John Balls's survival after being mauled by a grizzly bear
Published October 5, 2026 at 1:58 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
While ascending a canyon in Cache County, Utah, Brother John Balls encountered a grizzly bear and two cubs. The bear knocked him down, inflicting twenty wounds, some being severe gashes. Believing the bear was intent on killing him, he had the sudden thought to lie perfectly still and appear dead, acting upon which the bear left him. The bear returned once more to check if he was dead before finally leaving him alive.
Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 33, No. 27 (4 July 1871), p. 427):
Brother John Balls, of Hyde Park, Cache County, Utah, was recently attacked by a grizzly bear, while in the mountains near that place. He was knocked down and severely bitten and clawed, receiving some twenty wounds. He had the presence of mind to lie perfectly still, and the bear, after smelling him, left him. It returned, however, and again examined him, but finally left him to his fate. He managed to crawl to his team, and eventually reached home, where he is recovering from his injuries.
In Their Own Words
“Brother John Balls, of this place, came near losing his life yesterday morning, in an encounter with a bear, about two miles up one of our kanyons. Ascending a ridge in the road, he came very suddenly and unexpectedly upon a bear with two small cubs, at a distance only of two rods. Both saw each other at the same moment, and before a retreat could be effected the bear sprang upon our brother and knocked him down, inflicting serious injuries on both this one leg and one arm. He had about twenty holes made in him by the bear’s teeth, some of them severe gashes of an inch and a half in length. It appears that the bear was determined to use him up, and probably would have done so, but the thought of lying perfectly still, and appearing to be dead, came into the brother’s mind, and acting upon the idea, bruin soon left him. The bear returned, however, the second time to see and satisfy herself whether her victim was dead or not, and finally left. — Millennial Star 33:27”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 4 July 1871 (Vol. 33, No. 27). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1871-07-04_33_27 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Complete account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 33, No. 27 (4 July 1871), p. 427 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1871-07-04_33_27
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