FACIAL FRACTURES EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
THE DEATH MASK AND THE JS PHOTOGRAPH

The experts in facial fractures and trauma point out that it is no coincidence that the death mask is different from the JS Photograph. The aforementioned areas on the mask are just those areas that change the appearance of a person when they receive the kind of facial fractures that are present in the skull of Joseph Smith. This explains why the mask is dimensionally different from the photograph in those areas.

For many people it also explains why the drawings and paintings of the Prophet, done from the death mask, are incompatible with the countless handsome personal descriptions given of the Prophet. Some of the side profiles done by these artists may reflect the fractured distorted face from the death mask. When the chin is brought foreword by some artists in their sculptures and drawings, it is probably done to make him look more handsome. In deviating from the death mask template, artists are inadvertently correcting the image, making him look more like we now think he did.

As one refers to medical textbooks on facial fractures and consults with Facial Trauma Surgeons, the descriptions fit, "to a tee", the area in question on both the mask and the skull. To facial trauma experts, there are well known areas of the face that fracture when a person receives a blow to the face. These areas of "breakage" occur along natural fault lines called "suture" lines in the bones of the skull. The lines specific to Joseph Smith's trauma are called the Le Forte I, II, and III fracture lines. (see Fig. 8, below)

Fig. 8: A skull showing the Le Forte fracture lines. These are the very lines that fracture when a face is trumatized.

When the bones associated with the Le Forte lines break they can sometimes become displaced, moving in the soft tissues of the face. This bone displacement causes a persons face to look different. In fact, Le Forte fractures are characterized by the person's face becoming elongated. Joseph Smith's skull and death mask present the classic signs of the Le Forte fractures. The elongated face of the mask is evident, as we have stated, when compared to the JS Photograph. Even the widened area of the upper lip on the mask, as compared to the photo, can be explained by displacement of the Le Forte I fracture line. (see Fig. 9, below)

Fig. 9: This series illustrates the dramatic soft tissue changes that can occur when there are multiple facial fractures. The normal face and skull is shown in skull A. Normally when the mouth is opened, the distance between the tip of the nose and upper lip does not change, as in skull B. However, when the Le Forte I line breaks, the upper lip can extend and the jaw recede without the mouth opening or the lips separating. Note the extreme difference about the lower part of the face between skull A and skull C. Experts believe this is the difference in prominence referred to by Joseph Smith III.

There is also physical evidence in the death mask and a mention in the historical record that the nose was stuffed with cotton. This action was probably done for several reasons:

1. Cotton packing would keep the plaster out of the nose when making a death mask.
2. It may have been used to pack the nose and help splint the fractured distorted face into a more normal position. This kind of packing to splint and support fractures is still used today.
3. It prevented body fluids from leaking out. The historical record indicates cotton was used on both Hyrum's and Joseph's bodies for this purpose so as to prepare them for viewing.

Medical texts state that leaking cerebral-spinal fluid from the nose is a classic sign of Le-Forte facial trauma. The packing of the nose could have done to stop this rather gory symptom for the public viewing. However, regardless of the reason, it would also push down on the Le-Forte I fracture and cause a greater displacement of the separation of the maxilla (upper teeth.) This would easily account for the elongated area of the upper lip (see Fig. 10, below) and therefore the retrognathic condition of the lower face (i.e. the extremely recessed lower jaw) As one can see, facial trauma gives numerous rationale for the differences between the death mask and his living image, the JS Photograph.

Fig. 10: Cotton packing as found in the death mask.


JOSEPH SMITH III KNEW

Returning to history for a moment, we find an interesting description of the death mask by Joseph Smith Jr's son, Joseph Smith III. He knew his father, lived with his father, and was nearly 12 years old when his father died. Certainly he knew as well as anyone what his father looked like. Joseph III may not have known about his father's facial fractures, but he definitely had a problem with the distortions created by them when artists reproduced his father's image using the death mask. He said:

"...the expression about the lower part of the face, taken from the death mask, which I saw reproduced in Ogden...several years ago, gives too full prominence to the lips and chin."

Now that new light has been shed in all this confusion may we consider this photo for what Joseph Smith's son and our experts say it is: An Actual Photograph of Joseph Smith the Prophet.

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