An Iriot original.

I was born with a special gift.

The ability to mentally transform any situation into the worst case scenario.

In my own brain.

My therapist calls my gift catastrophizing.

And that's why I'm uniquely qualified to scrutinize and analyze history's greatest disasters.

And find out who's to play play.

They say history repeats itself.

Not on my watch.

My name is Rebecca Delgado-Smith and I am the alarmist.

Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into the alarmist.

A comedy podcast where we talk about history's greatest tragedies and figure out who's to blame.

Today we're discussing the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Here's what you need to know.

Since Joseph Smith, a young boy growing up in upstate New York in the early 1800s,

had founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He and his followers, known as Mormons, had been traveling west in search of Zion,

a new Jerusalem where they could live in peace.

Faced with fierce opposition in every town they sought to settle,

the Mormons moved further and further west.

In 1847, the Church's new prophet Brigham Young set his eyes on the Salt Lake Valley.

The territory was part of Mexico and would allow the Mormon Church freedom from the United States government.

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