Postmormon Postmortem

Hannah and Jess

Mormonism gave you a complete universe, with charts, diagrams, and a plan for everything. Leaving can dismantle all of it at once. Postmormon Postmortem is hosted by Hannah and Jess, two women who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wanted more honest conversations about what comes after. We cover Mormon history, doctrine, culture, true crime, institutional harm, religious trauma, and the messy work of rebuilding a life outside the church. Whether you're freshly out, years removed, or trying to understand someone you love, you're in the right place.

  1. 6h ago

    Did Joseph Smith Really Say Mormons Would Save the Constitution? The White Horse Prophecy Explained

    Did Joseph Smith really predict that the Constitution would hang by a thread and the Mormons would save it? Jess went looking for an easy debunking of the White Horse Prophecy. The history was messier than that. In this What You Know Wednesday, Jess walks Hannah through the origins of the White Horse Prophecy: a document attributed to Joseph Smith, written down by English convert Edwin Rushton decades after Nauvoo, and denounced by Mormon leaders in 1918 and again in 2010. BYU Studies researcher Don Penrod’s analysis of the Rushton manuscripts shows why the horse document doesn’t hold up. But the “Constitution hanging by a thread” idea doesn’t depend on the horses. It appears in earlier accounts of Joseph Smith, in the Church’s own Ensign magazine in 1976, and in Ezra Taft Benson’s 1987 general conference talk “Our Divine Constitution.” So what exactly did the Mormon Church reject in 2010, and what did it keep teaching?  SHOW NOTES, including all sources mentioned in this episode, are available on Patreon with a FREE membership. FREE members also get our monthly newsletter. Paid memberships start at $2/month for AD-FREE listening. https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Thank you!) Venmo: https://venmo.com/postmormonpostmortemBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem FIND US HERE Website: https://postmormonpostmortem.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@postmormonpostmortemTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@postmormonpostmortemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmormonpostmortemFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/postmormonpostmortem Theme song | Vocals: Hannah W. | Guitar: Dr. Dave | Audio: Mick

    Did Joseph Smith Really Say Mormons Would Save the Constitution? The White Horse Prophecy Explained

  2. 2d ago

    Mormonism and Conspiracy Theories: The Church's Secret Combinations Problem

    The Book of Mormon warns that secret organizations infiltrate governments, corrupt institutions, and destroy nations. So what happens when Mormons apply those same warnings to their own church? Following a September 2026 Deseret News article about conspiracy thinking, we examine Mormonism's teachings about secret combinations, Ezra Taft Benson's warnings about modern conspiracies, and the tension between prophetic authority, skepticism, and the church's own history. What happens when the suspicion Mormonism encourages turns toward Mormonism itself? SHOW NOTES, including all sources mentioned in this episode, are available on Patreon with a FREE membership. FREE members also get our monthly newsletter. Paid memberships start at $2/month for AD-FREE listening. https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Thank you!) Venmo: https://venmo.com/postmormonpostmortemBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem FIND US HERE Website: https://postmormonpostmortem.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@postmormonpostmortemTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@postmormonpostmortemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmormonpostmortemFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/postmormonpostmortem Theme song | Vocals: Hannah W. | Guitar: Dr. Dave | Audio: Mick

    Mormonism and Conspiracy Theories: The Church's Secret Combinations Problem

  3. 3d ago

    Mormon Polygamy and Intergenerational Trauma: What Families Are Told

    What happens when a family remembers plural marriage as a sacred privilege—and barely remembers the wives? We discuss Joseph Smith’s plural marriages, the accounts of Lucy Walker, Helen Mar Kimball and Zina Huntington, and the church’s changing instructions on polygamy. We also look at what survived in our own families: stories of obedience and sacrifice, missing women, and questions nobody taught us to ask. Then we examine generational trauma, family storytelling and epigenetics. What can families pass down through parenting, silence and religious expectations? And what can research actually tell us about biological inheritance? An episode about Mormon history, religious trauma, and discovering how much was missing from the family story. SHOW NOTES, including all sources mentioned in this episode, are available on Patreon with a FREE membership. FREE members also get our monthly newsletter. Paid memberships start at $2/month for AD-FREE listening. https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Thank you!) Venmo: https://venmo.com/postmormonpostmortemBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem FIND US HERE Website: https://postmormonpostmortem.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@postmormonpostmortemTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@postmormonpostmortemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmormonpostmortemFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/postmormonpostmortem Theme song | Vocals: Hannah W. | Guitar: Dr. Dave | Audio: Mick

    Mormon Polygamy and Intergenerational Trauma: What Families Are Told

  4. 4d ago

    Children of Thunder: Glen Helzer's Mormon Prophet Murders

    In 2000, Glen Helzer, a former Mormon missionary and Morgan Stanley financial adviser, told his younger brother Justin and a woman named Dawn Godman that a “Spirit” spoke directly to him, that he was a prophet, and that innocent people had to die. Within days, five people were dead: Ivan and Annette Stineman, Selina Bishop, Jennifer Villarin, and James Gamble. In this episode of Mormon True Crime, Jess and Hannah trace how Glen went from charismatic missionary to excommunicated drug user, self-help devotee, and self-proclaimed prophet. They cover the Twelve Principles of Magic, the Children of Thunder plan, the investigation that unraveled it, and the trials that followed. They also look at what the Mormon context does and doesn’t explain: personal revelation, boundaries on authority, Nephi and Laban, and how a follower’s loyalty can make refusal impossible. SHOW NOTES, including all sources mentioned in this episode, are available on Patreon with a FREE membership. FREE members also get our monthly newsletter. Paid memberships start at $2/month for AD-FREE listening. https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Thank you!) Venmo: https://venmo.com/postmormonpostmortemBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem FIND US HERE Website: https://postmormonpostmortem.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@postmormonpostmortemTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@postmormonpostmortemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmormonpostmortemFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/postmormonpostmortem Theme song | Vocals: Hannah W. | Guitar: Dr. Dave | Audio: Mick

  5. 6d ago

    The Mormon Photographer Who Sold Erotica

    Brigham Young’s son-in-law built a career photographing church leaders, prominent Mormon families, and the Salt Lake Temple. Alongside that work, he sold erotic stereo views to customers across the country. Charles Ellis Johnson photographed Mormon prophets… and sold erotic photographs by mail from his Salt Lake City studio. His church portraits and “spicy pictures of girls” carried the same business stamp. Source: Mary Campbell's "Charles Ellis Johnson and the Erotic Mormon Image" (2016). The photographs discussed in this episode come from Campbell’s book. SHOW NOTES, including all sources mentioned in this episode, are available on Patreon with a FREE membership. FREE members also get our monthly newsletter. Paid memberships start at $2/month for AD-FREE listening. https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Thank you!) Venmo: https://venmo.com/postmormonpostmortemBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem FIND US HERE Website: https://postmormonpostmortem.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@postmormonpostmortemTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@postmormonpostmortemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmormonpostmortemFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/postmormonpostmortem Theme song | Vocals: Hannah W. | Guitar: Dr. Dave | Audio: Mick

    The Mormon Photographer Who Sold Erotica

  6. Oct 12

    The Mormon Church's New 25-Minute Sunday School

    On September 6, the Mormon Church rolled out a new worldwide Sunday schedule: 60-minute sacrament meeting, then just 25 minutes each for Sunday School and Relief Society, elders quorum, Young Women, or Aaronic Priesthood. Sunday School and quorum meetings now happen every week instead of alternating. In this Mormon Monday, we look at what the Church says the change accomplishes, and what it might cost. We trace how LDS meeting schedules have changed over time, from the standalone auxiliary meetings of the early 20th century to the 1980 three-hour block to the 2019 two-hour “Come, Follow Me” model. Then we ask: What happens to community when the hallway time disappears? Who does “home-centered, Church-supported” religion work for, and who does it leave out? What does 25 minutes mean for Relief Society, once one of the largest women’s organizations in the world? SHOW NOTES, including all sources mentioned in this episode, are available on Patreon with a FREE membership. FREE members also get our monthly newsletter. Paid memberships start at $2/month for AD-FREE listening. https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Thank you!) Venmo: https://venmo.com/postmormonpostmortemBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem FIND US HERE Website: https://postmormonpostmortem.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@postmormonpostmortemTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@postmormonpostmortemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmormonpostmortemFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/postmormonpostmortem Theme song | Vocals: Hannah W. | Guitar: Dr. Dave | Audio: Mick

    The Mormon Church's New 25-Minute Sunday School

  7. Oct 11

    "You Won't Be Needing Those": The Mormon Secret Council of Fifty

    In 1922, Mormon Church president Heber J. Grant pointed to a box of records and told his new secretary, “You won’t be needing those.” Inside: the Council of Fifty. The Council of Fifty was Joseph Smith’s secret 1844 political body in Nauvoo, Illinois, and its members voted to accept him as “Prophet, Priest & King.” Jess and Hannah go through the minutes: the secrecy vow, the April 25 revelation “ye are my constitution,” Smith’s presidential campaign, William Clayton burying the records in his garden, and Brigham Young’s move west. The records stayed in church custody, including a 1981 look during the church’s dealings with Mark Hofmann’s documents, until the Joseph Smith Papers published them in 2016. Historians call the theory theodemocracy. Religious liberty sounds different when the people guaranteeing it believe revelation outranks the rules meant to restrain them. SHOW NOTES, including all sources mentioned in this episode, are available on Patreon with a FREE membership. FREE members also get our monthly newsletter. Paid memberships start at $2/month for AD-FREE listening. https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Thank you!) Venmo: https://venmo.com/postmormonpostmortemBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem FIND US HERE Website: https://postmormonpostmortem.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@postmormonpostmortemTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@postmormonpostmortemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmormonpostmortemFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/postmormonpostmortem Theme song | Vocals: Hannah W. | Guitar: Dr. Dave | Audio: Mick

    "You Won't Be Needing Those": The Mormon Secret Council of Fifty

  8. Oct 10

    The Murder of Janet Abaroa: The Raven Abaroa Case

    In April 2005, Raven Abaroa called 911 from his Durham, North Carolina home and told the operator his wife had been shot. Janet Abaroa, 25 and pregnant, had been stabbed three times while their six-month-old son slept in the next room. Hannah and Jess follow the case from a temple marriage in Washington, D.C., through embezzlement charges, a $500,000 life insurance policy, an exhumation that recovered a contact lens from Janet’s eye, an 11-to-1 hung jury, and the Alford plea that let Raven maintain his innocence. The episode closes with Doctrine and Covenants 132 and the eternal marriage Janet was determined to keep. SHOW NOTES, including all sources mentioned in this episode, are available on Patreon with a FREE membership. FREE members also get our monthly newsletter. Paid memberships start at $2/month for AD-FREE listening. https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Thank you!) Venmo: https://venmo.com/postmormonpostmortemBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem FIND US HERE Website: https://postmormonpostmortem.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@postmormonpostmortemTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@postmormonpostmortemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmormonpostmortemFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/postmormonpostmortem Theme song | Vocals: Hannah W. | Guitar: Dr. Dave | Audio: Mick

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4.7
out of 5
28 Ratings

About

Mormonism gave you a complete universe, with charts, diagrams, and a plan for everything. Leaving can dismantle all of it at once. Postmormon Postmortem is hosted by Hannah and Jess, two women who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wanted more honest conversations about what comes after. We cover Mormon history, doctrine, culture, true crime, institutional harm, religious trauma, and the messy work of rebuilding a life outside the church. Whether you're freshly out, years removed, or trying to understand someone you love, you're in the right place.

Information

  • Creator
    Hannah and Jess
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    120
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Hannah and Jess
  • Show Website
    Postmormon Postmortem

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