Latest / History Dark / The Macabre Story of the Carter Family_s Last New Year_s Photo_ Utah_ 1857 – No One Survived

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The Macabre Story of the Carter Family_s Last New Year_s Photo_ Utah_ 1857 – No One Survived · History Dark

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: They found the photograph three days later, lying face up
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on the frozen ground near the door, the edges already
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: curling from the cold. Eight faces stared out from the tintype,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: captured in that peculiar stillness that early photography demanded. Their
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: expressions caught between celebration and something else, something the finder
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: couldn't quite name. Behind them, through the window of the frame,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: you could see the oil lamp still burning inside the house.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: The blood hadn't frozen yet when they discovered it. Before
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: we continue, I want to know something. Where are you
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: right now as you listen to this? Are you alone
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: in your room, headphones blocking out the world, driving through
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: empty roads, walking at night? Leave a comment below, tell
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: me where you are. Because this story, what happened to
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the Carter family on that New Year's Eve in the
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Utah Territory, it happened to people just like you. in
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a place they thought was safe, doing something as simple
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: as celebrating with family, and by morning, not one of
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: them would draw another breath. The winter of 1856 had
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: been merciless across the Utah Territory. Snow came early that year,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: blanketing the Wasatch Mountains in October and never truly melting,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: accumulating in great drifts that swallowed fence posts and blocked
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: wagon roads for weeks at a time. The Carter homestead
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: sat fifteen miles south of Salt Lake City, nestled in
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: a shallow valley where Dry Creek wound its way through
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: cottonwood groves before disappearing into the desert beyond. It was
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: good land, as good as any settler could hope for
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: in those days, with rich soil along the creek bed
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and enough timber in the surrounding hills to keep a
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: family warm through the winter. Thomas Carter had claimed the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: property in 1852, one of thousands drawn west by promises
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of land, religious freedom, and a fresh start. He was
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: forty-three years old that final winter, a broad-shouldered man with
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: hands scarred from carpentry work and a face weathered by
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: sun and wind. His wife, Margaret, was younger by seven years,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: a woman whose gentle manner concealed an iron will that
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: had carried her family across the plains in a covered wagon,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: through cholera outbreaks and river crossings that had claimed the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: lives of others in their company. Their children ranged in
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: age from twenty down to seven. Robert, the eldest, who
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: worked alongside his father and dreamed of one day having
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: land of his own. Sarah, eighteen, whose skill with a
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: needle had already earned her a reputation among the scattered homesteads. Elizabeth, fifteen,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: quiet and studious, always with a book when her chores allowed. James, twelve,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: restless and curious, and little Margaret, named for her mother
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: just seven years old. and still young enough to believe
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the world was fundamentally kind. But the Carter household that
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: winter included more than just the immediate family. Thomas's brother, William,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: had arrived in late November with his wife, Caroline, and
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: their infant son. William had been less fortunate than his brother.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: The farm he'd established closer to the city had failed,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the soil proving too alkaline, the well water too bitter.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: He'd come seeking temporary shelter, and Thomas, who believed firmly
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: in the obligations of kinship, had welcomed them without hesitation,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: even though it meant eight mouths to feed instead of five,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: and sleeping arrangements that left little room for privacy. The
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: tensions were small at first, barely noticeable. Caroline had been
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: raised in comparative comfort back in Missouri, the daughter of
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: a merchant, and the primitive conditions of the Carter homestead.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: The single large room that served as kitchen, dining area,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: and parlour, with only a thin curtain separating it from
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the sleeping quarters, wore on her nerves. She tried to
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: hide her displeasure, but Margaret could see it in the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: way Caroline's mouth tightened when she had to wash dishes
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: in the same basin used for everything else, or how
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: she clutched her baby closer when the wind howled through
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: gaps in the log walls. William, too, carried the weight
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: of his failure. He worked hard, harder perhaps than necessary,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: as if trying to prove his worth. But Thomas, in
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: his generosity, sometimes treated his brother with a paternalistic air
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: that must have stung, offering advice that sounded too much
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: like instructions, making decisions about the work without consulting William first.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Robert noticed it, the way his uncle's jaw would clench
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: when his father spoke to him, as if he were
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: still a boy rather than a man of thirty-nine with
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: a family of his own. As December progressed and the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: year drew toward its close, Thomas suggested they should mark
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the occasion properly. It had been a hard year for
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: everyone in the territory. The grasshopper plague in the summer
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: had destroyed much of the wheat crop. There had been
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: troubles with some of the wagon trains passing through, tensions
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: between settlers and the native peoples that sometimes erupted into violence.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: The territorial government seemed increasingly isolated from the rest of
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: the nation. and rumors circulated about Federal troops being sent west,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: though for what purpose, no one could say for certain.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: But the Carters had survived. They had food enough to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: last through winter, a solid roof, and each other. Thomas
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: believed that deserved recognition, a moment to pause and give
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: thanks before facing whatever the new year might bring. He
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: proposed that on New Year's Eve they would have a
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: proper celebration, a feast with the last of the fall
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: vegetables from the root cellar, fresh bread, and if Robert's
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: hunting proved successful, perhaps venison or turkey. They would dress
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: in their best clothes, light every lamp in the house,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and mark the turning of the year with the dignity
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: it deserved. Margaret agreed, though she worried privately about the expense,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: about using up stores that would need to last until spring.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: But she saw the hope in her husband's face, the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: way he wanted to give his family, and his brother's family,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: a moment of joy. and she didn't have the heart
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: to object. Sarah and Elizabeth threw themselves into preparations, mending
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: clothes and planning the meal. Even young Margaret caught the excitement,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: asking a dozen times a day how many more days
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: until the celebration. This is where most people would stop
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: paying attention, just a family planning a party, right? Nothing unusual.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: But here's what you need to understand, and why you
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: should hit that subscribe button and turn on notifications right now.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: What the Carter family didn't know, what they couldn't have known,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: was that their celebration had already been marked on someone
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: else's calendar. Someone was counting down the days too, but
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: not out of joy. Out of something else entirely. Something
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: that had been growing in the shadows of those mountains
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: for months. and if you don't stay until the end
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of this story, you'll never know why they really died
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: that night, because the official records, the few that exist,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: they got it all wrong. They had to. Robert Carter
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: set out hunting on the morning of December 28th, taking
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: his father's rifle and enough supplies for two days in
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the backcountry. The weather had cleared temporarily, one of those
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: brief respites that came between storms, and the tracking would
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: be good with the recent snow. He was a skilled hunter,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: patient and observant, and he knew the territories around Dry
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Creek as well as anyone. He returned late on the 30th,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: just as the sun was setting behind the western peaks,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: with a young buck tied across his horse. The kill
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: had been clean, the meat would be good, and Thomas
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: clapped his son on the shoulder with genuine pride. They
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: worked together in the fading light to dress the animal.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: hanging portions in the cold shed behind the house where
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the temperature would keep it fresh. It was while they
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: worked that Robert mentioned what he'd seen during his hunt.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Two days earlier, high in the hills to the east,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: he'd spotted a camp. Not natives, he was certain of that.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: White men, three or four of them, with horses and
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: good equipment. They'd made a fire, and Robert had watched
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: them from a distance, curious but cautious. Something about the
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: camp had struck him as odd. They weren't hunting, he
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: didn't think. No traps or kill sites nearby. And they
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: were watching the valley below through a spyglass, taking turns,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: like sentries. Thomas paused in his work, his hands still
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: inside the deer's body cavity. Did they see you? No.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I stayed downwind, kept to the trees. Probably just travellers,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Thomas said after a moment. waiting for the weather to
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: clear before pushing on to California. But his voice carried uncertainty.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Travelers would have sought shelter in the city or at
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: one of the closer homesteads. Why camp in the hills
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: in the dead of winter, exposed to the elements, unless
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: they had reason to stay hidden? Should we mention it
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to Uncle William? Robert asked. Thomas shook his head. No
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: point worrying everyone. Could be nothing. Could be men with
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: business of their own that doesn't concern us. He wiped
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: his hands on a rag, leaving dark streaks. We'll keep
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: watch tomorrow night, you and I. Take turns, just in case.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: They finished their work in silence as full darkness settled
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: over the valley. Inside the house they could hear Margaret
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and Caroline preparing the evening meal, hear little Margaret's laughter
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: as she played with her baby cousin, the smell of
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: baking bread drifted out into the cold air. Tomorrow was
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: New Year's Eve. Tomorrow they would celebrate. Neither Thomas nor
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Robert spoke of it, but both men felt it, a
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: prickling awareness at the base of the skull, the instinct
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: that animals have when they sense a predator nearby. The
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: mountains around them seemed to press closer in the darkness,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: and the stars, when they emerged, were hard and cold
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and distant as stones. New Year's Eve dawned clear and
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: bitter cold, the temperature well below freezing. Ice had formed
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: thick on the water bucket by the door, and when
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Thomas stepped outside at first light to relieve himself, his
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: breath crystallized instantly in the air, and the snow crunched
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: under his boots with a sound like breaking glass. The
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: sun rose pale and weak over the eastern peaks, painting
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: the snow in shades of pink and gold that would
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: have been beautiful if everything hadn't felt so precarious. Inside,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the house was already stirring. Margaret and Caroline had risen
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: even earlier, stoking the fire and beginning preparations for the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: evening's feast. The main room smelled of wood smoke and coffee,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: and young Margaret was still curled in her blankets, her
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: face peaceful in sleep. Elizabeth sat near the fire, reading
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: by the early light, while Sarah had already begun setting
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: out the good dishes they'd brought west in the wagon,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: china plates that had survived the journey wrapped in quilts
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: and straw. The day progressed with the rhythm of any other,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: chores and work that couldn't be neglected regardless of the date.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: The animals needed tending, cows milked, chickens fed. Thomas and
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: William split wood for the fire, building up a supply
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: that would keep them warm through the celebration and into
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the following days. Robert checked the hunting rifles, cleaning and
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: loading them with a care that Margaret noticed but didn't
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: comment on. James begged to help with everything, getting in
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the way more than assisting, his energy boundless despite the cold.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: By early afternoon the preparations had reached their peak. The
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: venison Robert had brought back roasted slowly over the fire,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: seasoned with the last of their salt and wild sage
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: that Sarah had gathered in the fall. Potatoes and carrots
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: from the root cellar simmered in a pot. Margaret had
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: made fresh bread that morning, and Caroline, in a rare
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: moment of collaboration, had contributed her skill in pastry, creating
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a dried apple pie from their stores that smelled of
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: cinnamon and butter. As the winter sun began its early
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: descent toward the mountains, the family began to dress for
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the celebration. This was Thomas's idea, that they should mark
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: the occasion with formality, treating it not as just another
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: meal but as something special, something worth remembering. Robert put
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: on his best shirt, the one he saved for Sunday services,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: and ran a comb through his hair until it lay flat.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Sarah and Elizabeth wore dresses they'd been sewing all month,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: simple but well-made, with lace collars that showed their craftsmanship.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Even James submitted to having his face washed and his
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: hair combed, though he squirmed through the process. Thomas had
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: one more surprise. From a trunk under the bed, wrapped
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: in cloth, he produced his most prized possession, a camera,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: a daguerreotype outfit he'd purchased years earlier in St. Louis
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: before the Western migration, when he'd briefly entertained dreams of
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: becoming a photographer. He'd rarely used it, The chemicals were
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: expensive and difficult to obtain, but he'd managed to acquire
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: a few fresh plates during a trip to the city
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: in the fall, and he'd been saving them for a
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: special occasion. We're going to take a photograph, he announced.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: All of us together. Something to mark this day. To
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: remember it by. The children reacted with excited surprise. Photographs
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: were still rare on the frontier, expensive and formal affairs
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: usually reserved for weddings or funerals. The idea of capturing
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: their family on this night in this moment seemed almost
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: magical to them. Thomas set up the camera in the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: main room, positioning it carefully on its tripod near the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: door where the light from the western window would provide
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the best illumination. He arranged them in a careful composition,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: himself and Margaret in the center, William and Caroline slightly
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to the side with their baby, the children arranged around them.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Robert stood tall behind his parents, Sarah and Elizabeth flanked them.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: James and little Margaret sat cross-legged in front. You must
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: hold very still, Thomas instructed, his head disappearing under the
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: dark cloth. Even the slightest movement will blur the image.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Think of something that makes you happy, but don't smile
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: too wide. Just a small, pleasant expression. And don't blink.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: He counted down from ten, and for that span of
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: seconds the Carter family froze in place. Eight living people
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: rendered motionless as statues, their breath held, their muscles locked.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Behind them, visible through the window in the background, the
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: oil lamps burned bright against the gathering darkness outside. Thomas
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: released the shutter, and it was done. In that instant,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: their images were captured on the treated metal plate, fixed
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: forever in silver salts and chemicals. Perfect, Thomas said, emerging
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: from beneath the cloth. When this develops, it will be
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: something our grandchildren will see someday. A record that we
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: were here, that we lived and loved each other. I
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: want you to think about that for a moment. That photograph,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the one they found three days later with blood spatter
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: across one corner. It shows them frozen in that moment
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: of celebration, unaware that in less than twelve hours, every
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: person in that frame would be dead. Every single one.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Now if you know someone who thinks they're brave enough
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: to hear how this ends, share this story with them.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Because what happens next, what I'm about to tell you,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: it's going to challenge everything you think you know about
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: that night. They ate their feast as the sun set
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: completely and the stars emerged. Thomas said a prayer of thanksgiving,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: his voice solemn, asking for blessings on his family and
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: protection in the year to come. If there was irony
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: in those words, No one recognized it at the time.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: They passed dishes around the table, carved the venison, broke
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: bread together. The food was good, perhaps the best they'd
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: eaten in months, and for a while the tensions that
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: had simmered beneath the surface of the household seemed to
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: dissipate in the warmth and plenty. William raised a cup
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: of water. They had no alcohol. Thomas didn't approve of it,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: and offered a toast. To family, he said, and his
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: voice caught slightly. to my brother, who has shown me
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: more generosity than I deserve. To this home, this shelter
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: from the storms, may the new year bring prosperity to
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: all of us. Thomas nodded, moved by his brother's words,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: unaware of the complicated emotions behind them, the gratitude mixed
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: with shame, the love tangled with resentment. They drank together,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: and for that moment everything was as it should be.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: The children grew restless as the evening wore on. James
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: wanted to go outside, despite the cold, to look at
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: the stars, and Thomas relented, wrapping his son in a
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: coat and stepping out with him into the frigid night.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: The stars were indeed magnificent, scattered across the sky in
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: vast profusion, the Milky Way a river of light overhead.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Father and son stood together in the snow. their breath
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: rising in clouds, looking up at the infinite darkness. Pa,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: James asked, do you think the stars know we're here?
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Do you think they see us? Thomas put his hand
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: on his son's shoulder. I think God sees us, son,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and that's enough. They went back inside after a few minutes,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: driven by the cold. Margaret was putting little Margaret to bed,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: singing softly, an old hymn from her childhood. Caroline had
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: taken her baby to the sleeping area behind the curtain.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Sarah and Elizabeth were cleaning the dishes, their voices low
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: and comfortable, talking about nothing important, the small concerns of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: young women on the frontier. Robert stood by the window,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: looking out into the darkness. He'd been there for some time,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Thomas realized, standing watch without making it obvious. When their
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: eyes met, Robert shook his head slightly. Nothing. no movement
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: in the night. Perhaps the men he'd seen in the
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: hills had moved on. Perhaps Thomas had been right, and
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: they were just travellers with their own concerns. The family
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: gathered one last time before retiring, standing together in the
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: main room. Thomas produced a small Bible worn from use
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and read aloud from Psalms, verses about protection and God's mercy.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: His voice was steady and sure. and Margaret stood beside
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: him with her hand resting lightly on his arm, and
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: in that moment, despite everything that had been difficult about
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: the year, they were complete. They went to bed around ten,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: earlier than they might have on a normal night, but
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: the work of the day had exhausted them. The children
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: settled quickly, even James, whose excitement finally gave way to sleep.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: The adults lay in their bedrolls, listening to the fire crackle,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: to the wind that had begun to rise outside, rattling
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the shutters. Thomas told Robert he would take the first watch,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: that his son should rest, and Robert, tired from his
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: hunting trip and the long day, didn't argue. Thomas sat
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: in the darkness by the window, the rifle across his lap,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: watching the night. The moon had risen, nearly full, painting
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: the snow in silver light. He could see far across
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: the valley from here, see the dark line of cottonwoods
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: along Dry Creek, see the hills rising beyond. Nothing moved.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Nothing stirred except the wind. The world seemed frozen, held
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: in suspension, waiting. Around midnight, he heard something. Not a
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: sound so much as the absence of sound. The wind
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: had stopped. The sudden silence was profound, eerie. Thomas stood,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: moving to the door, opening it carefully to avoid waking
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the household. The cold hit him like a physical blow,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: and he stepped outside, his boots sinking into the snow.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: The valley was perfectly still. No wind, no animal sounds,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: nothing but the faint creaking of ice and the distant
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: whisper of the creek. Thomas scanned the landscape. his eyes
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: adjusting to the moonlight, looking for any sign of movement,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: any indication that the men Robert had seen were out there, watching.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: That's when he saw them. Three figures, perhaps four, it
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: was hard to tell in the uncertain light, standing on
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the ridge to the east, silhouetted against the starry sky.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: They were at least a mile away, maybe more, but
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: they were there, stationary, watching the homestead. Thomas's breath caught
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: in his throat. How long had they been there? What
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: did they want? He stood frozen, watching them watch him.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: And for a long moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, deliberately,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: one of the figures raised an arm, pointing directly at
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the house. At Thomas. The gesture was unmistakable, even at
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: that distance. We see you. We know you're there. Thomas
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: backed toward the door, his heart hammering in his chest.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: He should wake William, wake Robert, they needed to prepare
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: to decide what to do. But even as he retreated
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: into the house, even as he carefully closed and barred
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the door, some part of him understood that it was
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: already too late, that whatever was coming had been set
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: in motion long before this night, and all they could
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: do now was wait for it to arrive. He didn't
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: go back to sleep, He sat by the window with
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the rifle and watched the ridge, but the figures were gone,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: melted back into the darkness like shadows. The house was
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: quiet around him, his family sleeping peacefully, unaware. Thomas thought
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: about waking them, about raising the alarm. But what would
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: he say? He'd seen men on a ridge. They'd pointed
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: at his house. It sounded foolish even in his own mind,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the paranoid fears of an exhausted man on a cold night.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: But the unease remained, settling deep in his gut, and
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: as the hours crept toward dawn, toward the first morning
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: of 1857, Thomas Carter sat in the darkness and waited,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the rifle heavy across his knees, for whatever was coming.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: The sun rose on New Year's Day without fanfare, pale
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: and cold, illuminating a world that seemed unchanged from the
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: night before. Thomas, who had not slept at all, stood
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: stiffly from his position by the window, his body aching
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: from the long watch. The house was still quiet, his
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: family still asleep in the pre-dawn darkness. He moved carefully
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: to the door, unbarred it, and stepped outside. The snow
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: around the homestead was undisturbed, marked only by the tracks
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: he'd made the night before. No footprints approached the house,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: no signs of intruders. In the growing light, the ridge
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: where he'd seen the figures looked empty, innocent. just another
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: feature of the landscape. Thomas stood in the cold, questioning
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: what he'd seen, wondering if exhaustion and worry had conjured
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: phantoms out of shadows and moonlight. He was about to
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: go back inside when he noticed something. Far out in
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: the valley, perhaps half a mile away, a thin column
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: of smoke rose straight up into the still air. It
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: came from near the creek, from a spot where the
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: cottonwoods grew thick. Someone had made camp there, close enough
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: to watch the homestead, close enough to move quickly if
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: they chose. Thomas's mouth went dry. This was no traveller
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: passing through, no innocent explanation. Someone was out there, and
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: they'd been there all night, watching, waiting. For what? That
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: was the question that gnawed at him as he stood
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: in the freezing dawn. What did they want? He went
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: back inside, his mind churning with possibilities, none of them good.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: He woke William first, speaking quietly so as not to
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: disturb the women and children. His brother listened with a
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: deepening frown as Thomas described what he'd seen, the figures
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: on the ridge, the gesture, the smoke rising from the valley.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Could be natives, William suggested, but his voice carried no conviction.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Robert said they were white men, and natives wouldn't camp
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: that close, wouldn't make fire where we could see it.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: They'd either attack outright or stay hidden. Thomas rubbed his face,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: feeling the exhaustion pulling at him. Whoever they are, they
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: want us to know they're there. That's what worries me.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: William was quiet for a moment, thinking. Then, could it
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: have something to do with the church troubles? With the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: tensions in the territory? It was a question that had
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: occurred to Thomas during the long night, one he'd tried
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: to push away but couldn't quite dismiss. The Utah Territory
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: had become increasingly isolated in recent years, the relationship between
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the Mormon settlers and the federal government growing strained. There
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: had been talk of apostates, of men who'd left the
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: faith and nursed grievances. There had been whispers of violence,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: of scores being settled in the darkness where the law
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: couldn't reach. But Thomas had kept his head down, avoided politics,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: focused on his farm and his family. He'd never been
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: one of the prominent men in the community, never held
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: any position that would make him a target. What reason
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: would anyone have to come after him? I don't know,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: he said finally. I just don't know. They woke Robert next,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: and the three men held a quiet council while the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: women and children still slept. Robert confirmed that the men
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: he'd seen in the hills had looked like settlers, dressed
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: in wool coats and wide-brimmed hats, carrying good rifles. Not soldiers,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: not natives, not travelling merchants, just men, anonymous and purposeful.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: We could go down there, Robert said. Confront them, find
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: out what they want. Thomas shook his head. If they
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: meant us well, they'd have come to the door. The
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: fact that they're hiding, watching, means they're waiting for something.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Maybe for us to make exactly that mistake. So what
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: do we do? William asked. We prepare. We stay inside,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: keep the weapons loaded, keep watch. If they approach, we'll know.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: If they try anything, we'll be ready. Thomas looked at
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: his brother, at his son, and we don't tell the
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: women yet. No point in frightening them if this turns
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: out to be nothing. It was a decision born of
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: a desire to protect, to shield his family from fear,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: but it was also a decision that would prove fatal.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: because what Thomas didn't understand, what he couldn't have understood,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: was that the men watching his house weren't waiting for
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: an opportunity. They were waiting for an order. And that
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: order had already been given. The household woke gradually, emerging
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: into the cold morning with yawns and sleepy greetings. Margaret
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: noticed immediately that something was wrong, saw it in the
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: tension in her husband's shoulders, in the way he kept
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: glancing toward the windows. but when she asked, he smiled
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: and deflected, said he was just tired from staying up late,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that everything was fine. They ate a simple breakfast, leftovers
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: from the feast, and Thomas suggested that they should stay
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: inside today, that the cold was too bitter for unnecessary exposure.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: The children accepted this without question. Little Margaret was happy
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: to play with her doll by the fire, and James
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: found contentment in a game Elizabeth invented involving dried beans
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: and a counting board. Sarah and Caroline worked on mending clothes,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: and the house fell into a pattern that felt almost normal,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: almost peaceful. But the men took turns at the window,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: always one of them watching, and as the morning progressed
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: into afternoon, the smoke from the valley continued to rise,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: a thin grey line against the white landscape, a constant
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: reminder that they were not alone. Around two in the afternoon,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: riders appeared, three of them, coming up from the valley
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: at a slow, deliberate pace. They weren't trying to hide now,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: weren't attempting stealth. They rode openly, directly toward the homestead,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: and as they drew closer, Thomas could see that they
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: were indeed white men, rough-looking, with rifles in saddle holsters
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: and revolvers on their hips.' Stay inside,' Thomas told Margaret,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: his voice sharp with command.' All of you, away from
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: the windows.' He took up the rifle, and William grabbed
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: the other weapon they had, a shotgun that was getting
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: old but still functional. Robert positioned himself by the door
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: with the pistol. The women gathered the children to the
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: back of the room, confusion and fear beginning to show
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: on their faces as they realized something was seriously wrong.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: The riders stopped about fifty yards from the house, staying mounted,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: their breath and their horse's breath rising in clouds in
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the cold air. For a long moment, no one moved.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: No one spoke. It was a standoff, tense and fragile. Finally,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: one of the riders called out, Thomas Carter? That's right,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Thomas answered through the closed door. State your business. We
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: need to talk to you. Come out. Bring your brother.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I'm comfortable where I am. Say what you need to
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: say from there. There was a pause. Thomas could hear
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: the murmur of the men talking among themselves, too low
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to make out words. Then the same voice called again,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: harder this time, with less pretense of friendliness. This ain't
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: a request, Carter. There's matters need settling. You and William both.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Come out now, and maybe this goes easy. Thomas's grip
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: tightened on the rifle. What matters? I don't know you
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: and I haven't wronged anyone. Whatever you think I've done,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: you're mistaken. We ain't mistaken. The rider's voice carried a
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: certainty that was chilling in its absolute conviction. You were
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: in the militia, Carter. You and your brother, both. September 1857,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Mountain Meadows. We know what you did. The words hit
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Thomas like a physical blow, and beside him, William made
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: a sound somewhere between a gasp and a groan. Mountain Meadows.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: The phrase hung in the air, heavy with implications with horror. No.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Thomas said and his voice shook. No, we weren't there.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: We never went. We refused the order. This is the moment.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: This is where everything you thought you knew about this
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: story falls apart. Because what I'm about to tell you,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: it's been buried for a hundred and sixty years. The
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: church didn't want it known. The government didn't want it known.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Even the descendants, the survivors, they kept quiet. But the
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: truth is in the letters that got out, in the
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: journals that were hidden, in the testimony that was suppressed.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: And if you've stayed with me this far, if you've
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: got notifications turned on like I asked, you're about to
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: hear what really happened that night. Subscribe now, because this
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: channel is dedicated to bringing you the stories they tried
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: to erase, the truths they tried to bury. And this one,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: this one's darker than most. The rider laughed, a harsh
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: sound without humor. You refused, did you? That's your story? Well,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: some folks in Salt Lake, they remember different. They remember
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: you two riding out with the militia that day. They
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: remember you being part of what happened to that wagon train,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: all them families from Arkansas. Men, women, children. Over a
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: hundred souls murdered under a white flag. And you saying
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: you weren't there. We weren't. William spoke up, his voice desperate.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: We were ordered to go, yes, but we refused. We
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: came home. We never participated in any of that. You
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: have to believe us. Don't matter what I believe, don't
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: matter what you say. What matters is that some people
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: want justice for what happened, and they decided you're gonna
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: pay for it, one way or another. Thomas felt the
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: world tilting beneath him. The Mountain Meadows Massacre had been
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: the darkest moment in the territory's history. a atrocity carried
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: out by Mormon militia against a passing wagon train, an
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: act of violence so heinous that its perpetrators had spent
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: the years since desperately trying to hide the truth, to
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: shift blame, to bury evidence. Thomas and William had been
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: called to join the militia action, yes, but they'd refused,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: horrified by what was being proposed, and they'd thought that
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: was the end of it. But apparently... Someone had decided
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: it wasn't. Someone had drawn up a list of names,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: men who'd been associated with the militia in any way,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: and put them on a reckoning. And now that reckoning
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: had come to the Carter homestead. Listen to me, Thomas
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: called out, trying to keep his voice steady. If there's
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: men in Salt Lake who can vouch for us, who
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: know we weren't there, let's go to them. Let's settle
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: this properly, with witnesses and testimony. I'm willing to face
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: any fair tribunal. This ain't about fare, Carter. This is
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: about blood. Arkansas blood. And it's gonna be paid. The
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: rider reached for his rifle, and Thomas saw it happening
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: as if in slow motion, saw the man's hand closing
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: on the weapon, saw the other two riders starting to
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: move as well. He had perhaps two seconds to make
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: a decision, to choose between trying to negotiate further or
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: acting to defend his family. He chose defense. Thomas raised
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: his rifle and fired through the window, the glass exploding
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: outward in a shower of fragments. His shot took the
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: talking rider in the shoulder, spinning him in the saddle.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: The other two riders scattered, pulling their own weapons, returning fire.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Bullets punched through the log walls, sending splinters flying. Behind him,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: Thomas heard Margaret scream, heard the children crying.' Get down!'
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: he shouted.' Everyone on the floor!' William fired the shotgun
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: through another window, the blast deafening in the enclosed space.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: One of the rider's horses went down, throwing its rider
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: into the snow. The chaos was immediate and total. The
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: orderly world of the morning shattered into violence and terror.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Robert joined the fight, firing the pistol through a gap
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: in the logs, keeping the attackers from advancing. The riders
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: had retreated to cover behind a small rise in the ground,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: but they continued to fire, methodically. impatiently. They weren't trying
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: to storm the house. They were settling in for a siege.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: As the initial exchange of gunfire died down into an
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: uneasy standoff, Thomas crawled across the floor to where his
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: family huddled in terror. Margaret clutched little Margaret to her chest,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: the child sobbing uncontrollably. Elizabeth and Sarah held each other,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: their faces pale as milk. James sat rigid with shock,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: unable to process what was happening. Caroline had gone completely silent,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: rocking back and forth with her baby, her eyes distant
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: and glazed. I'm sorry, Thomas whispered, though he knew the
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: words were inadequate, meaningless in the face of what he'd
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: brought upon them. God help us, I'm sorry. Outside, the
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: afternoon sun continued its descent toward the horizon. The siege
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: had begun, and in the hills around the Carter homestead,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: More men were gathering, answering a call that had been
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: sent out days before, preparing for what would come when
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: darkness fell. As afternoon faded into evening, the true scope
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: of their situation became horrifyingly clear. The three riders who'd
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: initially confronted the house had been joined by others, men
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: emerging from the hills and the valley like spirits materializing
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: from the landscape itself. Thomas counted at least eight, possibly more,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: surrounding the homestead in a loose perimeter, staying just beyond
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: effective rifle range, waiting. The log walls of the house,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: solid as they'd seemed when Thomas built them, now revealed
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: their weaknesses. The chinking between the logs had gaps, and
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: bullets could penetrate if not completely, then enough to send
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: splinters and fragments flying. One such fragment had grazed Sarah's arm.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: leaving a bloody scratch that looked worse than it was,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: but the sight of blood on his daughter's sleeve had
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: nearly broken Thomas's composure entirely. They'd pushed the heavy table
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: against one wall and huddled behind it, creating a crude barrier.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: The men took turns at the windows, watching the attackers,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: occasionally firing when someone moved too close, but conserving ammunition
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: because they didn't know how long this would last. They
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: had perhaps fifty rounds total, maybe less. Against eight men
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: or more it wouldn't be enough if this turned into
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: a prolonged battle. As darkness fell completely, the temperature inside
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the house began to drop. The fire had burned down
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: to coals. They didn't dare add wood that would create
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: smoke and flames that might attract more gunfire, or worse,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: provide light for the attackers to aim by. The children
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: huddled together under blankets, shivering more from fear than cold,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: though both were present in equal measure. Margaret moved among them,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: trying to provide comfort, but her own fear was palpable,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: vibrating just beneath her controlled exterior. She kept glancing at
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Thomas with eyes that asked questions he couldn't answer. How
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: did this happen? How do we survive? What have you
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: brought upon our family? William sat apart, his back against
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: the wall, the shotgun across his lap, and Thomas could
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: see the guilt consuming his brother, the terrible understanding that
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: this had something to do with events from months ago,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: a wagon train from Arkansas, innocent people slaughtered in a meadow.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: They hadn't participated, they'd refused, but that didn't seem to
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: matter to the men outside. In the mathematics of vengeance,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: proximity to sin was the same as commission. Around eight
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: in the evening, one of the attackers called out again,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: the same voice that had spoken that afternoon. Carter, you listening?
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: Thomas moved to the window cautiously, staying low. I'm listening.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: You can't win this. You know that, right? We got
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: you surrounded. We got plenty of ammunition. And we got patients.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: Come out now, you and William. Face what's coming like men,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: and maybe we let the women and children go. Maybe
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: they get to live. Thomas felt rage surge through him,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: hot and righteous. You ride into my home, threaten my family,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: and then pretend to offer mercy. What kind of men
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: are you? The kind that lost kin at Mountain Meadows.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: The kind that watched our families butchered under a flag
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: of truce. We ain't the villains here, Carter. You are.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: You and everyone else who rode with that militia. We
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: didn't ride with them. How many times do I have
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: to say it? Don't matter. You were called. You were
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: part of it, even if you claim you stayed home.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: This is about every man who could have stopped it
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: and didn't. Every man who heard about it after and
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: kept quiet. Every man who protected the ones that did it.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: You're all guilty, far as we're concerned. Thomas wanted to argue,
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: to rage against the injustice of it, but part of
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: him understood. If his family had been among those killed
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: at Mountain Meadows, if he'd lost Margaret and his children
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: to that horror, wouldn't he want revenge too? Wouldn't he
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: seek out anyone connected to it, however tangentially, and make
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: them pay? The logic was brutal, but not incomprehensible.' If
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: I come out,' Thomas said slowly,' if William and I
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: surrender—' You'll let the others go. You'll let them walk
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: away from here. Thomas, no. Margaret's voice cut through the darkness,
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: sharp with terror and fury. I give you my word,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: the voice outside called back. The women and children, they
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: can leave. We got no quarrel with them. William had
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: stood up, moving closer. Brother, you can't trust them. Men
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: willing to do this, they ain't got honor. What choice
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: do we have? Thomas asked, and the despair in his
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: voice was total. We can't fight them off. We don't
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: have enough ammunition, enough supplies. Eventually they'll rush us or
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: burn us out, and then everyone dies. At least this way.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: Maybe the children live. Robert stepped forward from his position
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: by the door. Pa, no, there has to be another way.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: There isn't, son. Thomas looked at his eldest. seeing in
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: Robert's face the boy he'd been and the man he'd become,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: and felt his heart breaking. Take care of your mother.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: Take care of your sisters and brother. That's your job now.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: He turned to William. Brother, I'm sorry. Sorry I brought
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: you into this. Sorry we're here. But we knew after
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: Mountain Meadows, we knew something like this might come someday.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: We just hoped it wouldn't. William's face was grey in
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the dim light. but he nodded. Together, then. Like always,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: they made their preparations in the heavy silence that followed.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: Thomas embraced each of his children, holding them longer than
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: was comfortable, trying to memorize the feel of them, the
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: smell of their hair, the sound of their breathing. He
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: held Margaret last and longest, and they didn't speak because
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: there were no words adequate for goodbye in circumstances like these.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: William said his farewells to Caroline and their baby, and
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Caroline's silence broke into wild sobbing, desperate and unrestrained. The baby,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: feeding off his mother's distress, wailed in counterpoint, and the
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: sound filled the small house with an anguish so profound
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: it seemed to saturate the very walls. Thomas moved to
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: the door, placed his hand on the rough wood. Outside,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: he could hear the attackers moving, taking positions, preparing. He
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: looked back one last time at his family huddled in
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: the darkness, at the faces he loved more than his
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: own life. And then he lifted the bar from the door.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: We're coming out, he called. Don't shoot. We're unarmed. He
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: pushed the door open. The cold air rushed in, carrying
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: with it the smell of snow and smoke and something else,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: something sharp and metallic that might have been blood, or
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: might have been fear. Thomas stepped over the threshold, William
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: beside him, and they walked forward into the moonlit night,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: hands raised, weapons left behind. The attackers emerged from the shadows,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: rifles pointed, forming a loose semicircle around the two brothers.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: Thomas could see their faces now in the moonlight, hard faces,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: weathered and grim, but also young some of them, barely
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: older than Robert. These were men who'd lost family, lost friends,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: and found in revenge the only comfort available to them.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: The leader, the one who'd been doing the talking, the
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: one Thomas had shot in the shoulder, his arm now
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: bound in a rough sling, stepped forward. You, Thomas Carter?
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: I am. And this is William? Yes. The man nodded slowly,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: studying them. Then he raised his rifle, pointing it directly
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: at Thomas' chest. Any last words? Thomas looked back at
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the house, at the door still standing open, knowing his
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: family was watching, listening. Tell my children I love them.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: Tell them I'm sorry. Tell them to be better than
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: the world we made. The rifle fired. The bullet took
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: Thomas in the centre of his chest, and he stumbled backward,
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: surprise and pain washing across his face. He fell to
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: his knees in the snow, his breath coming in gasping,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: wet sounds. William cried out, started to move toward him,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: and three rifles fired simultaneously. William jerked like a puppet
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: on strings and fell face-first into the snow, blood spreading
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: dark beneath him. Inside the house, Margaret screamed. It was
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: a sound beyond language, beyond humanity, a sound of absolute anguish.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: She started toward the door, but Robert grabbed her, held
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: her back even as she fought him with wild, desperate strength.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: The leader of the attackers lowered his rifle, looking down
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: at the two dying men. That's for Mountain Meadows, he
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: said quietly. Then he looked up at the house, at
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: the open door where the family cowered inside. And now,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: for the rest. It happened fast. The attackers rushed the
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: house in a coordinated assault, covering each other's advance. Robert
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: tried to slam the door shut, but two men hit
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: it with their shoulders and burst through, and suddenly the
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: interior that had been a sanctuary became a killing ground.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: The men fired indiscriminately. They'd promised to let the family go,
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: but it had been a lie, a tactical deception to
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: draw Thomas and William out. Now they were here to
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: finish what they'd started. to erase the entire Carter line
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: as if they'd never existed. Robert fought them hand to hand,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: his young strength pitted against trained killers. He managed to
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: disarm one man, get his hands around another's throat, but
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: then a rifle butt crashed into the side of his
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: head and he went down hard. A boot stamped on
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: his face, and he felt teeth breaking, felt his nose shatter,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: and then he felt nothing at all because the next
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: blow cracked his skull and sent him into darkness. Sarah
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: and Elizabeth huddled over little Margaret, trying to shield her
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: with their own bodies. The bullets found them anyway, punching
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: through their backs, through their shoulders, through their heads. They
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: died still trying to protect their baby sister, their blood
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: mixing on the floor, their bodies piled together in a final,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: futile embrace. James tried to run, to escape through the
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: back of the house, but an attacker caught him by
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: his collar and threw him against the wall. The boy
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: looked up at his killer, with eyes that couldn't comprehend
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: what was happening, couldn't process that the world contained this
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: much violence, this much hatred. The man shot him once, clinically,
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: and moved on to the next target. Margaret stood frozen,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: unable to move, unable to think, watching her world end.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: She saw her husband lying in the snow outside, saw
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: her sons and daughters falling, heard the gunfire and the
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: screams and the terrible, meaty sounds of bullets entering flesh.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: When the gun turned toward her, she almost welcomed it,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: because death was preferable to surviving this. Caroline never came
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: out from behind the curtain. She'd wrapped herself around her baby,
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: trying to muffle his cries with her body, trying to
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: make them both invisible. But the attackers were thorough. They
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: pulled back the curtain, found her there in the corner,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: and what happened next was perhaps the most merciful thing
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: that occurred that entire night. They killed her quickly. Assume. shot,
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: and she died still clutching her child, who followed her
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: seconds later, too small to understand why the world had
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: suddenly gone cold and dark and still. The attack lasted
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: less than ten minutes. When it was over, eight members
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: of the Carter family lay dead or dying. The attackers
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: moved through the house, checking bodies, ensuring their work was complete.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: They took nothing. This wasn't robbery. It was execution, pure
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: and simple. They'd come to deliver a message written in blood.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: No one connected to Mountain Meadows would be safe, no
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: matter how peripheral their involvement, no matter how much time passed.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: Before they left, They set small fires in the corners
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: of the house, nothing that would burn immediately but enough
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: that the structure would eventually catch. They wanted it to
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: look like an accident, wanted the bodies discovered in ruins
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: that would disguise the full extent of the massacre. They
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: dragged Thomas's and William's bodies inside, arranged everything to suggest
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: a home invasion gone wrong or a fire that claimed
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: the family in their sleep. and then they disappeared back
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: into the night, riding away as silently as they'd come,
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: leaving behind only the photograph, blown off the table by
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: the wind from the open door, lying face up in
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: the snow where it would be found three days later.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: The smoke was spotted on January 3rd by a neighbour
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: checking his traps along Dry Creek. He rode up to
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: investigate and found the Carter homestead in ruins, the roof collapsed,
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: the walls blackened, smoke still rising from the embers. At first,
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: he thought it was just a tragic fire, the kind
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: that claimed too many frontier families during the brutal winter months.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: Then he saw the photograph lying in the snow, curled
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: at the edges from the cold, showing eight faces frozen
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: in a moment of celebration, and beside it, partially covered
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: by drifted snow, the dark stains that no amount of
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: fire could disguise. He rode for help. and by nightfall,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: a party of men from Salt Lake City had arrived
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: to investigate. What they found in the wreckage was horrifying.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: Eight bodies, some burned beyond recognition, others showing clear signs
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: of violent death, bullet wounds that no fire could explain.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: The scene told a story of massacre, of deliberate murder.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: But that's not the story that got told. The official report,
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: filed with the territorial government three weeks later, described the
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: Carter Homestead incident as a tragic fire, possibly caused by
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: an overturned lamp or a spark from the fireplace. It
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: mentioned that the family appeared to have been overcome by
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: smoke before they could escape. It made no mention of
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: bullet wounds. It made no mention of evidence suggesting multiple attackers.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: It made no mention of the reports from neighbors that
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: unknown men had been seen in the area in the
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: days before the fire. Why? Because by January of 1857,
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: the Utah Territory was already in crisis. The Mountain Meadows Massacre,
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: which had occurred just months earlier, had created a national scandal.
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: Federal troops were being dispatched to the territory to investigate,
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: to restore order. to possibly remove Brigham Young from his
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: position as territorial governor. The last thing the church leadership
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: needed was another massacre, another atrocity, especially one that seemed
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: to be revenge for the first. So the Carter family
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: died twice, once in blood and violence on New Year's
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: Eve and once more in paperwork and official lies, erased
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: from history as surely as if they'd never existed. The
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: photograph survived. It passed through several hands over the years,
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: occasionally appearing in collections of frontier memorabilia, its significance largely forgotten.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: It wasn't until the 1920s, when a historian researching the
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: aftermath of Mountain Meadows stumbled across a reference to the
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: Carter family in a sealed church document that anyone thought
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: to connect that photograph to the events of January 1857.
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: The document, part of a private journal kept by a
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: church official, described how word had reached Salt Lake City,
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: about the massacre at the Carter Homestead, about how it
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: had been carried out by men from Arkansas seeking revenge
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: for their families lost at Mountain Meadows. It described the
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: deliberate decision to suppress the information, to falsify the reports,
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: to protect the territory from further scrutiny and scandal. It
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: also listed the names of the attackers, eight men, all
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: of whom had lost relatives at Mountain Meadows. all of
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: whom had travelled from Arkansas specifically to hunt down anyone
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: connected to the militia that had carried out that atrocity.
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: They'd worked from a list, the document revealed, a list
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: of names provided by apostates who'd fled the territory. Thomas
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: and William Carter were on that list, marked as having
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: been called to join the militia, though there was a
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: notation beside their names. CLAIMED REFUSAL The attackers hadn't cared
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: about that distinction. They'd made their own judgments, delivered their
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: own justice, and moved on to the next names on
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: their list. How many others died, the document didn't say,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: but it implied there were more, scattered across the territory,
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: hidden in official records under false causes of death, buried
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: in the desperate attempt to keep the truth from emerging.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: The historian who discovered this document tried to publish his findings.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: He was blocked at every turn. The church denied the
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: document's authenticity, suggested it was a forgery, threatened legal action.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: His publisher dropped the project. His academic position became untenable.
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: He died in 1934, bitter and obscure, his research unpublished,
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: his findings dismissed. But he'd made copies. He'd hidden them,
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: distributed them to people he trusted, knowing that someday somehow
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: the truth would come out. One of those copies ended
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: up in a university archive, misfiled under an unrelated heading,
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: forgotten for decades. It was rediscovered in 2003 during a
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: digitization project, and that's when the story of the Carter
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: family finally began to emerge from the shadows where it
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: had been buried for nearly a century and a half.
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: The photograph was re-examined. The official reports were questioned. Descendants
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: of the family were who'd been told for generations that
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: their ancestors had died in a fire, learned the truth.
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: Their family had been murdered in a revenge killing, a
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: small atrocity lost in the shadow of a larger one,
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: a tragedy compounded by the cover-up that followed. And the
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: men who did it? They were never brought to justice.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: They rode away from the Carter homestead and disappeared into history.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: Maybe some of them felt justified, vindicated by their actions.
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: Maybe others were haunted by what they'd done. by the
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: children's faces, by the screams. We'll never know. They took
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: their stories to their graves, and those graves are unmarked, anonymous,
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: scattered somewhere across Arkansas, or the territories they passed through
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: on their way home. The photograph still exists. It's in
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: a private collection now, owned by a descendant of the
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: Carter family who's chosen to remain anonymous. They've released digital
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: copies to historical societies, but the original they keep it
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: locked away, too painful to look at, too important to destroy.
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: Eight faces staring out from 1857, captured in a moment
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: of hope and celebration, unaware that within hours they would
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: all be dead, every single one, no survivors, no one
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: left to tell their story. Until now. The Carter homestead
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: was never rebuilt. The land was claimed by other settlers,
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: and eventually, The exact location of the house was lost,
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: just another forgotten spot in the vast Utah Territory. There's
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: no marker, no memorial, nothing to indicate that eight people
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: died there on New Year's Eve, 1857, caught between two massacres,
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: victims of a cycle of violence that neither began nor
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: ended with them. But maybe that's not the most disturbing
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: part of this story. The most disturbing part is how
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: easily they were erased. How a few strokes of a
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: pen in official reports could make a massacre disappear, could
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: turn murder into accident, could silence screams that should have
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: echoed through history. And it makes you wonder, how many
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: other stories like this are out there? How many other
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: families died in ways that were deliberately obscured, covered up,
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: hidden behind lies and false narratives? The Mountain Meadows Massacre
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: is known now. It's taught in schools, documented in books,
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: acknowledged by the church as a terrible tragedy. But the
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: Carter family massacre, and others like it, the revenge killings
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: that followed in its wake, those remain largely unknown, relegated
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: to the footnotes of history if they're mentioned at all.
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: Eight people, Thomas and Margaret, William and Caroline, Robert, Sarah, Elizabeth, James,
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: and little Margaret, and an infant whose name was never
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: even recorded in the official reports. Nine souls, if you
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: count the baby— snuffed out in a single night of violence.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: Nine lives that mattered to someone, meant something to the community,
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: left holes in the fabric of the world when they
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: were torn away. The photograph reminds us they existed. Those
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: eight faces, formal and solemn, dressed in their best clothes,
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: gathered for a celebration that would be their last, proved
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: that they were real, that they lived and loved and died.
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: And that, perhaps, is the only justice they'll ever receive,
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: being remembered. being seen, being known. This channel exists to
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: tell these stories, the ones that were buried, the ones
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: they didn't want you to hear. The Carter family deserves
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: to be remembered for more than just a macabre footnote,
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: more than just a photograph of people about to die.
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: They deserve to be known as individuals who lived and
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: suffered and were victimized twice, once by their killers and
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: once by the officials who erased them from history. If
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: you've stayed with me until now, If you've heard this
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: whole terrible story, hit that subscribe button. Turn on notifications.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: Because there are more stories like this, more truths that
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: were deliberately hidden, more people who deserve to be remembered.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to keep telling them, keep bringing them
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: out of the darkness, keep making sure that the dead
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: are not forgotten. The Carter family's last photograph shows them together, united,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: moments before they were torn apart. Let's make sure that
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: 170 years later, they're still together, still remembered, still honored.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: Not as victims, but as people who lived, who celebrated,
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: who loved each other. People who deserved better than what
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: they got, both in life and in death. Share this story.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: Let others know. Make sure that Thomas and Margaret... William
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: and Caroline, Robert and Sarah, and Elizabeth and James and
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: little Margaret. Make sure they're not forgotten again. Make sure
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: their faces, frozen in that photograph, continue to stare out
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: at us, reminding us that history is written by those
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: in power. And sometimes the truth has to be dragged
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: out of the darkness, one story at a time. The
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: snow fell softly over the Utah Territory on the morning
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: after the Carter family died, covering the blood, hiding the evidence,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: making everything clean and white and innocent again. But underneath,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: the truth remained, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be told.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: And now it has been. Now you know what really
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: happened on New Year's Eve, 1857, in a small homestead
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: 15 miles south of Salt Lake City. Now you know
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: why eight faces in a photograph look out at us
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: with expressions we can't quite read, caught between celebration and
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: something else, something darker. They knew, perhaps in some subconscious way,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: that their time was running out. That the violence unleashed
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: at Mountain Meadows would find its way to their door,
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: would take everything from them, would erase them from history.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: But we've brought them back. We've told their story. and
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: as long as someone remembers, as long as someone cares,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: they're not truly gone. The Carter family, Utah, 1857. No
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: one survived, but their story did, and that, in the end,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: is what matters most.