William D. Huntington Raised from the Dead by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo

William Dresser Huntington, brother of Oliver B. Huntington, worked in the household of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo. During a devastating season of illness that swept through the city, William became gravely ill and grew progressively weaker over several weeks until he could not move, and then could not speak.

He later recounted his experience to Levi Curtis in August 1856 while they rode together on a log in Hobble Creek Canyon, Utah:

'He said he had been sick some weeks and kept getting weaker, until he became so helpless that he could not move. Finally he got so low he could not speak, but had perfect consciousness of all that was passing in the room. He saw friends come to the bedside, look at him a moment and commence weeping, then turn away.'

'He presently felt easy, and observing his situation found that he was in the upper part of the room near the ceiling, and could see the body he had occupied lying on the bed, with weeping friends standing around as he had witnessed in many cases where people had died under his own observation.'

Then Joseph Smith arrived:

'About this time he saw Joseph Smith and two other brethren come into the room. Joseph turned to his wife Emma and asked her to get him a dish of clean water. This she did; and the Prophet with the two brethren accompanying him washed their hands and carefully wiped them. Then they stepped to the bed and laid their hands upon the head of his body, which at that time looked loathsome to him, and as the three stretched out their hands to place them upon the head, he by some means became aware that he must go back into that body, and started to do so. The process of getting in he could not remember; but when Joseph said "amen," he heard and could see and feel with his body. The feeling for a moment was most excruciating, as though his body was pierced in every part with some sharp instruments.'

'As soon as the brethren had taken their hands from his head he raised up in bed, sitting erect, and in another moment turned his legs off the bed.'

Joseph cautioned him to be careful as he was very weak, but William replied: 'I never felt better in my life' — and immediately asked for his pants. He dressed, walked to a chair near the fireplace (with Joseph helping him despite his protests), and then asked for something to eat — a bowl of bread and milk, which Emma immediately brought.

Levi Curtis recorded: 'Every hand was anxious to supply the wants of a man who, a few moments before was dead, really and truly dead!'

Joseph Smith himself then remarked that they had 'just witnessed as great a miracle as Jesus did while on the earth. They had seen the dead brought to life.'

At the close of his narrative, William Huntington said to Levi Curtis: 'Now I have told you the truth, and here I am a live man, sitting by the side of you on this log, and I testify that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.'