Kindly old gentlemen

The earliest episode associated with a Nephite legend is attributed to a party of sailors sent ashore for food and water by Christopher Columbus.? These sailors encountered three bearded old men who gave them supplies.?In another early story, a Nephite helped design the American flag.?The first recorded account of a story about the Three Nephites appeared in the 1892-93 issue of The Folk-Lorist, a publication of the old Chicago Folk-Lore Society.? In this early record, Rev. David Utter from Salt Lake City recounts how a man with a long gray beard spoke encouraging and helpful words to a young man on a religious mission in Liverpool, England.

The vanishing hitchhiker. There are two theories about the origin of the Three Nephites and the stories about them.?One idea is that they are a variation of folklore about the vanishing hitchhiker or wandering Jew.?In the vanishing hitchhiker tales, one of which became the basis for “Lori,?a popular song in the early sixties, a hitchhiker is picked up and given a ride.? He leaves either wisdom or a belonging and disappears mysteriously.

In “Lori,?the lyrics describe how a young girl hitchhiker is picked up and given a ride.? She mysteriously disappears, leaving her sweater in the backseat of the car, rather than giving advice as the Nephites would.?When the driver discovers her identity and attempts to return the item, her mother says the hitchhiker could not have been her daughter, who died twenty years earlier on the same day of the year, her birthday.

In a variation of this theme often called the “Hitchhiking Ghost Nephite,?a man and his wife were driving their truck from Montrose to Grand Junction, Colorado, during World War II when they picked up an old, bearded hitchhiker.? He rode with them for a long time, during which they discussed world events.?The gentleman seemed quite knowledgeable about the war.

Along a desolate stretch of road, the hitchhiker insisted on being let out of the car against the couple’s protests.?As he alighted from the vehicle he turned to thank them, saying, “I suppose you want to know when the war will end—it will end in August 1944.?span style="mso-spacerun: yes">? He then told them, “Along your way, you will be hauling a dead man.?o:p>