How do we account for the other witnesses of the Book of Mormon?

As well as the three witnesses and the eight witnesses, there were others who saw or handled the plates in some way:

• Katherine Smith Salisbury – lifted and held the plates 
• William B. Smith – handled the plates
• Josiah Stowell – testified under oath that he saw the plates
• Mary Musselman Whitmer – was shown the plates by an angel while she was out in the family barn.
• Lucy Mack Smith – was allowed to touch the plates and related objects through thin cloths. She also heard the metallic sound that the plates made when they scraped together.
• Emma Hale Smith – would occasionally move the plates around 
• Michael Bartlett Morse (never a member of the church) – was a witness to the translation of multiple occasions
• Lucy Harris and her daughter– initially having a dream in which an angel showed the plates to her. Later she and her daughter were permitted to hold the wooden box in which the plates were kept, and both were impressed by how heavy they were.

What were these witnesses experiencing if there were no gold plates?

See: 

• Hefted and Handled: Tangible Interactions with Book of Mormon Objects – Anthony Sweat

• Jeff Lindsay – “A Strange Piece of Work” Poorly Explained by a Non-LDS Witness of the Book of Mormon Translation 
• Marianne Holman Prescott – Four Women Were Witnesses to Book of Mormon Translation Process

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