Annalee Skarin (July 7, 1899 — January 17, 1988), the granddaughter of "Wild Bill" Hickman, was a popular New Age/Metaphysical author, originally raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). She gained fame by claiming to believe in the possibility of attaining immortality through the ardent pursuit of Christian principles, which she summarized as gratitude, praise and love.
In Mormonism, it is believed that some people such as Enoch underwent what Mormons call translation (and which is called in other religions ascension), i.e., they were taken up directly into Heaven without having to "taste of death". Mormons believe that during the Millennium, everyone will translate rather than having to die physically. Annalee Skarin claimed to have invented a meditation technique by which anyone could translate themselves directly into Heaven.
In her writings she rejects the regular Christian doctrine that physical death is inevitable. While she accepts the Christian doctrine that virtuous people can die and be later admitted to Heaven, she regards this path as "the dreary backdoor entrance", and asserts that the path to true glory involves Ascending to Heaven with one's physical body alive and intact, via a process she called (using the term commonly used by Mormons) "translation" (overcoming of bodily death). She also claimed to be able to visit the spirit world at will and spoke in her books about looking down and observing Earth from the spirit world.
Originally a devout Mormon, she was excommunicated from the LDS Church shortly after publication of her first book, Ye Are Gods, because it was perceived by high-ranking members of the church that the book's contents seriously blasphemed against Mormon belief. She was readmitted to the church only after her death.
Many proponents of New Age thought believed that Annalee Skarin, along with her husband Reason Skarin, that he and she indeed achieved physical immortality (been translated) after her clothes were found in her room in 1952 and she totally disappeared, and her husband soon after disappeared. Afterward, word-of-mouth stories abounded within the New Age community about Annalee and/or Reason Skarin materializing to people, sharing words of wisdom, then dematerializing.
Emergence of Proof That She Did Actually Die of Natural Causesmoreless
However, it was later shown that she had faked her "translation" and gone into hiding in order to increase sales of her books. She hid out, living away from the Mormon Corridor by going to southern Oregon and later living in the far north of California. It was later proven that she physically died of natural causes (disease). It is today possible to go and visit her grave, which is located in Sunset Hill Cemetery in Corning, California.
Ye Are Gods (ISBN 978-0-87516-718-3, published by De Vorss and Co, 1952)
To God The Glory (ISBN 1-891265-02-4, published by De Vorss and Co, 1956)
Temple Of God (ISBN 1-891265-04-0, published by De Vorss and Co, 1958)
Secrets Of Eternity (ISBN 1-891265-05-9, published by De Vorss and Co, 1960)
Celestial Song Of Creation (ISBN 1-891265-06-7, published by De Vorss and Co, 1962)
Man Triumphant (ISBN 1-891265-03-2, published by De Vorss and Co, 1966)
Beyond Mortal Boundaries (ISBN 1-891265-07-5, published by De Vorss and Co, 1969)
The Book Of Books (ISBN 1-891265-08-3, published by De Vorss and Co, 1972)
It is also widely believed that the book:
Sons Of God, by Christine Mercie (ISBN 978-0-87516-059-7, published by De Vorss and Co, 1954) which Skarin references in her other works, was in fact written by Annalee Skarin herself.