The Michigan Relics, also called the Scotford Frauds or Soper Frauds, are a group of claimed ancient items that were supposedly found in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some people said these items proved that people from an ancient culture in the Near East had lived in the area that is now the U.S. state of Michigan before European explorers arrived in the Americas. However, many experts have concluded that these items are fake archaeological discoveries. The Michigan Relics are regarded as one of the most detailed and widespread fake archaeological hoaxes in American history.

"Discovery" of the Relics

In October 1890, James O. Scotford of Edmore, Michigan, said he had found several artifacts, including a clay cup with unusual symbols and carved tablets that looked somewhat like ancient Egyptian writing. The discovery attracted attention, and people eager to find more artifacts arrived in the area. More detailed items were later found near Wyman in Montcalm County, Michigan, after Scotford’s initial discovery. Scotford was a well-known person in Wyman who dug for artifacts and painted signs. He and his team would dig until they found an artifact, then invite important people who funded the work to take it. Within a year of Scotford’s discovery, a group of interested individuals formed in Montcalm County. This group bought many of the artifacts and tried to use them to make money for the region.

By 1907, Scotford worked with Daniel E. Soper, a former Michigan Secretary of State, to display thousands of objects made from different materials. They claimed these items were found in 16 counties across Michigan. Soper had left his job as Secretary of State after being accused of stealing money. The objects included coins, pipes, boxes, figurines, and ancient writing tablets showing scenes from the Bible, such as Moses giving the Ten Commandments. On November 14, 1907, the Detroit News reported that Soper and Scotford were selling copper crowns they said they had found on the heads of ancient kings, as well as copies of Noah’s diary. Scotford often had a local person watch him “unearth” the objects.

Scotford and Soper had many customers who believed the artifacts were real. In 1911, John A. Russell published a pamphlet titled Prehistoric Discoveries in Wayne County, Michigan, in which he claimed the items were authentic. James Savage, a former pastor at the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Detroit, bought 40 of the objects. Savage believed they were “remains important to the descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel” and continued to believe in the artifacts until his death in 1927.

Debunking

In 1891, Professor Albert Emerson visited the sites to examine the "artifacts" he had seen in photographs. He found them to be clearly fake after a closer look. In 1892, Professor Francis W. Kelsey, who taught Latin and Literature at the University of Michigan, and Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., who worked with ancient languages at the University of Pennsylvania, studied the writings on the objects. They concluded the Michigan Relics were fake and noted that the writings were a mix of different ancient scripts. Most early scholars who examined the relics agreed they were fake archaeological items, based on the following evidence:

Archaeologists and historians repeatedly said the objects were forgeries. On July 28, 1911, Professor Frederick Starr of the University of Chicago wrote in the Detroit News that the so-called relics were not real. Mary Robson, who lived near Scotford’s sons Percy and Charles, said the boys kept making more "relics." In 1911, Scotford’s stepdaughter signed a legal statement saying she saw him making the objects. She also said Scotford threatened her life when she questioned their authenticity. Most scholars believe Scotford created the relics and Soper sold them for personal gain. However, neither man ever admitted to the fraud. Both continued their work until they died in the 1920s.

The Relics and LDS

The discoveries attracted the attention of some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). In 1909, a Mormon scientist named James E. Talmage joined a "dig" and carefully tested the artifacts in his laboratory in Utah. His research led him to call the artifacts fake. In August 1911, he wrote a book about his findings titled "The 'Michigan Relics': A Story of Forgery and Deception." Rudolph Etzenhouser, a traveling elder of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (RLDS), believed the relics proved the Book of Mormon was historically true. Etzenhouser also wrote a book about his collection of the Michigan Relics.

After James Savage died in 1927, he left his collection of the relics to the University of Notre Dame. While at Notre Dame, the relics were not studied or displayed until the 1960s, when Milton R. Hunter, president of the New World Archaeological Foundation, discovered them. Hunter spent the rest of his life trying to use the relics to prove the Book of Mormon was historically true. He connected the relics to the "Michigan Mound Builders," which he believed were the Nephites from the Book of Mormon. Hunter’s work and statements about the Michigan Relics helped spread unreliable archaeological methods in religious studies, including efforts to prove early contact between people in the Americas and Europe, and the idea that mound builders were ancient people. Notre Dame gave Hunter the collection in the 1960s, and before his death in 1975, he gave the collection to the LDS Church. After Hunter’s death, the Church kept the collection in their museum in Salt Lake City, Utah, for many years. In 2001, the Church asked Professor of Anthropology Richard B. Stamps from Oakland University to examine the artifacts. He found that the items were made with tools from the modern era.

The LDS Church kept 797 of the objects in their Salt Lake City Museum. In 2003, they gave the items to the Michigan History Museum in Lansing, where they remain today. The museum created an exhibition called "Digging Up Controversy: The Michigan Relics," which was displayed in the fall and winter of 2003.