“Contradictory Life Stories”

William Branham told many stories about his life that appear to be genuine and true when they are considered individually or in isolation. However, when similar stories of his life are compared with each other and cross-checked for authenticity, it is readily apparent that many of them are entirely inconsistent and contradictory with each other.

Contradictory Claims About His Birth:

William Branham claimed that he was born in a little cabin in the mountains of Kentucky on April 6, 1909 at five o'clock in the morning, as follows,

“And the morning when I was born, April the sixth, 1909, at five o’clock in the morning, there was no doctor; they had a mid-wife. And when I was born, I only weighed five pounds: very small.” “My Life Story” (55-0626A).

“I was born April the 6th, 1909, in a little cabin up in the eastern Kentucky mountains.” “Blind Bartimaeus” (56-0407).

“And—and that Angel of God, at five o’clock in the morning, April 6, 1909, at five o’clock in the morning, come right in and stood over that little bed where I was laying.” “Lamb And Dove” (60-0805).

“But one morning in a little log cabin down in Kentucky, so said my mother and the midwife, on April the 6th, five o’clock in the morning, 1909, when the Lord God brought me into the earth, there was a Light standing at the little window.” “The Trial” (64-0419).

However, all of those claims of his are directly contradicted by the following statements of his in which he specifically made it known that his mother and he did not actually know when he was born and there were no records of his birth, as follows,

“Best I know, I was born in Kentucky where they don't have a birth records. And you know what my birth mark is, birth record in Kentucky? The year the old stump blowed away up over on the hill. And that's all they knowed.
They say, "When was that child born?"
"Tomato picking time."
"What tomato picking time? When was this one born?"
"Corn cutting time."
"What corn cutting time?"
Now, that--that was the birth record up in the mountains of Kentucky. So I don't know how old I am, but anyhow, I--I'm--I'm ever bit of that. So then, a--so then when... That's what my mother told me, and I think she'd be pretty close to right.”

“Jehovah-Jireh 3” (60-0803).

Contradictory Claims About the Number of Branham Children in the Log Cabin:

William Branham specifically claimed that he lived with his nine siblings in the Kentucky log cabin in which he was born, as follows,

“I was born in a little mountain cabin, way up in the mountains of Kentucky. They had one room that we lived in, no rug on the floor, not even wood on the floor, it was just simply a bare floor. And a stump, top of a stump cut off with three legs on it, that was our table. And all those little Branhams would pile around there, and out on the front of the little old cabin, and wallowed out, looked like where a bunch of opposums had been wallowing out there in the dust, you know, all the little brothers. There was nine of us, and one little girl, and she really had a rough time amongst that bunch of boys. We have to respect her yet today from the things that we did in those days. . . .And I remember to keep the little ones from going out the door, when she would be washing or something, she'd lay a chair down and turn it kind of catercornered across the door, to keep the little ones from getting out when she had to go to the spring to get water, and so forth.”

“My Life Story” (59-0419A).

However, those claims of his are directly contradicted by his assertions that only about three, four or five “little Branhams” lived in the log cabin, as follows,

“I remember when our first little old home we lived in was a log house. There was about three or four of us little Branhams out there. We didn’t even have a floor, just—just the dirt.” “Life Story” (52-0720A).

“And I remember the cabin, the front part of it, it had a floor. It had a ro—room in front and a little half room in the back. And we had one of those little old… We called them monkey stoves, or laundry stoves set up on a stump. And mother cooked from there.

And she’d holler, “Dinner’s ready.” And my, oh, there’s—there’s about five of we little Branhams. We’d run in there, and wash our face, and slick that hair down, and jump up behind the table. And one great big old pot dinner, cooked in an old three-legged kettle… How many remembers them? Say, I’d just love to have a dinner out of one right now. And—and we’d…” “Here We Have No Continuing City” (50-0200).

Contradictory Claims of His First “Vision” as a “Little Boy”:

William Branham specifically claimed that he was “still crawling” when he saw his first “vision”, as follows,

“When I was just a little boy, I don't know how old, I was just still crawling. I must've been not over two years old. I remember the first thing I can remember is a vision…when I was just a little boy. And it told me that I was going to live in Indiana near a place called New Albany…I was thinking I come there when I was three years old.” “The Infallible Proof Of The Resurrection” (57-0114).

However, he completely contradicted that claim by later alleging that he “ran into the house” to tell his mother about the “vision” right after he saw it, as follows,

“When I was just about two years old, the first vision I ever remember seeing... I was playing in the backyard with my little brother, who could just crawl. And there was a voice came from a bush and said, "You will live near a city called New Albany." It... I was very much frightened, and ran into the house to tell my mother. She didn't know what it meant. But three years later, we moved near a city called New Albany, Indiana.” “Revelation That Was Given To Me” (60-0210).

By claiming he was “just still crawling” and “ran into the house” in contradictory fashion,

William Branham fully discredited his assertion that he was able to remember what happened at the time,

“As a little boy, when I was only somewhere under three years old, I'm thinking about eighteen months. You'd think, 'Brother Branham, you didn't see or remember that far.'

I do. And I remember when it spoke to me as a little boy and down through life how I described it,...” “The Queen of Sheba” (58-0107).

Contradictory Claims of When He Moved from Kentucky to Indiana:

William Branham specifically claimed that he was two or three-years old when he moved with his family from Kentucky to Indiana, as follows,

“I, with many of you here this afternoon, was born here in Kentucky, up here in a little log cabin. Well, we moved to Indiana, just across the river, when I was just a little lad, just very young, not over two years old, three.” “Life Story” (53-1108A).

“A Voice came…and it said, "You'll live near a city called New Albany." And I've lived, from the time I was three years old until this time, within three miles of New Albany, Indiana.” “My Life Story” (59-0419).

However, he directly contradicted those claims by stating that he was seven-years old when he moved with his family from Kentucky to Indiana, as follows,

“At the age of seven, we moved from Kentucky to Indiana, up the road a bit from where we live now.” “The Twentieth-Century Prophet” (53-0800).

He further contradicted his claims that he moved with his family to Indiana when he was two or three-years old, by stating that he was raised in Kentucky, as follows,

“When I was a little boy I was raised up here in Kentucky. We were very poor. Black-eyed peas and corn bread was all we had three times a day. And mama used to get down from the old store, country store, bacon rind. And she’d render them out to make the grease for the corn bread. And I remember, every Saturday night all the bunch of little Branhams would come up to an old cedar tub and take that Saturday night bath, change the long underwear, and each one take a big dose of castor oil. I just can’t stand the stuff yet. And me being the oldest, I had to take it first.” “Thy Loving Kindness” (58-0228).

“When I was a little boy, we was raised up in the mountains of Kentucky, and it was hard going. We lived in a little old log cabin, no floor on it, an old stump for a table, sawed off, a little old bed in the corner with fence rails around it, laying on a straw tick, and a corn shuck pillow. You don't know what hard times is.

And I remember mama used to have to get old bacon skins and render them out to make grease for the corn bread. And it wasn't very healthy. It's a wonder we didn't have all kinds of allergies if God hadn't have been there to help us.

But you know what happened? She'd render out this old grease and put it in there, and every Saturday night when us little boys come home from school, we all had to take a dose of castor oil, get fixed up for Monday to go back to school. And I would come to mama, I'd hold my nose, and I'd say, "Mama, I just can't take it." I said, "It makes me sick to even smell it."

And she said, "If it doesn't make you sick, it doesn't do you any good."”

“Hear Ye Him” (58-0324).

“You know, when we were little kids down here in the state of Kentucky, we had a old clapboard house, had clapboard shingles on it, and had to take a piece of canvas and lay it over our face to keep the snow out of our eyes. And we little bunch of Branhams, like a little bunch of opossums, about six or eight in the same bed, and we would catch bad colds.” “Christ Knocking At The Door” (58-0330E).

“Now, when we were raised down in the mountains in Kentucky, where I was born, we had a little, ol’ clapboard shingles; and Mama used to take us of a night, and (us little kids), and we slept on a straw tick with a featherbed over the top of it. And they didn’t have quilts, and they just lay a piece of canvas over, so the snow that fell through the night wouldn’t get in our little faces. We was about five of the little Branhams at that time, and they’d pile us all in the bed, some at the foot and some at the head; we only had the one.” “Behold, I Stand At The Door And Knock” (58-0521).

“I was raised in Kentucky in a little old clapboard shingled house. And Mama used to take all us little Branhams and stick us all in one bed: about three at the foot, and three at the head, and about three or four across the middle. And she would… Then we had just an old piece of canvas she would put over the top of the bed to keep the snow and the rain out of our eyes. And the draft would come through and… At nighttime when that cold wind would come through, sometimes—Mama called it “matter”—cold would get in our eyes, and it’d stick our eyes together. And I was the oldest, and she’d say, “Billy, come on down.” “The Message To The Laodicean Church” (58-0609).

“I was born in a little mountain cabin, way up in the mountains of Kentucky. They had one room that we lived in, no rug on the floor, not even wood on the floor, it was just simply a bare floor. And a stump, top of a stump cut off with three legs on it, that was our table. And all those little Branhams would pile around there, and out on the front of the little old cabin, and wallowed out, looked like where a bunch of opossums had been wallowing out there in the dust, you know, all the little brothers. There was nine of us, and one little girl, and she really had a rough time amongst that bunch of boys. We have to respect her yet today from the things that we did in those days. She couldn’t go with us anywhere, we’d run her back, she was a girl. So she couldn’t take it, you know. So we had…And all…” “My Life Story” (59-0419A ).

“I was raised in Kentucky and my... We lived in a little, old log cabin, that had--made out of logs and the chinked up with mud. And a lot of that had dropped out, because it was old. And we had clapboard shingles on top of the house. And they were put on at the time in the light of the moon, and the singles had drawed up like this. And the rain would blow in, the snow would blow in. And just had two rooms, no floor in it, just the earth...
And I remember Papa had made a--a bench for us little boys to set behind the--the block table, that had been sawed out of a piece of a log with sticks under it to support. And the little, old step stove in there... Mama had an old trunk setting up on two pieces of a--a log, had little dents in it, an old cabinet the same way. And that, a couple of beds, that's all we had.

And us little boys had to sleep up in the loft. And there was a... They had two poles cut down with some saplings nailed across it. And up there, there was a--an old straw tick. And on this straw tick was a feather tick.
Then Mom would come up there at night and put all the blankets she had on us and the coats. And then over the top of that she'd put a piece of canvas, because if it rained, we could get under this canvas. If it snowed, keep it out of our faces.
And these three little Branhams laying up there, the wind blowing through those shingles at night, maybe, we would get cold. We'd get cold in our eyes. And the next morning, Mama would call us; she'd say, "Billy, come down."
And I'd try to open my eyes; I couldn't do it. And I'd punch my brother, Edward; I called him Humpy. I said, "Can you go down?"
He said, "My eyes are sticked together too."
Then we'd punch Melvin, see if he'd go down. "No, my eyes is sticking together too."
We'd caught cold, Mama told us, through the night. And I said, "Mama, I--I--I can't come down."
She said, "What's the matter, Billy?"
I said, "You know, my eyes is full of matter."
She called it matter; I don't know what it was; it's cold. And she said, "Your eyes is full of matter?"
She said, "Well, just wait a minute, honey."” “The Door Inside the Door” (60-0711).

Contradictory Claims About Being Raised in Church:

William Branham claimed that he was never in church until he was a young man, as follows,

“I was raised in a home that was sinful. My father and mother, their people before them are Catholic. And my father and mother married out of the church, and they had no religion at all. And I never was in church till I was a young man, about twenty years old, twenty-five.” “Exhortation On Healing” ( 51-0501).

In direct contradiction that claim, he stated that he was raised in a Baptist church, as follows,

“Now, of course, you know I was brought up and raised in the Baptist church and was a Baptist minister.” “Life Story” (54-0314).

“I was raised in a Baptist church and ordained a Missionary Baptist preacher,”

“Discerning The Body Of The Lord” (59-0812).

“I was raised in a Baptist church; you know that. And we wasn’t Baptist like you all Baptist here: Walk up and shake hands, and take the right-hand of fellowship, and put your name on a book, and be baptized. We got down at the altar and beat one another on the back till we come through; we got something, brother. I mean, you need more…You need some Kentucky Baptists, old Missionary Baptists out here. I tell you they…The only difference I seen between them and the Pentecostal people, they didn’t accept speaking in tongues; that’s all I knowed.” “From That Time” (60-0716).

“Way down in Kentucky there's a old Missionary Baptist Church, we used to sing the song, "Room, room, yes, there is room. There's room at the fountain for me." Did you ever hear of it? It's a little old song, and that's what it is.” “Life Story” (50-0820A).

He further contradicted his claim that he was never in church until he was a young man by making the following statements,

“My people before me were Catholic. And so there was no Catholic churches up there, and so they taken me over to a little Baptist church. And there I made my first visit to a church. The Baptist church is called "Opossum Kingdom Baptist Church. Opossum Kingdom Baptist Church." There's where I made my first visit to a church. And from--when I was just about two years old, the first vision come, from that it's come on, and on, and on, and I'm fifty-one years old now.” “Lamb and Dove” (60-0805).

“And when they opened up the window, a Pillar of Fire, Light, came moving through the window, and come and hung over the little bed. My mother screamed. The midwife was there. We had no doctor. And the midwife was there. They didn’t know what It was.

About two weeks after that, I was carried up to a little Baptist church, called Opossum Kingdom. The minister held me in his arms and dedicated me to God.”
“A Trial” (64-0427).

“Well, after I had got up maybe ten days old, or something, they taken me up to a little Baptist church called “Opossum Kingdom,” Opossum Kingdom Baptist church. That’s quite a name. There was an old circuit preacher, the old-fashioned Baptist preacher came through there about once every two months. On…The people would have a little service together, they’d go sing some songs, but they had preaching every so often on the circuit rider. They paid him each year with a sack of pumpkins and a few things like that, you know, that the people would raise to give it. And the old preacher came by, and there he offered prayer for me as a little boy. That was my first trip to church.”
“My Life Story” (59-0419A).

Contradictory claims about his lack of education and father's death.

In several of his sermons, William Branham claimed that the reason he never completed his grade school education was because his father died young and, as a result, had to work to support his family thereafter.

However, those claims are directly contradicted by the historical documents and statements he made in other sermons, as is evident in the webpage here.

Apparent therein are also numerous contradictory stories that William Branham told about the cause of his father's death.

“Hear Ye Him” (58-0324).

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