This is an IHeart podcast.

Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosity's, A production of IHeart Radio and grim and mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

They say a story changes with the storyteller, and few tales have had more revisions than that of James Jesse Strang, the self-declared king of Beaver Island.

Depending on who you ask, James was either a prophet, a tyrant, a genius, or a madman.

But what's certain is that he carved out one of the strangest footnotes in American history.

Life for James started out conventionally enough.

Born in upstate New York in 1813, he spent time as a lawyer, a newspaper editor, and even as a Baptist minister. But in 1844,

he found something calling him in the words of a brand-new religion. Following the words of founder Joseph Smith, he converted to Mormonism, a faith that was just 14 years old at the time.

Later that year, on June 27th of 1844, Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob, leaving the Church

of Latter-day Saints leaderless. Many members threw their hat into the ring to lead the religion,

including James Jesse String. James actually claimed that Smith had named him his successor

in a letter. Of course, this was a letter that he only revealed the existence of after Smith was gone.

So, most Mormons decided to follow a different leader, a guy named Brigham Young.

While Brigham Young led the majority of the church west to Salt Lake City, Utah,

James split off with his own faction.

He claimed an angel came to him in the night,

showing him what he called a land amidst wide waters and covered with large timber. In 1848,

he led his followers to Beaver Island, a remote forest-covered outpost in northern Lake Michigan.

And there, in an audacious mix of prophecy and pageantry, he donned a crown,

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