It was a typical moment that took an unusual turn.

When Mormon founder Joseph Smith and his brother

Hiram were killed by a mob while awaiting trial in 1844, their bodies were transported in

rough-hewn oak caskets. These were simple boxes, yes, but even a simple box can become holy

if you place a prophet inside. And so not long after, Smith's followers

took planks from one of those caskets and carved the wood into a set of walking canes. According to legend,

there were 12 of these canes made in total. Some even had the deceased's hair embedded in the

white knob handle. And suffice to say everyone, that is, everyone within the Latter-day Saints movement

wanted to get their hands on one of these rare sacred relics.

In fact, some even considered them as important as the Holy Grail.

But here's the thing.

These canes weren't simply symbolically powerful.

They were literally powerful, because some said that they possessed the ability to heal.

One early LDS leader, Heber C. Kimball, was lucky enough to snag one of these coveted canes,

and he had this to say about it, and I quote,

The day will come when there will be multitudes who will be healed and blessed

through the instrumentality of those canes, and the devil cannot overcome those who have them.

Now, I've learned a lot about eerie objects over the years, but magical canes made from a dead man's

casket, that one is new. At the end of the day though, there are no two cultures

that treat a person's death quite the same, let alone agree upon what death is, what it

means, and what exactly happens after we die. But there's one aspect of leaving this life

that is true across the board. When someone dies, you are going to have a body to deal with, and you

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