[Key Excerpts] On the discovery: "In April 1843, a group of men unearthed six small, bell-shaped brass plates from an Indian mound near Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois. The plates were covered with ancient-looking characters and were brought to Joseph Smith for examination." On early reactions: "William Clayton recorded in his journal on 1 May 1843: 'I have seen 6 brass plates... covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. Prest J. has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found & he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt.'" On the scientific analysis: "A careful examination was made of the one surviving plate by the Chicago Historical Society using modern techniques. Professor D. Lynn Johnson of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University conducted a scanning electron microscope analysis and a metallurgical examination. The tests showed conclusively that the plate was not of ancient origin. It had been fashioned from a piece of nineteenth-century copper, etched with acid, and the characters were not engraved but eaten into the surface." On the hoax's origin: "W. Fugate, one of the finders, confessed in 1879 that the plates were a hoax: 'I made the plates myself... We had them engraved ourselves.' Fugate stated that the intention was to test Joseph Smith's claim to be able to translate ancient records." Conclusion: "The Kinderhook plates incident is a useful study in how the evidence for or against something can be influenced by one's desires and preconceptions."