And do we have a whopper of a development today!
Late last night, relatives of Malvern Hansen wrote to share with me with a detailed account of the building of Kay's Cross:
I understand there's a lot of speculation surrounding an icon in Kaysville, the now infamous Kay's Cross.From Malvern Hansen's 2012 journal:
With Halloween just around the corner, I have received permission to share the story of how it came to be, from one of the last survivors who helped to build it, my father, Malvern Hansen.
Following is his story, in his own words, that he's only shared with family prior to now. He journaled it in 2012.
It is his desire now, that whoever is interested have these details as there's been so much misinformation over the years.
Charles Elden Kingston in 1940
I hope you enjoy his recollection and that it can put a lot of questions to rest.
In the summer of 1946 a man came to the people of the Co-op with a plan he wanted to present to us. He called himself Dr. Pencovic, but wanted to be referred to as Krishna Venta, which when translated to our language meant Christ returned. He was organizing a group in California and was forming this group into a form of united order. He was trying to get more people to join his group and wanted our people to join him.
The leader of the co-op was Charles Elden Kingston who wanted to be known and referred to as brother Elden and wanted to portray himself as being on an equal with all the members and our group was to be referred to as the Order. At the same time he was clearly the leader of our group.
I went to brother Elden with my concerns because I didn't believe Mr. Pencovic was Christ, and he informed me he was of the same belief. However he welcomed Pencovic in order to give all the members the chance to follow him if they chose.
This man was about 6 feet tall, very good looking, wore a long robe, went barefoot and had a full beard.
Krishna Venta in 1946
After attending a few of our meetings he informed us that he wanted us to build a stone cross at the farm in Kaysville to pay tribute to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Brother Elden agreed and organized a crew to do this. The men chosen to do this were Allen (Mac) Frandsen, Alfred Grundvig, Ammon and Ivan Nielsen, Ernie Ekstrom, Merlin Kingston, Malvern Hansen, Gerald Hansen. There may have been others, I am not sure.
A place was chosen on the hillside and we began working there. It started by us digging an excavation about a foot deep, about 10 feet long and about 6 feet wide. Then we took 3 pieces of steel rails that had been used in the coal mine to form the support for the cross. 2 of these rails were about 10 feet long and the third one about 6 feet long.
The 2 long rails were wired together at about 3 feet from the top end, then the cross rail wired to them. Then this structure was driven into the ground at the center of the excavation, then it was supported in the upright position and concrete filled the excavation holding it all in place.
Krishna Venta in 1949
Merlin, Gerald and myself had the job of gathering the rocks to make the structure. We got these rocks along the upper road where cherry hills subdivision now is. We chose rocks of suitable size and shape to do a good job.
This cross was about 9 feet tall and at the cross arm about 7 feet wide. The center of the cross about 6 feet high. At the base it was about 4 feet square and at the ends of the arms it was about 3 feet square sloping to about 2 feet where they all came together.
On the south face, right in the center was a recession about 3 inches deep and 20 inches high and 14 inches wide. Formed into this recession was the letter K which represented the word Knowledge.
This view of Kay's Cross after it was destroyed
in 1992 shows the rails and other
construction details mentioned by Hansen
After the foundation had hardened, Mac and Alfred laid up the rocks. I had the job of mixing the mortar which held the rocks together. Rather than regular mortar this was made of concrete without rocks in the mixture which made a very strong structure. Ernie created the form which formed the letter K.
The cross was never completed as we stopped work on it when Pencovic returned to California.
Krishna Venta and his wife, known as "Mother Ruth," London, 1949
Now a brief review about Pencovic. He was born and named Francis Herman Pencovic March 29, 1911, [and] had his name legally changed to Krishna Venta in a California court in 1951.
He openly stated he was Jesus Christ. He also claimed to have come to earth with a convoy of rocket ships from the planet Neophrates which had been destroyed for the wickedness of it's people. Soon after he left here he formed a religious cult named W.K.F.L. [Wisdom Faith Knowledge Love] at Chatsworth California.
He died in a suicide bombing carried out by 2 of his followers who blew up themselves and 8 other people after he had been intimate with the wives of these men.
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| This view of Kay's Cross shows the letter K and the T shapes mentioned by Mr. Hansen. The ends of the cross arms seem to have a square shaped depression, but no recognizable letters (see first photo, above). Other witnesses have explained that the T and square shaped depressions were intended to be filled with ornaments--work never completed (more on this later). One of the rails mentioned by Hansen is clearly visible. |
The cross had a large letter K embedded at the center of the cross arms. There was a lot of speculation regarding what it represented, some thought it referred to Kingston, others thought it was Kingdom, but I remembered it as Knowledge.The family member concludes:
At the end of each cross member was also engraved letters which I could not remember. This email helped me remember the other letters as W for wisdom, F for faith, and L for love, the symbol of his organization in California which he tried to organize here in Utah.
This photo of a portion of Kays Cross, 2010, shows many of the details mentioned by Hansen.
Photo credit: Rslnerd, Wikipedia, public domain
The cross was never completed, as he left before the completion and went back to California at which time we did no more work on it. Also my research found that his death by being bombed was mainly because he had been sexually involved with the wives of his killers.
I might be the only man alive who helped build the cross. If there is anyone else it would be Melvin Frandsen.
The cross was built because of Mr. Pencovic. It was part of his plan to get the Kingston group to be his followers.
My Dad is 96 years old and just wants to get the truth out there.
Does this solve the mystery of Kay's Cross?
Malvern Hansen's account is a detailed and, apparently, first-hand account of the construction of Kay's Cross.And what a wild story it is--an isolated hollow, a secretive Mormon polygamist group and its leader, and a nascent messiah--who was later blown up by his own followers.
Is this really the story?
Think of all the stories that have been invented and passed down over the year to explain Kay's Cross: Crazed pioneer polygamists, wives buried in the cross-arms, satan worship, satanic cults, evil mysterious ghost-farmer with rock-salt in his shotgun guarding the place day and night/summer and winter, dog-men haunting the spot, murdered polygamous wives, murdered polygamous families, William Kay and his wives, pioneers at all, polygamous family-murderers hanging themselves from the cross, six wives buried in a circle surrounding and one upright in the cross, a wife's heart buried in the cross-piece, a ghost-of-a-polygamous-wife-buried-under-the-cross-and-haunting-the-neighborhood, marauders, demons--all those and more have been passed in along in articles like this and this and this and this.
But if you grew up in Kaysville, you didn't need to read those legends on some web page. You probably heard them shared by your friends at school or your neighbors at church. Or maybe told and retold during midnight hike to visit Kay's Cross.
Of course, none of us probably really believed the wilder legends, or maybe any of them.
But Kay's Cross is such an unusual and striking artifact in such an unusual and unexpected place.
What could explain it realistically?
What is the evidence?
Hansen's story certain makes sense on the face of it. We have already established that the Kingston group owned the Boynton farm starting in the 1940s. So the dates match.Interestingly, although much of the speculation about the origins Kay's Cross I heard growing up in Utah involved some form of crazed or murderous polygamists, it is important to note that the Kingston group or any form of modern-day polygamist groups never figured into the picture. Kay's Cross origins were always imagined back much further, well in the 1800s. So murders or burials or other fantastic elements associated with the cross were always imagined to some how related to early Kaysville founders--never anything as modern as 1946.
So--just imagining Kay's Cross being built in 1946 rather than, say, 1856 or 1896 puts a whole new light on it. And that brings up:
New evidence, new mysteries . . .
Because Hansen's story raises as many mysteries as it solves!- Did Krishna Venta really meet and inspire the Kingston Clan leaders and followers in the 1940s? Is there any proof of this?
- Are there any other available accounts of the building of Kay's Cross from this period?
- Is there any other confirming or contradictory evidence to this version of the Kay's Cross story?
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