The DVD
Have you seen the film? Let us know what you think!
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October 28th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Our objective in putting up this site was to have a place to:
- discuss faith and folklore
- glean feedback on the DVD
- gather new stories or new twists on old stories (new evidence, new occurrences)
We’d like an open forum to share our ideas and points of view with in a faith-affirming context.
We look forward to your comments.
Thanks!
November 1st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
In the film you “dismiss” the story of the attempted bombing of the Hawaii temple. You however failed to discuss the first-hand account of a missionary who said they met a man who claimed he had tried to bomb the temple?
Why wasn’t that covered in the movie?
November 1st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
The tunnels under Temple Square - you don’t show a @#$% thing? What’s up with that? I wanted to see at least a picture inside of them.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
When it comes to the Hawaii Temple story (and most stories in fact), there are various versions.
We did investigate the account of the missionary who gave a first-hand account, recorded in his journal, of meeting an individual while tracting who said he had tried to bomb the Hawaii temple.
As the story goes, he and his companion in Japan approached the home of a man who, by the account, said either “go away” or “come in.” They weren’t sure. The opted to come in. As the talked with the man, they showed a picture of the Hawaii temple on a flip chart, according to one account. The man got very agitated and said the missionaries had to go. He said there were evil spirits by that building. As a pilot on the Pearl Harbor attack, he had tried to bomb that building, but evil spirits had kept him from it.
In looking into the story, we deferred to the research of Kenneth Baldridge, an emeritus professor of history at BYU, Hawaii. He researched the account, including this vein, for over 20 years. His research found the following issues with the account:
1. By the missionary’s own admission, his command of the language was sketchy.
2. The name of the man they met was not on the list of known pilots that flew that mission.
3. The senior companion mentioned nothing of the event.
Do those items mean that it definitively did not happen? It’s awfully hard to prove something did not happen. It however seems doubtful that the missionary’s account, while sincere, is 100% true.
As to why we did not include this version of the story in the documentary - it took too long and wasn’t as compelling as the telling we explored. For the sake of concision and pacing, this vein of the story had to be cut.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
As far as tunnels go. I’ve walked down them. I had hoped to show just how lack-luster they really are. It’s more like walking down a hallway or parking garage than crouching down some spiderweb strewn catacomb. Despite this noble intention, the request was not granted.
We did find some photos online. One taken in fact by couple missionaries posted on their family blog (http://joyceanded.blogspot.com/search?q=tunnel). We opted not to try to circumvent the “system” by using those images.