# where are the mormon gold plates? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 25, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042 "2003-12-25T20:53:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crow\_t\_robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@crow\_t\_robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crow_t_robot)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/1 "2003-12-25T20:53:50Z")
The plates that Joseph Smith deciphered into the Book of mormon, where are they now? ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/2 "2003-12-25T21:03:22Z")
Read “Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer. That will put your question in context and probably give you as good of an answer as you are going to get. ---
**Author:** ![crow\_t\_robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@crow\_t\_robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crow_t_robot)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/3 "2003-12-25T21:15:02Z")
A simple “in the temple of blahblah” or "nobody knows would suffice… I was just curious as to what happend to them. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/4 "2003-12-25T21:20:28Z")
The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that Moroni, the resurrected son of the prophet Mormon, handed over the plates to Smith in 1827, but that Smith had to return them later on after copying and translating them. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/5 "2003-12-25T21:45:00Z")
[http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/gospel/restoration/gold\_plates\_eom.htm](http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/gospel/restoration/gold_plates_eom.htm) > [@](#): > > After Joseph Smith translated the plates, they were returned into the keeping of the Angel Moroni and presumably taken into Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![DirkGntly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/6 "2003-12-25T22:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > After Joseph Smith translated the plates, they were returned into the keeping of the Angel Moroni and presumably taken into Heaven. I find that to be _remarkably_ convenient. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/7 "2003-12-25T23:05:26Z")
[Sings] Dum dum dum dum dum! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/8 "2003-12-25T23:26:34Z")
There were no golden plates. There were. No golden. Plates. There. Were. No. Golden. Plates. There… Were… No… Golden… Plates. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/9 "2003-12-25T23:55:47Z")
Which brings up a point. Shouldn’t questions related to speculative religion be posted somewhere else? IMHO maybe? As **Gadfly** suggests, if they may never have existed then there is no General Answer to the query. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/10 "2003-12-26T00:17:40Z")
I think **crow’s** question was intended as a legit, fact-based question. Unless you’re better versed in the history, it’s not hard to think that the plates physically existed somewhere as actual artefacts as some kind. I’ve read about Joseph Smith too, but being hazy on the details, I wasn’t sure if Smith showed up with actual plates of some kind, claiming they were from an angel, and then made his translation. Or if he showed up with just the translation and said they were from the plates (that no one else ever saw). So **jimpatro** , if **crow** was asking in the former sense (thinking that Smith had showed up with real plates prior to making the translation), then his question is more like “so where are the Dead Sea Scrolls being stored these days?” To which there is a factual answer. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/11 "2003-12-26T00:28:20Z")
If you look there is a link underneath the post that says “Report this post to the moderator.” Just do so and if it needs to be moved they will do it. The problem with IMHO is it really isn’t for “heavy sujects.” Look at most of the GQ questions there really is not a fact answer to a lot of them yet they remain. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/12 "2003-12-26T00:47:34Z")
But there **is** is a factual answer, and its been given. According to LLD doctrine, they were returned to heaven. According to most non-LLD sources, they probably never existed. Either way, they are not currently anywhere on earth. I don’t see what else needs to be said. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-mormon-gold-plates/221042/13 "2003-12-26T01:11:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \*\*\*Alan Smithee \*\* > But there **is** is a factual answer, and its been given. According to LLD doctrine, they were returned to heaven. According to most non-LLD sources, they probably never existed. Either way, they are not currently anywhere on earth. I don’t see what else needs to be said. Yeah, I agree. Anything more is outside the scope of this forum. Anyone wishing to debate the existence of the gold plates may start a thread in Great Debates. This is closed. **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator