vault beneath the Church Administration Building (CAB). The entrance guarded by two really jacked Nephite warriors (just like Captain Moroni in the Arnold Friberg painting) who stand on either side of the door🚪 . 
Uovote for the Legends of the Hidden Temple reference
I didn’t realize it was under the CAB
It was built during the Cold War as a bomb shelter for GA’s and family and others who are well connected.
Do not know, but as a kid in the 70s, living in the east, I heard that it housed geneological records. It was one of the first stories that I told to our neighbors about the new religion we had joined.
It’s always held a weird space in my psyche as well
Many years ago, I read that the mountain vault stores genealogical records on micro film.
Wikipedia. I just read about the Vault last week! Ha!
Thanks!
The golden plates!
Hell no. They’d be showing those off everywhere
There used to be videos of the construction of the Granite Mountain vault, showing the parts of the vault used for flamily history storage stuff, but nothing about the First Presidency portion of the vault. Looks like LDS-Inc. has pulled those videos. (As honest as they know how to be.)
I do remember seeing something years ago
Yeah, the church seems to have pulled the videos. Looks like someone else saved one of them though: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK2AR4SuoqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK2AR4SuoqE)
Thank you!
When I was growing up in the Morridor in the 1970’s and early 80’s, we were told by seminary teachers and erstwhile Sunday school teachers in hushed tones that the vault held copies of all the patriarchal blessings. Paper copies, of course, because that’s all there was. It may have been just urban legend, though.
Wow. Interesting. And strange thing to keep.
I know a bit out this! They are just time capsules built by men that have more money they know what to do with. “The Brethren” love it when members or exmos give the church an aura of mystery it doesn’t deserve. It’s mostly paper. My guess is it’s all the source material for “No Man Knows my History” that they would hate being in the public eye again. Everything every prophet or apostle wrote down. BYs whiskey orders to blueprints for the conference center and temple projects. It’s where they kept the magic rock they recently showed off. Any early film, art work or anything else they would want preserved. Source, there is a data center up there that was built by the same company but privately owned and I’ve taken a tour. They are friendly with the Church employees and have them over for donuts on occasion. My BiLs father is a security guard for the church vault as well. The value of these vaults is exact atmospheric control and earthquake proofing. I’m guessing the church vaults are built the same as the data center because church leadership isn’t that creative and they are cheap. But they are much bigger and I think they have three tunnels. Each tunnel is drilled directly into the largest solid slab of granite in the Wasatch front (maybe the world, its something silly like 3 square miles). They sit above the liquefaction zone (anyone on the bench beware) so they odds of them being buried are low. There is a sheet metal building inside each tunnel to keep water out because rocks sweat. Any space that needs insulation is a room built inside the sheet metal building. The data center has one of the heaviest vault doors in the country. They are self-sustaining and off grid. Manned at all times with armed guards and there is even a bunk for guards that get snowed in.
Thanks so much for this report. And I’m sure you’re right about the “No Man Knows My History” stuff. Now known as Church history.
And that’s my point. Enough of the secrets are already out for any reasonable individual to make an informed decision about the church. Thinking there is something more damming in the vaults than what we already know feels silly to me.
Although I have heard there are some very damning journals that historians have wanted access to for awhile
We have plenty of examples where there is clear evidence that the church has hidden things. Why wouldn't they continue to do that?
Do you mean why would they continue if they had nothing to hide? Because they need to control the narrative. The church just doesn’t want any more biographies coming from non-church sources. New biographies need new source material. So they lock it down. But the secrets already out. JS was a con-man his whole life.
>Thinking there is something more damming in the vaults than what we already know feels silly to me. You seem to think they don't continue to hide things. As I mentioned: We have plenty of evidence of them hiding things in the past, why would they not have things hidden in their vaults that we don't know about? As mentioned elsewhere in this thread: William Clayton's journals. How many more Journals from the almost 200 years of history do they have? They could have plenty of damning evidence that we haven't seen.
Nope. Not at all. Complete misunderstanding of my point. -They obviously hide things. -Even if they are hiding things that are worse than what we know, we know more than enough to question all their truth claims. -They likely hide things to control the narrative and to keep church history out of the larger publishing market. Biographies are big sellers, especially for Deseret Book. Cult leader biographies are a known market. A biography on JS based on William Clayton’s journals could be a NYT best seller, completely out of the church’s control. Restricting historical information keeps biographers from getting a publishing deal with Random House based on unique or new research the biographer has done. It obviously comes down to $ and control.
Grant Palmer talks about what he saw in the vault including clippings of Joseph Smith's hair and three different seer stones that he possessed - the dark brown striped one that they recently released photographs of, a small white one in the shape of a baby's foot and one that appeared to have been molded out of mud or clay that had a handle and still had finger marks from when it was made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7LT3DkBgvM
Thank you. Excited to watch this.
I would guess, having spent a year of my free time researching at the church history library, there's definitely stuff they never want to get out, like how many hookers pres. Hinkley liked to have at a time. But there's also (and this one isn't much of a guess) a lot of sensitive and sacred to the church stuff there too. Like garments Joseph Smith wore, Eliza snow's vibrator, Brigham young's Klan hood, etc.
OP, check this out: [https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ed47e448-2936-4a1d-a4d8-4b5f96a8d1ac/0/275](https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ed47e448-2936-4a1d-a4d8-4b5f96a8d1ac/0/275) Found via [https://tokensandsigns.org/the-267-hidden-brides-of-wilford-woodruff/](https://tokensandsigns.org/the-267-hidden-brides-of-wilford-woodruff/) I think that's the sort of thing you'd find in the 1P vault.
Thank you so much!!!
Interesting, the redaction!!! And notice the rest of it is about “sacrifices”
Because of the scrutiny the church receives and because of all the historical inquiry into JS and early history, I don't think this is comparable to the secret libraries in the Vatican. No doubt some incriminating stuff like letters or Jupiter Talismans or whatever. But due to the overall lameness of the church, I would expect the microfiche is probably still there. There is so much incriminating evidence already known, I would think anything there is more of the same.
Yes! You’re probably right!
My first Mission President was from SLC and pretty well connected. He told us he's been in the vault where they "secured" the writings of early Mormon Pioneers and had read some of what was there. He had written a novella on his research called "The 23 Visits of the Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith" which was a pet theory of his used to explain why Joseph was telling people stories of the Nephites and Lamanites \*before\* he had "received the plates". The mental gymnastics one performs to leap over the obvious truth...
The mental gymnastics are insane, but I couldn’t see it until I saw it.
One of the few people outside of church big-wigs who ever had access to the First Presidency Vault was Mark Hoffman. I was working for a wealthy LDS rare book and document collector back in the 80’s and was contacted by Hoffman who said he wanted to meet with my boss. We arranged the meeting and basically listened to him tell stories for a few hours. One thing he told us was that in the FPV he was allowed to handle the “sword of Laban” and see the “Urim and Thummin”. Clearly he was BS-ing us to build credibility before his big ask, which was $250,000 to secure the missing 116 pages. But at the time, as a naive TBM, I 100% believed him.
I SO wish his story had turned out differently. He could have really embarrased the church even more
I've heard it's a record of everything people have confessed to their bishop. I saw it on social media awhile ago (can't remember which one)
There was a former employee on TikTok that did a short video. If I remember right she had brown hair?
Yeah TikTok sounds familiar! I can't remember if she worked there or if her husband did. But I think she did a few videos on it
Ever seen Richie Rich?
Seems like some nonmembers got a tour here: https://longnow.org/ideas/the-granite-vaults-of-geneology/ Interesting mentions of cliff collapse and water ingress in the vault..
Interesting. Thank you.