Joseph Smith, Jr. claimed that the guardian of the plates commanded him to bring his brother, Alvin, with him in September of 1824 to secure the plates. However, Alvin died on 19 November 1823, which made it impossible for that to happen. Or did it? A false rumor had it that Joseph exhumed the body to take it with him to the location of the plates, so the request could be satisfied. In a bizarre turn of events, Wikipedia details the following…

“Biographer Fawn M. Brodie wrote that the Smith family ‘heard a rumor that Alvin’s body had been exhumed and dissected. Fearing it to be true, the elder Smith uncovered the grave on September 25, 1824 and inspected the corpse.’ Following the exhumation, Joseph Smith, Sr. printed the following in the local newspaper on September 29, 1824: ‘TO THE PUBLIC: Whereas reports have been industriously put in circulation that my son Alvin had been removed from the place of his interment and dissected; which reports … are peculiarly calculated to harrow up the mind of a parent and deeply wound the feelings of relations … therefore, for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of such reports, I, with some of my neighbors this morning, repaired to the grave, and removing the earth, found the body, which had not been disturbed. This method is taken for the purpose of satisfying the minds of those who may have heard the report, and of informing those who have put it in circulation, that it is earnestly requested they would desist therefrom.’”

The glaring question then becomes the purpose of the meme.