Voree Plates

The Voree Plates, also called The Record of Rajah Manchou of Vorito, or the Voree Record, were a set of three tiny metal plates allegedly discovered by Latter Day Saint leader James J. Strang in 1845 in Voree, near Burlington, Wisconsin. Purportedly the final testament of an ancient American ruler named "Rajah Manchou of Vorito", Strang asserted that this discovery vindicated his claims to be the true successor of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement—as opposed to the better-known Brigham Young. They also lent credence to his claim that Voree, not Utah, was to be the new "gathering place" of the Latter Day Saints. Strangs purported translation of this text is accepted as scripture by his church and some other bodies descending from it, but not by any other Latter Day Saint organization.

Unlike the plates discovered by Joseph Smith, the existence of Strang's plates was verified by independent, non-Mormon witnesses, including Christopher Latham Sholes, inventor of the first practical typewriter. Strang was accused of having fabricated them from a brass tea kettle, a claim which he and his partisans vigorously denied. The plates disappeared around 1900, and their current whereabouts are unknown.