Levi Hancock Feels the Holy Ghost Like a 'Warm Wash' Upon First Hearing the Gospel

In the fall of 1830, Levi Hancock was visiting his brother Alvah in Chagrin, Ohio when he first heard of the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel. As Alvah explained the doctrine of the Holy Ghost and the laying on of hands, Levi recorded an extraordinary spontaneous physical witness:

'At these last words I gathered faith and there seemed to fall on me something pleasant and delightful. It seemed like a wash of something warm took me in the face and ran over my body which gave me a feeling I cannot describe. The first word I said was, "It is the truth, I can feel it."'

This happened before he had even attended a meeting, before he was baptized — simply from hearing that the Holy Ghost was bestowed by the laying on of hands. The next day he rode with his mother to hear Parley P. Pratt preach for the first time, and the day after that went immediately to Kirtland to be baptized.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

I went to my brother Alvah's. He lived in Chagrin. I had not been there long before I heard of the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel. My brother Alvah told me about it. He told me about the Holy Ghost and the laying on of hands. At these last words I gathered faith and there seemed to fall on me something pleasant and delightful. It seemed like a wash of something warm took me in the face and ran over my body which gave me a feeling I cannot describe. The first word I said was, 'It is the truth, I can feel it.' I had not been to any meeting, nor had I heard any one preach. I had not been baptized. The next day I went with my mother to hear Parley P. Pratt preach for the first time. The day after that I went to Kirtland and was baptized.