Crystal Skull

[GenerationIke]

I saw the Crystal Skull many years ago up in Lily Dale, NY. The woman who had it then brought it from Canada and gave a long lecture about the skull and how it was found. We all got a chance to see it up close if we wanted to. I wanted to very much, and when I got near it I could feel the power that was emanating from it as I walked by it. And I felt the eye sockets looking at me! It was very powerful then. I'm sure it is as powerful today.

There is a legend about the skull. It turned blue when President Kennedy was about to be assassinated. Has the skull turned color yet for these times?

It's raining here right now and trying to snow, so I thought you'd like this smiley to go along with the weather tonight here.

[333mark333]

Nice.

I also have seen the Crystal skull in ontario canada. An old English lady bought it to a new age book store and we had a group meditation.
She explained that while on an archeological dig with her father in south america, she stumbled upon it while playing in some ruins.
The skull was Magnificent and the Detail was amazing, a removable jaw and beautiful dolphins engraved along the lower face. She stated that the entire cosmos was to be seen within the skull as there were minute dots scattered everywhere!
I was told that this was one of eight- anybody ??

I thought there were at least six from a book I read years and years ago, but as you say I am sure there has to be eight.

If these crystal skulls, orbs came together imagine the power they would resonate off each other, it could be a key to something amazing.

It would be great if at least four were together and surrounded by people in a cricle who are spiritually atuned and meditate on them. That would be something to see.

I believe from what I read there are a couple of people, very rich powerful people who have tracked a couple of these down and have them and would not want the world to know them as such. That's too bad as it would be amazing to have them all together. There will come a time though when they will be brought together I believe by their own power.

[333mark333]

Originally Posted by Tuza

I thought there were at least six from a book I read years and years ago, but as you say I am sure there has to be eight.

If these crystal skulls, orbs came together imagine the power they would resonate off each other, it could be a key to something amazing.

It would be great if at least four were together and surrounded by people in a cricle who are spiritually atuned and meditate on them. That would be something to see.

I believe from what I read there are a couple of people, very rich powerful people who have tracked a couple of these down and have them and would not want the world to know them as such. That's too bad as it would be amazing to have them all together. There will come a time though when they will be brought together I believe by their own power.

Don't quote me on 8 it could be six!! ( was back in the mid 90s and i may have got it wrong )
Anyhow, i heard that the others were taken into hiding as they did not want them falling into the hands of ptb.

I read somewhere that if there are earth changes, the old atlantis could be brought to the surface. Imagine what would be on that land to find.

[Sideshow Shaman]

Yes, there are several large ancient crystal skulls. The one that i met was Max (google-able). The holders of the skulls do tour & make them available to the public. If the opportunity presents itself I recommend seeing one.

The social scene where I saw Max was a bit odd. The usual newage/goth sort of variety bookstore in Florida. After JoAnn had told what she knew of the skull, she said that we could all spend time with it, touch or hold it... then snacks were served in the main room! So the odd thing was that most the people there seemed more interested in the snacks. As a result I was able to spend as much time with Max as I wanted. So I meditated a while touching foreheads with the skull.

So these skulls really are made available to the public. Rather astonishing when considering how ancient & inexplicable (by 'modern' science) these things are. It was certainly the oldest object I have ever been left alone with. It did influence/visit my dreams that night.

[Vianova]

I have handled lots of antiquities over the last 30 years.

I also personally inspected the Sha Na Ra crystal skull,
and it is not an authentic artifact.

Most of the skulls are bogus,
as was shown in British museum tests,
though the aspect of later copper wheel polishing is not addressed.

The story behind Sha Na Ra is just as bogus,
with ... I forget the clown's name...
well he hiked off into the Mexican outback with a group
of Bozos and suddenly said psychicly,
"we dig right here!"

and supposedly they dug down and found Sh Na Ra
below a slab in a tomb



BUT
as far as POWER is concerned, the quartz crystal matrix
of the Sha Na Ra crystal skull has had so much viable
positive infusions of human consciousness
that it has become a vesicle and transmitter of such energies.

the skull is placed in a small dark room on a pedestal table,
with multi colored lightings emanating from a source
guiding the light thru a hole from below
where the the skull sits.

It is absolutely incredible to witness the light show,
believe me,
and though the skull itself is not an artifact,
it has amazing energies within the matrix stored.

[Sideshow Shaman]

Originally Posted by Vianova

Most of the skulls are bogus,
as was shown in British museum tests,
though the aspect of later copper wheel polishing is not addressed.

Max was also examined by the British Museum, however they were unable to explain how it was made, or when. Mostly because the skull has very large imperfections in the crystal that modern carving methods are incapable of handling. The stuffiest of the British Museum experts were unable to explain how it was carved without shattering.

[Mark]

Do a forensics face reconstruction of the skull - you know like they do to identify murder victims with clay and pins - and lets see the face of the skull. We might be surprised...

[Mizar]

There are eight known Crystal Skulls, all are about 11-13 pounds, they are;
Mitchell-Hedges , Belize, 1923
Sha Na Ra , Mexico, 1995 ( found incidentally by a remote psychic archaeologist)
Ami, Mexico
Max, Guatemala
Synergy, Peru
ET, Guatemala
Mayan, Honduras
Mahasmatman, Brazil.

These eight are said to be the Ancient Crystal Skulls, it has been said that there were originally 13.

Other Crystal skulls of note are the "Reactive" skulls, that change color, or glow depending on what's going on nearby. These skulls are;

Portal de Luz, Brazil
Ti, Tibet
Corazon de Luz, Peru
Sam, Brazil
Mozes of Peace, Brazil

An attempt had been made in the '80's to bring all the known skulls together in the San Francisco area for a special event, I don't know if this ever happened.

The Mitchell-Hedges skull has been in Canada for most of the years since it's discovery.
M

[Mizar]

From my library, an exerpt concerning the Crystal Skulls and the North American Native culture;
From " The Medicine Way"
(how to live the teachings of the Native American Medicine Wheel)
By Kenneth Meadows, Element press, UK
Page 13, Chapter two, Ancient Origins; quoting from Kenneth's writing;

"Among Cherokee teachings is a story that there were twelve Skulls, each fashioned from a piece of solid quartz crystal. What was said to be unusual about these skulls was not just that their size was the size of a human skull but that the jaw moved and that they 'spoke', of 'sang'.

Harley Swiftdeer, a Metis Cherokee Medicine Man, explained that according to the oral teachings, the twelve skulls in ancient times were formed into a circle around the amethyst skull and that within this arrangement was placed eight crystal wands, one for each of the cardinal and non cardinal directions. These crystal skulls he told me were very old and each was like a holographic computer which held information that had been programmed into it. That information included information about the origins, purpose, and destiny of Man as well as the so-called 'Mysteries' of life. The 'talking' skulls would one day be rediscovered and brought together for their collective knowledge to be available but men and women would need to be sufficiently evolved not to misuse it. He told me that according to these ancient teachings there were twelve planets in the cosmos inhabited by humans and Souls could travel about as they evolved. There was one skull for each of these planets."
The rest of the chapter describes the discovery and history of the Mitchell-Hedges skull as we know it, and it's relation to Atlantis.
Chapter 3 is titled " The symbolism of the Skull".

Thank you Kenneth Meadows for having the foresight to research all of this so long ago. ( The Medicine way was first published in 1990)
M

[Bill Ryan]

Hi, Folks:

We've just posted a transcript of our short Crystal Skull video... it contains some nice photos (click on the thumbnails for larger images), and a few links. Enjoy

http://projectcamelot.org/crystal_skull_transcript.html

Very best to all, Bill

[THE eXchanger]

didn't Mitchell-Hedges write a book ???

[THE eXchanger]

here is a picture of her with the skull

not sure why i can NOT upload it ???

http://www.crystalinks.com/cryskullanna.jpg

[eaglespirit]

Originally Posted by eXchanger

didn't Mitchell-Hedges write a book ???

Hi eXchanger...How Are You?! : )

Mitchell-Hedges Story;

The Mitchell-Hedges Official Website » The Man & the Mystery:

http://www.mitchell-hedges.com/

[THE eXchanger]

i do NOT mean anyone any disrespect here,
crystal skulls, are fascinating,
and, any crystal item is packed full of amazing energies,
there are even people, who can remotely healing crystals,
and, you do NOT even have to have an actual crystal
in your keeping, in order to access its energies ...

but, it appears,
there could be a lot of sides to the original story ???

(if you do a google on this, there are a lot of nay-sayers,
about the daughters story)

here's one:
http://xzonenation.blogspot.com/2006...doom-find.html

Rob of XZONE radio show - has opinions on this

(and, also, auction houses have records
of the skulls sale ???)

so, that is pretty odd...

here's rob's comments:
(he has been in the ufo field, as a researcher/radio show host, for a lot of years)

Thursday, January 26, 2006
Mitchell-Hedges Skull of Doom Find Exposed
Believers in the power of the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull, beware! Although it is a truly magnificent ancient artifact, who origin and age are unknown, the purpose of the artifact is still unknown, on many levels.

The crystal skull was NOT found in 1924, 1925, 1926, or 1927 by Anna Mitchell-Hedges, the adopted daughter of Mike Mitchell-Hedges. The skull was actually bought by Mitchell-Hedges in 1943 at an auction at Sothebys in London, England, from Sidney Burney. This was confirmed by notes found at the British Museum.

Other evidence further supports the discovery that the skull did not take place during a British Expedition. There are no records or photographs of the crystal skull. Sidney Burney and others who were on the expedition, claimed from day one, that Mitchell-Hedges did not find the skull in Lubaatun. Mitchell-Hedges himself, according to friends, family and associates, did not start talking about the skull until 1943 after purchasing the skull.

The first time that the Burney Skull was mentioned was in 1936. During the lectures, seminars, and speaking engagements that Mitchell-Hedges gave between from the time he returned from Lubaatun, until 1943, just prior to the sale of the Burney Skull, he never mentioned it.

I have discovered that the lost tribe of Indians that Mitchell-Hedges claimed to have discovered, were in fact discovered by Balboa. Mitchell-Hedges never attended Cambridge.

Based on exhaustive research and interviews, Mitchell-Hedges has a very low credibility rating.

The many references that Mitchell-Hedges had made about the bad luck or the willing of people to death by the crystal skull have been found to be the figments of his own very colorful and vivid imagination. There is no scientific proof whatsoever that the crystal skull has been responsible for any harm falling on a person or any miraculous healing or other miracle.

I find it very strange and fascinating that while I have been studying the skulls which have been found throughout the world for a number of many years, I have answers for almost none of the important questions about the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull. Although there are set or "stock" answers for many of the questions which are constantly being asked, I cannot honestly say that anyone knows with any degree of certainty who made the skull, how it was made, when it was made or what purpose it actually served.

There is no proof whatsoever thastAnna Mitchell-Hedges was ever with her father during the expedition where the skull was claimed to be found.

The most questionnable part of the Mitchell-Hedges story is why was there never a photo of the skull find taken during the expedition by a member of the Mitchell-Hedges team?
Posted by xzonenation at 11:09 AM
END OF ROB'S COMMENT

start of my comments--This also was NOT written about in his book ???
and, i would think,
discovering something like this,
would be the highlight of a trip...
and, you would write a chapter about it ???
NOT writing a chapter about it,
would be rather odd,
in my opinion !!!
NOT SURE what others think ???

(anyone else have comments)

also, if i was the tribe leader, as, the story goes, everyone there knew,
i would NEVER have let them, walk away with such a powerful item,
would you ???

NO, i didn't think, you would ...

my belief, is this item, was purchased at an auction...
and, made in germany....(maybe aliens helped them to make it ???)

i am in the camp,
that, Anna, likely cooked up a story
to go with the auction purchased skull

never-the-less, it is an authentic crystal skull
and, skulls are quite powerful items.
i have a pair, that came out of tibet,
in the late 70's - that were part of a 13 crystal grid,
but, they are very tiny ones

and, i also have a skullman from south america,
that is holding tablets, purchased from an auction house,

and, another jade skull from south america,
that came off a storytellers stick from approx 1200 bce (peru)

i'll add them to my pictures on my profile, for anyone who is curious to see them

brightest blessings
susan
the eXchanger

[milk and honey]

In my own opinion it is rediculous to give any external object or person the credit for greater intelligence than one's own soul/spirit. That is what all the fundamentalist religions and 'isms' have always demanded in order to control people. It is obvious to me that the crystal skulls myth is a scam of the first order. Their age and origin are questionable and their claimed powers are absurd.

Evidently, according to Drunvalo there are indigenous elders who will interpret the skull mysteries for the rest of us mere mortals. That's just what we need again eh?. Another external 'priesthood' to rely on for truth. What happens when someone living in one of their communities dissagrees with the elders who mediate for the crystal skulls? What happens when your own spirit is at odds with the skull priesthood? Would that be tolerated? Or would the 'skull communitiy' members be expected to defer to the 'wise' mediators in all things?

If you haven't yet seen the 'catholic model' shaping up with the skulls and their promoters then do your own comparison.

Picture in your mind a man waving a set of keys in your face. "We have the keys to the kingdom, you must go through us for the highest truth."

[THE eXchanger]

here's some more info:
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4098
The Crystal Skull: Mystical, or Modern?
Skeptoid #98
April 29, 2008
Podcast transcript | Listen | Subscribe

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It was 1926 when Anna Mitchell-Hedges, adoptive daughter of British adventurer and author Frederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges, was something of a real life Lara Croft. She was crawling through an ancient Mayan temple in Belize, long ago wrecked by the ages and the ravages of the encroaching jungle. Beneath a crumbled altar, she unearthed perhaps the most curious artifact from the ancient world: A perfectly clear crystal skull, expertly carved, and immaculately preserved, and about two thirds the size of a real skull. For nearly 30 years the Mitchell-Hedges family kept the crystal skull a secret, until F.A. Mitchell-Hedges mentioned it briefly in his book Danger My Ally. In this book he said the skull was 3,600 years old, and was used by Mayan priests to strike people dead by the force of their own will. After her father's death, Anna took this so-called "Skull of Doom" on tour throughout the world, and its strange powers became well known. Arthur C. Clarke even used the Mitchell-Hedges skull as the logo for his television series Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. The fourth Indiana Jones movie is about a crystal skull with mystical qualities, and furthers the theme originally proposed by Mitchell-Hedges that crystal skulls are alien in origin, coming from Atlantis or Roswell or some alien world. In fact, practically every reference to a crystal skull over the past 40 years or so has usually been specifically about the Mitchell-Hedges skull.

Some believers in mystical energy feel that the crystal skulls have a broad range of powers. They can be used to aid in divination, in healing, and even psychic communication. Others claim that they have refractive properties unlike other crystals. They are said to remain at exactly 70 degrees no matter what temperature they are exposed to. They possess spiritual auras that can be photographed. Some even speculate that when all the crystal skulls are brought together, it will bring about the end of the world.

Now, I'm reluctant to burst anyone's bubble, but before going further it's necessary to clear up a few misconceptions. The Mitchell-Hedges skull is not quite 3,600 years old, and Mitchell-Hedges found it a little closer to home than Belize. In fact, he bought it from Sydney Burney, a London art dealer, through a Sotheby's auction on October 15, 1943, as determined in hard black and white by investigator Joe Nickell and others. This explains why neither Mitchell-Hedges nor his daughter ever said anything about it following their alleged 1926 discovery. They had never heard of it, until they bought it 18 years later, and then invented their Mayan altar story.

So this Sydney Burney character, perhaps he was the one who actually found the skull in a Mayan ruin, and traced its history back to the Atlanteans? Well, there is additional hard evidence that Burney owned the skull as far back as 1933, because he wrote a letter about it to the American Museum of Natural History, which they still have. Three years later, the British anthropological journal Man published an article about Burney's skull, and this 1936 article remains the earliest known documentation of any crystal skull. (I've since received an 1887 New York Times article in which a paper was presented about a skull -- see next paragraph. -BD)

It seems clear, but has never been never proven, that Burney bought the skull from French collector Eugene Boban. The timing was right; the two men knew each other; and Boban is known to have sold at least two other crystal skulls about the same time Burney acquired his. If Mitchell-Hedges was the real Indiana Jones, Eugene Boban was the real Belloq. He was even French. And, like Belloq, he didn't actually go into the jungle tombs personally to acquire his artifacts. In Boban's case, he simple purchased them in bulk from the manufacturer. This time, the manufacturer was Germany's so-called "capital of the gemstone industry" Idar and Oberstein, a bucolic hamlet where artisans and craftsmen chip away at semi-precious stones in their workshops like so many Gepettos. In the 1870's, craftsmen in Idar and Oberstein made a large purchase of quartz crystals from Brazil, from which to make carvings. Nobody has ever found documented proof, but at about the time the Idar and Oberstein craftsmen were selling their cunningly carved art objects of Brazilian quartz, Eugene Boban left from there with at least three, and possibly as many as thirteen, freshly carved skulls made from Brazilian quartz. Any connection you choose to draw is purely speculative. According to documents found by Jane Walsh, a Smithsonian archivist, Boban sold one of his skulls to Tiffany's in New York City, which in turn sold it to the British Museum in 1897. Boban sold a second skull to a collector who then donated it to the Museum of Man in Paris. (An 1887 New York Times article describes the British Museum skull then in the hands of New York collector George H. Sisson, who had bought it from Eugene Boban. After this article, Sisson sold this skull to Tiffany's. -BD)

For decades, the British Museum and the Museum of Man displayed their crystal skulls with the provenances originally provided by Eugene Boban, which was that the skulls came from pre-Columbian Aztec origin. But then, in separate studies in the 1990's, both the British Museum and the Smithsonian examined a number of crystal skulls, including all of those in museum collections attributed to Eugene Boban. Analysis of the cut and polish marks by electron microscope proved that they were made using 19th century rotary cutting tools, identical to those in use in Idar and Oberstein at that time. The British Museum now lists their skull as "probably European, 19th century," and "not an authentic pre-Columbian artifact."

The Paris skull, also from Boban, was subjected to even better tests in 2008, confirming that its polishing was done using modern tools. In addition, particle accelerator tests found traces of water used during the cutting and polishing, occluded within the quartz, that positively dated the carving to between 1867 and 1886.

Neither the Mitchell-Hedges nor their skull's current owner, family friend Bill Homann, ever allowed the Mitchell-Hedges skull to be tested with modern equipment; nor have any of the owners of other famous crystal skulls like the one called Max in Texas. The privately owned skulls now confine themselves to touring to mysticism conventions, New Age hotbeds like Sedona, and charging for private viewings and sessions. So far as I've been able to find, no private crystal skull owner has ever allowed controlled tests of their claims of any mystical powers they say their skull has. If they'd like to, this is my personal guarantee to fast-track them to the James Randi Educational Foundation's million dollar prize.

There is enough of a gap in the early history of the Mitchell-Hedges skull that we cannot absolutely trace its lineage from the Idar and Oberstein workshops in the 1870's to the hands of Sydney Burney in 1933. Everything known about the skull is consistent with that history, and no evidence has ever been presented that the skull might have any other origin. There is the Mitchell-Hedges' own story of having found the skull in their pulp-fiction Mayan tomb adventure, but that story has been conclusively proven to be a fabrication by documentation from Sotheby's and Burney.

All of this makes it rather difficult to form an opinion about the mystical powers of crystal skulls. If these powers are attributed to their Mayan, Atlantean, or alien origin, then that attribution is conclusively false, but that doesn't mean the mystical power itself doesn't exist. The first thing the claimants would need to do is articulate exactly what the supernatural power is, and then demonstrate it under controlled conditions. Neither of these has ever been done, so a truly critical analysis has nothing to advance it beyond a null hypothesis. And so there we have it: All known crystal skulls are of modern origin, with no unusual properties, and no coherent or testable claims of anything out of the ordinary. Indiana Jones might make great entertainment, but it makes poor archaelogical history.

Brian Dunning

References
© 2008 Skeptoid.com
www.skeptoid.com

Discuss!
5 most recent comments | Show all 16 comments

Remember, you should always read with skepticism the comments of anyone too lame to put their real name & city.

The fact they wont allow testing on the skulls says it all.

Courtney Franklin, Sydney Australia
June 30, 2008 4:37pm

Even as a skeptic who discounts any attributed 'powers' to the skull I thought they were a neat historical mystery; an incongruous and somewhat enigmatic artifact. Interesting, even if not mystical.

Seeing one at the British museum in 2004 labeled "European, 19th century" was a major let-down. Now to learn that the perpetrator of the fraud bought it at an AUCTION! That's just heart-breaking to the romantic in me.

Morgan Z., Tracy, CA
August 15, 2008 3:09pm

Sir you have either ignored the evidence of a close examination of the Mitchell Hedges Crystal Skull by a reputable scientific institution, or you like so many professional sceptics chose to ignore the evidence.
Is Hewlett Packard (the worlds experts on crystals and their applications in precision measuring and testing equipment) a high enough standard for you? A team of their managers studied the skull in 1970 and concluded that "this thing should not even exisat". Their conclusion was based on two days of extensive and thorough study in the lab in Santa Clara California.
Just google Jim Pruitt..Crystal skull..Hewlwt Packard sometime and see for yourself.

Robert DeFord, Monterey, California
September 11, 2008 7:37am

Googled, found this:

"Pruitt later remarked in Measure that if the skull was a fake, it was quite an artistic one, in his opinion, and a beautiful work of crystal art regardless of its age or authenticity."

http://mrbaron-bps.livejournal.com/3824.html

The "it shouldn't exist"-thing propably comes from this:

"To compound the strangeness, HP could find no microscopic scratches on the crystal which would indicate it had been carved with metal instruments (in stark contrast to a recent report by the British Museum). Dorland's best hypothesis for the skull's construction is that it was roughly hewn out with diamonds, and then the detail work was meticulously done with a gentle solution of silicon sand and water. The exhausting job -- assuming it could possibly be done in this way -- would have required man-hours adding up to 300 years to complete (obviously a biased observation).

Under these circumstances, the HP experts believed that successfully crafting a shape as complex as the Mitchell-Hedges skull is impossible; as one HP researcher is said to have remarked, "The damned thing simply shouldn't be."

http://www.crystalskulls.us/cskull.htm

MikPal, Turku, Finland
September 28, 2008 12:17am

Ummm, I don't know who was aware of this but Mitchell-Hedges lent the skull to a fiend to keep safe while he was away, his friends son however put it up for auction which was what caused Mitchell-Hedges to buy it in an auction making everybody believe he lied and purchased the skull, his friends son refused to take it off auction, causing Mitchell-Hedges to bid for it, it was the only way he could ever get his discovery back...just so you know, everybody seems to be missing that part in their blogs trying to disprove Maya beliefs, which I myself am not to certain of, and I have done my research I do not make blind accusations like a crazy man. I guess the only way to find out will be December 21st, 2012.

Rob O'Brien, Barrie, Canada
October 10, 2008 4:10pm

[swatch]

I think it is absolutely disgusting that as soon as the old lady is dead, she is blatantly called a liar.
How I mistrust the academic establishment.
I for one totally believe Anna Mitchell-Hedges. Those that discredit her merit the deepest shame.

[Sideshow Shaman]

Yes, it is interesting how people tend to focus on a skull that they can argue about while ignoring a skull (Max) that defies modern explanation. Or any other skull for that matter. Blah blah blah. Milk & Honey even goes so far as to try to put words in someone's mouth. "rediculous to give any external object or person the credit for greater intelligence than one's own soul/spirit. " Who said that anyway? Other than M&H that is.

Thanks to Mizar though for mentioning Harley Swiftdeer's words in relation to this topic. Now i will know to ask questions of a certain older relative that studied with him in the 70s.

[THE eXchanger]

http://www.mitchell-hedges.com/2008/...ts/?show=slide
Hewlett-Packard tests
History or hokum?
Santa Clara’s crystal lab helps tackle the case of the hard-headed Honduran…

Let the doors squeak, the shutters rattle, the curtains shake, the cats run, the dogs whimper, the bats flutter, the mists swirl and the moon blaze. Ignore the heavy footsteps in the hall, the creaking stairs, the labored breathing beyond the door. Listen, instead, to a tale of true mystery involving prehistoric cults, lost civilizations, the “granddaddy of all crystal skulls,” and some scientific sleuthing by members of the HP crystal lab at Santa Clara Division. Centerpiece of this tantalizing tale is a clear quartz crystal sculpture the size and shape of a human skull estimated to be as much as 120 centuries old. Known as the Mitchell-Hedges Skull, after the name of its discoverer, it is an object of fantastic sculptural perfection. No other quartz crystal sculpture approaches its quality; even the British Museum’s crystal skull, discovered in Mexico in 1889, is classed as a “rough cut” in comparison.
The now-elderly owner, Anna Mitchell-Hedges, discovered the mysterious skull in 1927 on an expedition with her explorer father to the ruins of a Mayan Temple in British Honduras. The two-part sculpture – head and detached jaw – lay under a collapsed altar. Since then, it has alternately been under study or in safe keeping, most recently in a house on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais to the north of San Francisco. Here, in the temporary custody of a free-lance art conservator and restorer named Frank Dorland, it came to the attention of Dick Garvin, writer and supervisor of the Hewlett-Packard advertising account at the San Francisco office of Lennen & Newell. In a co-authored new book titled “The world of the twilight believers”, Garvin discussed the other-worldly aspects of the skull in one of the chapters on far-out phenomena. Then he arranged for Dorland to bring the skull to the HP Santa Clara lab in order to test certain theories and speculations about its composition.
The lab, of course, is exactly the right place for testing quartz crystal. That is one of its day-to-day occupations. Its major mission, according to Jim Pruett, components manager for the Frequency Standards team, is the production of precision quartz oscillator crystals used in HP oscillators and quartz crystal thermometers. The lab purchases raw one-pound Brazilian crystals and, with the aid of many skills, converts them into gold-plated wafers that vibrate at a precise frequency.
For the Mitchell-Hedges skull the lab performed two significant tests. Submerging the sculpture in a bath of index-matching fluid, and viewing it under polarized light, the lab people first determined that it was almost certainly a single crystal of quartz, rather than a composite of three crystals as Dorland had suspected. Next, they probed the lower-jaw question. Was it originally an integral part of the crystal? The orientation of its X-Y axis and the “veils” revealed by the polarized light showed that it had indeed come from the same crystal.
These findings raise again many of the same questions that have followed the skull-shaped rock crystal since its discovery – or rediscovery – in the ruins of Lubaantun. Where did it come from? Is it phony or for real? Some experts assign its origin to various Central American civilizations including the Aztecs, Mixtecs or the Olmecs. Dorland suggests it may have come from Egypt, Tibet or China, and may have been roughed out as much as 12,000 years ago. How then did it come to British Honduras?
Dorland believes the skull originally was used in prehistoric religious ceremonies. At that time it resembled the British Museum work, its jaw attached, its workmanship less finished. Later, sea-going Phoenicians brought it to Central America, perhaps even by way of the lost city of Atlantis. Mayan or Aztec craftsmen then detached the jaw so that it could be animated and made to serve as an oracle, dispensing judgments from atop a trick alter. This fateful role was enhanced by the prismatic qualities of the skull; flames or light placed under or behind the skull are projected eerily through the eye sockets.
If it is phony, it’s a very artistic one. Quartz crystal is an extremely hard material – hard in the sense that a diamond is hard, and hard to work with. The size and clarity of the 11-pound, 7-ounce Mitchell-Hedges skull made it a rarity. The workmanship is exquisite, a compound of patient hand crafting (using sand and water to smoothly abrade the rock) and technical precision requiring an estimated 300 man-years of effort.
“One of our guys kidded that he might be able to duplicate it if you gave him a year and $100,000″, said Jim Pruett.
“There’s no way of proving its age. A lot of the occult aura – tales of mystery and evil – that have sprung up around it could easily come from its eyes. By shifting a light source or when an observer moves his view even slightly, an infinite variety of refraction patterns can be seen. They could be quite hypnotic.
“I look on it as a very beautiful work of art irrespective of its age or authenticity. There’s no denying that!’

Photo captions
Frank Dorland, keeper of the Mitchell-Hedges skull for a number of years, demonstrates its prismatic qualities. Dorland has advanced many of the far-ranging theories concerning the skull, including the belief that it originated in China, Tibet or Egypt, then was transported by ancient sea-goers to South America by way of Atlantis. The skull is now back in possession of Miss Mitchell-Hedges who discovered it under a ruined altar in an abandoned Mayan temple in British Honduras in 1927. Its sale price to museums is said to be $250,000 but it also is described as “priceless”.

The Mayan mystery head attracted lively attention among Santa Clarans during its two-day stay there last December [1970]. Tests run in the division’s crystal lab help establish its composition. It was found to be a single quartz crystal. It was also determined that the detached jaw came from the same crystal. But other mysteries surrounding its origin remain unsolved.

Jim Pruett, components manager on Santa Clara’s Frequency Standards team, reviews one of the polarized-light setups used to the test the skull. Later, the quartz crystal object was immersed in an index-matching fluid that allowed polarized light to reveal veils and crystalline structure.

Published in Hewlett-Packard’s Measure, February 1971.

[Show as slideshow]



The article is published here conform to the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, specifically to allow verification for researchers that the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull was indeed subjected to an analysis at Hewlett-Packard.

[orionsbelt]

While watching a video of a SKULL -

I put my hands up on my video monitor and could feel the mysterious energy radiating from the monitor!

That SKULL is EVIL and full of zORGONITE CRYSTALS.

Look what It has done to ....

Oh, it was only static electricity from the monitor, my mistake.

[nirvanapirate]

I've seen a few videos on the crystal skulls.

There is supposedly 13 of them, and only 11 or 12 or them have been found, and when they are all found and joined together, something happens.

Whether it is a concurrent manifestion of our raising consciousness, like the eflux of sunspot activity, could be associated with.

[milk and honey]

Originally Posted by Sideshow Shaman

Yes, it is interesting how people tend to focus on a skull that they can argue about while ignoring a skull (Max) that defies modern explanation. Or any other skull for that matter. Blah blah blah. Milk & Honey even goes so far as to try to put words in someone's mouth. "rediculous to give any external object or person the credit for greater intelligence than one's own soul/spirit. " Who said that anyway? Other than M&H that is.

I haven't put words in "someone's" mouth. I stated what seems to me a plain truth from my own.

Regardless of their associated rhetoric about "relying on your inner truth" (which i agree with) i feel in my bones that the "skull myth" is just another set up which has been constructed as a kind of new age 'catholicism' for 'believers'. It's bad enough that the skulls are mere external objects, (although all crystal is a vessel for higher universal energies) but it is more dubious that only a few "elders" can supposedly interpret the skulls' message for the rest of us. How unfortunate and so passe. I don't think you could concieve of a religious system with more potential for abuse by a special few than this one.

As i said, it reminds me of the old catholic system when only the priesthood had custody of the scriptures (the revered external object) and only the priesthood could interpret their meaning for the rest of us. (the "divine" message).

I forsee the probability of the abuse of power and the excommunications that will inevitably arise in the community between the skull 'priesthood' (the mediators between the skull messages and the people) and the relatively few individuals who will actually be receptive to the intuitive guidance of their own inner-spirit. In that event there are 2 external layers of authority to confront in the "skull myth" and any private or public dissagreement with the "skull priests" by an inspired individual would most likely be shunned and frowned upon by those external 'authorities' and by community members who rely on them for adjudication and guidance.

In a conflict between the "higher- knowing" of external authorities and our own intuition, how might we fare as individuals in a 'skull' community? A reading of church history can provide some of the most degenerate examples.

The attempt to present the skull objects and the 'elders' as the central facillitators of the 2012 "shift" is in my view a bald attempt to position them as an indispensable power of ultimate credibility. A power worthy of our reverence.

As i see it, the "cryst-al" of most relevance at this time is the "christ-all" within ourselves. If we can shift our consciousness into resonance with the Christ within we can assist in raising the frequency of the planet. For that, we don't need external physical objects or their external mediators. The highest frequencies of intelligence and love can come to body and mind through the only crystal that really matters --- the christ-consciousness. The seat of authority is within you.

[milk and honey]

Ummm, I don't know who was aware of this but Mitchell-Hedges lent the skull to a fiend to keep safe while he was away, his friends son however put it up for auction which was what caused Mitchell-Hedges to buy it in an auction making everybody believe he lied and purchased the skull, his friends son refused to take it off auction, causing Mitchell-Hedges to bid for it, it was the only way he could ever get his discovery back...just so you know, everybody seems to be missing that part in their blogs trying to disprove Maya beliefs, which I myself am not to certain of, and I have done my research I do not make blind accusations like a crazy man. I guess the only way to find out will be December 21st, 2012.

Rob O'Brien, Barrie, Canada
October 10, 2008 4:10pm

The above comment was written by 'Rob O'Brien' in response to the debunking of the crystal skulls.

There is no proof offered for the assertions made in it at all. No links or documents are provided in support of the theory that "Mitchell-Hedges' son's friend" (or his butler) put the skull up for auction thereby forcing him to buy it back. On the contrary, we are left with the unalterable fact that Mitchell-Hedges made no mention of the skull until 1943 when records show he purchased it from Sotheby's auctions. We are supposed to believe that that is merely a strange co-incidence.