[The following narrative is reproduced as I received it--except that
I have corrected spelling and grammatical errors as indicated by brackets.
It appears to be a transcript of a talk. Note that San Juan County is in
eastern Utah. --DCA, 3/9/1998]
I have been requested to relate an experience I had in 1908 [or] 1909 in
San Juan County. I was just making a home in Blanding and the whole county
there was covered with trees and sagebrush. I was working hard to clear the
ground to plant a few acres of corn. We had five acres cleared and [we] started
to plant the corn. My little boy Roy, [seven] or [eight] years old[,] was
there to help me plant the corn. I'd plow around the piece and then he'd
plant the furrow with the corn. Then I'd cover it and plow again. While I
was plowing on that piece of ground, I discovered there were ancient houses
there, that is[,] the remnant[s] of them.
As I was plowing around I noticed that my plow had turned out the skeleton
of a small child[--]the skull and the backbone[. M]ost of the the bones[,]
of course[,] were decayed and gone. Part of the skeleton was there, so I
stopped immediately as my plow had passed it a little. I turned and looked
back against the bar of the plow between the handles. As I was looking at
that little skeleton that I had plowed out[,] and wondering, all of a sudden
to my surprise[,] I saw the bones begin to wiggle[. T]hey began to change
position and to take on [a] different color[. W]ithin a minute there lay
a beautiful little skeleton. It was a perfect little skeleton.
Then I saw the inner parts of the natural body coming in--the entrails, etc.
I saw the flesh coming on and I saw the skin come on the body [after] the
inner parts of the body [were] complete. A beautiful head of hair adorned
the top of the head[. I]n about a half a minute after the hair was on the
head, it had a beautiful crystal decoration in the hair. It was combed
beautifully and parted on one side. In about a half a minute after the hair
was on the head, the child raised up on her feet. She was lying a little
on her left side with her back toward me. Because of this I wasn't able to
discern the sex of the child, but as she raised up, a beautiful robe came
down over her left shoulder and I saw it must be a girl.
She looked at me and I looked at her, and for a quarter of a minute we just
looked at each other smiling. Then [in] my ambition to get a hold of her,
I [said,] "oh, you beautiful child," and I reached out as if I would embrace
her and she disappeared.
That was all I saw, and I stood there and I wondered and I thought for a
few minutes. My little boy was wondering why I was there because he was down
at the other end of the row[,] anxious to come and plant the corn. Now, I
couldn't tell that story to anyone because it was so mysterious to me and
such. Why should I have such a miraculous experience[?] I couldn't feature
a human being in such a condition as to accidentally plow that little body
out and see it come alive. A body of a child about five to seven years old,
I'd say.
I couldn't tell that story to anyone until finally one day I met a dear friend
of mine, Stake Patriarch Wayne H. Redd of Blanding. He stopped me on the
street and [said], "Zeke, you have had an experience on this mesa you won't
tell[.] I want you to tell it to me." Well, I told it to him. Then he had
me tell it to other friends and since then I have told it in four temples
in the United States and many meeting houses and many socials, fast meeting,
and a conference times.
I wondered, and it worried me for years[,] as to why [...] was I, just a
common [uneducated] man, allowed to see such a marvelous manifestation of
God's power.
One day as I was walking alone with my hoe on my shoulder going to hoe some
corn, something said, "Stop under the shade of that tree for a few minutes
and rest." This just came to me and I thought I would, so I stopped there
and [the following] was given to me.
It was in answer to my prayer. I prayed incessantly for an answer as to why
I was privileged to see that resurrection. I was told why. When the child
was buried there, it was either in time of war with the different tribes
or it was winter time when the ground was frozen and they had no tools to
dig deep graves. If it were during time of war they couldn't possibly take
time to dig a deep grave. They just planted that little body as deep as they
could under the circumstances. When it was done the sorrowing mother knew
that it was such a shallow grave, that in her sorrow she cried out to the
little group that was present, "That little shallow grave, the first beast
that comes along will smell her body and will dig her up and scatter her
to the four winds. Her bones will be scattered all over these flats.["] There
just happened to be a man present holding the priesthood (a Nephite or a
Jaredite, I don't know which because they had both been in this country.
I've been in their houses and know it.) The man said, "Sister, calm your
sorrows. Whenever that little body is disturbed or uncovered, the Lord will
call her up and she will live. Since that time, I have taken great comfort,
great cheer and consolation and satisfaction, with praise in my heart and
soul, until I haven't the words to express it, that it was I that uncovered
that little body.
Thank you for listening to me. I just can't tell this without crying.
Zeke Johnson
son of Joel Hills Johnson