Parting of the Veil at Pulehu | David O. McKay, George Q. Cannon & the Maui Miracle (LDS)

Send us Fan MailCan the veil part for five people at once — and can a son stand in the presence of his deceased father? In February 1921, then-Apostle David O. McKay stood under a pepper tree on the grounds of the little chapel at Pulehu, Maui, where George Q. Cannon had experienced intense spiritual manifestations seventy years earlier while serving as a missionary to Hawaii. McKay felt impressed to offer a prayer of thanksgiving. During that prayer, with five men standing in a circle with bowed heads and closed eyes, Brother Keola Kalamai saw a vision: two men stepped out of line and shook hands. He thought Hugh J. Cannon and Elder Hearst had opened their eyes — but when he looked, both were still standing with heads bowed. He had seen George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith — the fathers of two of the men in that circle — greeting them from the other side of the veil. When McKay said, "I do not know the significance of your vision, but I do know that the veil between us and those former missionaries was very thin," Hugh J. Cannon, with tears rolling down his cheeks, whispered: "Brother McKay, there was no veil." This episode gathers all five firsthand accounts — Samuel Harris Hearst Jr.'s diary (written within hours), E. Wesley Smith's record, Hugh J. Cannon's narrative, and David O. McKay's own retellings across decades, including his 1955 reenactment on the same grounds. Each man experienced the event differently — one saw, one felt, one wept, one knew — and yet all testified that the veil was very thin. The episode also recounts the earlier manifestation at the same site: George Q. Cannon in 1850, appearing to stand in the air with a halo of light, as more than 100 people were transfigured before him.Q: What happened at Pulehu, Maui, in 1921?A: During a prayer of thanksgiving under a pepper tree, five men — including Apostle David O. McKay, Hugh J. Cannon (son of George Q. Cannon), and E. Wesley Smith (son of President Joseph F. Smith) — experienced a collective thinning of the veil. Brother Keola Kalamai saw a vision of two men shaking hands; McKay identified them as George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, the deceased fathers of two men in the prayer circle. Hugh J. Cannon, deeply moved, said: "Brother McKay, there was no veil."Q: Did each person experience the Pulehu vision the same way?A: No — and that is one of the episode's key teachings. Kalamai saw a vision of two men; McKay felt the veil was "very thin"; Cannon felt there was "no veil" and sensed his father's presence; Hearst recorded feeling profoundly stirred; Smith confirmed the sacredness of the moment. Each experienced the same event through a different spiritual sense — sight, feeling, knowing — demonstrating that revelatory experiences come in many forms.Q: Was David O. McKay's world tour accompanied by spiritual manifestations?A: Yes — the 1920–21 world tour, during which McKay (then age 47) visited Japan, Korea, China, Hawaii, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Europe, included numerous spiritual experiences. The Pulehu prayer is among the most documented, with five firsthand accounts preserved. McKay himself returned to Pulehu in 1955 as president of the Church and reenacted the experience on the same grounds for a group of 44.Q: What happened at Pulehu with George Q. Cannon in 1850?A: George Q. Cannon, serving as a young missionary, delivered a discourse at a small church on the grounds where the Pulehu chapel now stands. The Hawaiian tradition holds that during that sermon, Cannon appeared to be standing in the air rather than on the ground, with a great light shining around him, and that all but three of the more than 100 people present were transfigured before him.YouTube: Healing for the Dead and the Living Video: https://youtu.be/9QYNFq3EA6QYouTube Thinning of the Veil Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thinningoftheveilSUPPORT THE SHOW: Website: Thinning of the Veil: https://www.thinningoftheveil.com/Venmo:  https://account.venmo.com/u/thinningoftheveilPayPal: https://paypal.me/thinningoftheveil?country.x=US&locale.x=en_USBook: "Patterns of Revelation":  https://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Revelation-Spiritual-Foundations-Hearing-ebook/dp/B0BWGLZ8VXEmail: [email protected]: https://www.instagram.com/thinning.of.the.veil/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thinning.of.the.veil/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thinning.of.the.veilCITATIONS: Lavina F. Anderson, "Prayer under a Pepper Tree, Sixteen Accounts of a Spiritual Manifestation"- BYU Studies: https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/prayer-under-a-pepper-tree-sixteen-accounts-of-a-spiritual-manifestationSupport the show