"Every man's life," wrote Emerson, "is a secret known only to God." Certainly this must be said of Solomon Spalding, much of whose story remains obsure. The events of his life suggest a pattern of disappointment, frustration and failure, as the world judges. In the inner realm of the spirit, his vivid imagination found release and solace, and brought him, in the end, some measure of that fame which eluded him in his life. Ironically, he is remembered today solely for his alleged influence on the creation of the Book of Mormon, a curious fate for one to whom revealed religion was, at best, "delusion."