Case file · Folklore / legend
The Three Nephites in Utah
Latter-day Saint folklore tells of the Three Nephites, disciples of the Book of Mormon granted to live until Christ's return, appearing as old strangers who help travellers and vanish; folklorist Hector Lee's 1949 study collected over a hundred such Utah accounts.
1949 CE · 40.76, -111.88 · status: legend
The account
The stories run from pioneer times to car breakdowns on modern highways, a pattern like the vanishing hitchhiker.
The sceptical view
Lee showed the tales follow traditional patterns; they are lived faith stories rather than events that can be checked.