>>2727322
I never thought the Mormon temple was all that spoopy. I mean, it's just a big church. There are big shrines and cathedrals around too. This one just happens to be on the highway.
The 'Surrender Dorothy' was sort of funny, like a pre-internet troll. The Mormon temple was always lit up at night and sometimes it had green lights on it. You can imagine from the pictures that it looked pretty crazy to see those green towers on the horizon (a lot like the Emerald city yeah?) So I am pretty sure that's where the surrender Dorothy came from.
I grew up in Maryland and drove by the Mormon temple plenty of times in my parents' car. Since I wasn't driving I had lots of time to stare off at those towers with wonderment. I never thought they were scary though. When I was in high school my school choir performed there once. Since we're not Mormon we didn't get to go into the main sanctuary but there was a building there where we could perform. It just looked like a church to me.
If it does looks spoopy to you, then perhaps you should spend more time exploring historical cathedrals. There's a beautiful shrine to St. Anne de Baupre in Quebec. There is also the national cathedral. The Mormon building doesn't have the stained glass windows of course, but it also isn't as freaky in my opinion as the masonic monument in Alexandria.
It might be just my opinion, but I always felt that grand places of worship were intended to evoke the sense of wonder and awe. Your attention is meant to be lifted upward and away from the worldly in favor of the heavenly. I always felt the Mormon temple did this very well in it's own way.