Mormonism is more strange than most. The leader who started it was literally a traveling treasure digger in 1820's New York. He conned people out of money by going to houses and telling them that they had treasure on their property and if they paid him, he would dig it up. He was never successful, but moved from town to town doing so. He often claimed that this treasure was left by Native Americans and ancient inhabitants. The law eventually caught up to him and he was even tried in court for these accusations and admitted to the con. Just a few years later, low and behold he found ancient scriptures made of gold buried in his backyard. These were written in an unknown language ("reformed egyption", I language that scientists now say never existed), that only he could read. He translated the book which eventually became the "Book of Mormon" today, which is the baseline for most of Mormonism.

He then gained a following by claiming to speak directly to God and writing these discourses in a book called "The Book of Commandments", which the modern church has now edited down to what they still use, known as "The Doctrine and Covenants", which they believe are direct words from God. This is where strange rules like not drinking coffee, tea, and alcohol come from, which modern Mormons follow today. Funny enough, the founder didn't prescribe to any of these rules himself, in fact he was drinking heavily on the night of his death.

The leader, Joseph Smith took his followers from state to state as the nation expanded, building a larger and larger following. He was kicked out of each state due to unruly practices in that they were starting to preform, like an attempted assassination on the Missouri Governor (he was shot 4 times in the upper chest and head and managed to survive), starting an illegal bank and printing his own currency, practicing polygamy (he was married to at least 38 women that we have record of, but probably many more), and much more.

The prophet, Joseph Smith died after a newspaper ran a story that unveiled his polygamy to the world. He got his militia together and burned the printing press down. This lead to his warrant and eventual arrest. While in jail he had arranged for his militia to break him out of prison. So when they heard a mob approaching the jail where he was kept, he actually told the jail guards that his militia was coming and they didn't want to die for this. So the guards stepped aside and let the mob approach the prison, only to find that the mob was filled with angry people from town that had read about this story or who were upset with the many other things Joseph Smith had done. They approached in protest. Joseph Smith had smuggled a gun into the prison in a trenchcoat, she he started firing at them through a door, and a firefight broke out as a result, leaving Joseph Smith dead.

After Joseph Smith, comes Brigham Young who took all the Mormons to modern-day Utah to start a fresh life. From there, a whole other fascinating story begins. Including things like "Blood Atonement" (killing people to absolve them of their sins), more polygamy, The Utah War (armed Mormons fought off several bands of US Military), the Mountain Meadows Massacre (120 immigrants were killed in cold blood that were passing through Utah heading to California), and so many more that I can't get into here.

It is quite a fascinating history if you are curious. This isn't even getting into Doctrine. Much of which is a spiritual spin off Stone Masons rituals, the basis that Jesus visited the modern-day-USA after he died on the Cross in Jerusalem, a whole group of ancient Americans who traveled over from Jerusalem in 600BC, and so much more.

Its definitely different than your standard religion.