Forgotten Ages Research

A Collective Hall of Records in Stone?— The Second Coming of the Crystal Skulls

Report Topics:

• Details of the scientific “out-of-place” nature of the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull
• Strange phenomena experienced by many observers in the presence of the Skull
• The author’s conversations with Anna Mitchell-Hedges and personal encounters with the Skull at conferences in London, Ontario and Sedona, Arizona
• Controversies surrounding the origins of the artifact and its true background
• Recent tests and claims the Skull is of recent manufacture—a question of what constitutes evidence of “ancient” and “modern” crystal carving techniques
• An examination of other Crystal Skulls world-wide and their mysterious aspects
• What we now know about the energy properties of quartz crystal and how the Skulls focus them individually and collectively

Full Report:

Without a doubt the most famous and enigmatic piece of ancient crystal discovered to date is the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull. One day in 1927, adventurer-explorer F. A. Mitchell-Hedges was clearing debris from atop a ruined temple at the ancient Maya city of Lubaantum, located in British Honduras, now Belize, when his seventeen-year old daughter Anna, who had accompanied him, suddenly saw something shimmering in the dust below. Anna found an exquisitely carved and polished skull made of rock crystal, with the jaw piece missing. Three months later, she located the jaw in an excavation twenty-five feet from the first site.

The skull was made from a single, unusually large block of clear quartz crystal, and measures 5 inches high, 7 inches long and 5 inches wide, weighing 11 lbs. 7 ounces. It closely corresponds in size to a small human cranium, with near perfect detail, even to rendering the skull without the glabellar prominence or superciliary ridges, which are characteristic of a female.

In 1970, art conservator and restorer Frank Dorland was given permission by the Mitchell-Hedges estate to submit the quartz skull to tests conducted at the Hewlitt-Packard Laboratories at Santa Clara, California. From these tests, and from careful studies done by Dorland himself, the skull revealed a whole array of anomalies.

When submersed in a benzyl alcohol bath, with a beam of light passing through, it was noted that both the skull and jaw piece had come from the same quartz block. What was astounding to the testers, however, is they found that the skull and jaw had been carved with total disregard to the natural crystal axis in the quartz. In modern crystallography, the first procedure is always to determine the axis, to prevent fracturing and breakage during the subsequent shaping process. Yet the skull’s maker appears to have employed methods by which such concerns were not necessary.

The unknown artist also used no metal tools. Dorland was unable to find signs of any tell-tale scratch marks on the crystal, under high-powered microscopic analysis. Indeed, most metals would have been ineffectual, for the crystal has a specific gravity of 2.65, and a Mohs hardness factor of 7. In other words, even a modern penknife cannot make a mark on it. From tiny patterns in the quartz near the carved surfaces, Dorland determined the skull was meticulously chiseled into a rough form, probably using diamonds. The finer shaping, grinding and polishing, Dorland believes, was done by applying innumerable applications of solutions of water and silicon-crystal sand. The big problem is, if these were the processes used—as Dorland calculated—it would mean that a total of three hundred years of continuous labor was spent in making the skull. We must accept this almost unimaginable feat, or admit to the use of some form of lost technology in the skull’s creation the lkes of which we have no equivalent today.

The enigma of the skull, however, does not end with just its making. The zygomatic arches (the bone arch extending along the side and front of the cranium) are accurately separated from the skull piece, and act as light pipes, using principles similar to modern optics, to channel light from the base of the skull to the eye sockets. The eye sockets in turn are miniature concave lenses that also transfer light from a source below, into the upper cranium.

Finally, in the interior of the skull is a ribbon prism and tiny light tunnels, by which objects held beneath the skull are magnified and brightened. Richard Garvin, another researcher on the ancient crystal piece, believes the skull was designed to be placed over an upward shining beam. The result, with the various light transfers and prismatic effects, would illuminate the entire skull and cause the sockets to become glowing eyes. Dorland performed experiments using this technique and reported the skull “lights up like it was on fire.”

Still another finding about the crystal skull reveals knowledge of weights and fulcrum points. The jaw piece fits precisely onto the skull by two polished sockets, which allow the jaw to move up and down. The skull itself can be balanced exactly where two tiny holes are drilled on each side of its base, which probably once held suspending supports. So perfect is the balance at these points that the slightest breeze causes the skull to nod back and forth, the jaw opening and closing as a counter-weight. The visual effect is that of a living skull, talking and articulating.

The question of course is, what purposes did this serve? Was it only designed by its artist as a clever toy or conversation pieces, or, as Dorland believes, was the talking skull meant to be used as an oracular device, through which spiritual messages were transmitted?

This mystery is heightened by certain strange phenomena associated with the crystal skull, that defy logical explanation. Observers have reported that, for unknown reasons, the skull will change color. Sometimes the frontal cranium clouds up, looking like white cotton, while at other times it turns perfectly clear, as if the space within disappears into an empty void. Over a period from five to six minutes, a dark spot often begins forming on the right side and slowly blackens the entire skull, then recedes and disappears as mysteriously as it came.

Other observers have seen strange scenes reflected in the eye sockets, scenes of buildings and other objects, even though the skull is resting against a black background. Still others have heard ringing noises emanating from within, and at least on one occasion, a distinct glow from no known light source surrounded the skull like an aura for up to six minutes. The sum total of phenomena that various people have reported experiencing in the presence of the skull appears to take on all five physical senses of the brain. It changes color and light, it emits odors, it creates sound, it gives off sensations of heat and cold to those who touch it, even though the crystal has always remained at a physical temperature of 70 degrees F under all conditions, and has even produced sensations of thirst and sometimes of taste in a few cases.

Dorland is of the opinion that what is happening in all this phenomena is that the “crystal stimulates an unknown part of the brain, opening a psychic door to the absolute.” He observed, “Crystal continuously put our electric-like radio waves. Since the brain does the same thing, they naturally interact.” He has found, too, that periodic happenings in the crystal skull are due to the positions of the sun, moon and planets in the sky.

Researcher Marianne Zezelic agrees that the skull was primarily used to stimulate and amplify psychic abilities in its handlers. She observed:

“Crystal serves as an accumulator of terrestrial magnetism. By gazing at the crystal, the eyes set up a harmonic relation stimulating the magnetism collected in the crystal, which is then projected into the eyes of the gazer and collected in that portion of the brain known as the cerebellum. The cerebellum therefore becomes the reservoir of magnetism which influences the quality of the magnetic outflow through the eyes, thus setting up a continuous flow of magnetism between gazer and crystal. The amount of energy entering the brain eventually increases to such a proportion as to affect the poles of the brain, a region extending just above the eyes, contributing to psychic phenomena.”

Going a step further, Tom Bearden, an expert in the field of psychotronic studies, believes that, in the hands of a skilled meditator and mental focalizer, the crystal skull also served not only as a vehicle to transform life field energy into electromagnetic energy and other physical effects, but also aided in healing by the altering of its crystalline resonance to match that of a patient’s mind and body frequencies, and affecting curing energies in the skull that would manifest in the patient’s auric field. The skull could thus be used as an amplifier and transmitter of psychic and earth energy forces.

When looking at the sum total and knowledge incorporated in the Mitchell-Hedges skull, modern science is stumped as to how to explain it. Researcher Garvin summarized the findings in these words:

“It is virtually impossible today—in the time when men have climbed mountains on the moon—to duplicate this achievement. The lenses, light pipes, and prisms alone display a technical competence that the human race only achieved recently. In fact, there is no one on the globe today who could attempt to duplicate the carving. It would not be a question of skill, patience and time. It would simply be impossible. As one crystallographer from Hewlitt-Packard said, ‘the damned thing shouldn’t be.’”

But it does exist, and while we cannot explain it in terms of any known form of technology, we can explain it only as the product of a technology far advanced to our own, but which vanished and was forgotten long ago—the technology of a lost Golden Age.

In 1992, a professional psychic named Carole Wilson—who has been a consultant for police departments in the United States, Canada and Britain, and has successfully helped solve numerous murders and missing persons cases—was asked to give a reading on the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull. Though she has channeled information before about the skull off and on since the 1980’s, her latest psychic contact was with the main “entity” who “inhabits” the artifact itself. She answered a series of questions on where it came from and its overall purpose:

“You seek to know the origins of this receptacle which you call the crystal skull. I tell you that it was made many, many thousands of years ago by beings of a higher intelligence. It was formed by a civilization before those you call the Maya. Our level of civilization was far in advance of that which you now have by many factors.

“The receptacle contains the mind of many and the mind of one. It was not made using what you call the physical (matter). It was molded into its present form by thought. The thoughts and knowledge are crystallized into this receptacle. The Earth life of this receptacle is 17,000 years. It has been handed down from generation to generation.

“There will be other receptacles found, for there are many. For no man and no one mind were given all knowledge. Each of the receptacles contains the information of where the others are. When all receptacles are placed together, you will be keepers of wondrous knowledge. Light and sound will be the key. When the right vibration is produced, you will have the information you request. But the time is not yet.”

Recently, there has been controversy generated by the revelation that a bill of sale exists showing that F. A. Mitchell-Hedges purchased the crystal skull at an auction at Sotheby’s in London in 1943 for 400 Pounds from a friend, Sidney Burney. Skeptics claim this is proof that the skull was not originally found at Lubaantum in 1927, and Anna’s story of its discovery in a Mayan temple is a fabrication. As further evidence, they point to the fact that no mention of the skull was made by Mitchell-Hedges or photographs were taken of the object before 1943. This reflects on the possibility that the skull may have been of fairly modern manufacture, which takes away from some of the mystery of how it was made—though not entirely.

There are still aspects of its internal design and strange phenomena associated with it that defy even modern scientific or technological explanations.

Anna still maintains that she found the skull in British Honduras in 1927, and that her father later sold it to pay off debts. When it came up for auction, he bought it back.

The fact that there was no earlier mention or photo of the skull is better understandable when given the conditions under which the Mitchell-Hedges expedition to Lubaantum was made. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, the practice at the time was for European and American historical societies and museums to sponsor “unauthorized” expeditions to remote areas of the world in order to “acquire” antiquities without permission of local authorities—shades of Indiana Jones. In this case, even though there are no “official records,” the British Museum secretly financed Mitchell-Hedges’ “maverick” digs in Central America, in return for a receivership of all artifacts obtained. On the Lubaantum expedition, the crystal skull was found, but because Anna and her father wished to hold onto the object as a family heirloom, they purposely kept its discovery a secret, even from other expedition members. Mitchell-Hedges told how, immediately after its find, at first he refused to take the skull with him, and he gave it to a local shaman-priest for safe-keeping. But the shaman-priest, in honor of the aid which Anna and her father had given to his tribe, presented it to them as a gift, and initiated them as its new Keepers.

With war in Europe looming on the horizon, and all further expeditions put on hold, Mitchell-Hedges nearly went bankrupt, and out of financial desperation in 1936 he sold the skull to his friend, Sidney Burney. In correspondence in that year is the first mention of the “Burney Skull.” Later, in 1943, when the Burney estate was put up for auction, Mitchell-Hedges managed to buy it back. It is not without significance that one of the bidders against him were representatives of the British Museum, believing that the skull was rightfully theirs. Over the past several years there have been plans to create a permanent Mitchell-Hedges Room in the Museum, to house all the artifacts he collected, and several attempts were made to acquire the skull to become its centerpiece.

If the skull was of questionable origin, why would the British Musem still be interested in it?

But Anna resisted all offers. Now, with her death in 2007, the future disposition of the crystal skull is still uncertain, as of this writing.

Besides the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull, there are a number of other carved stone skulls whose origins have also come under suspicion. In 1992 the Smithsonian conducted an examination of several crystal skulls in their collection, and concluded they are not of ancient origin but had been manufactured between 1867 and 1886. The so-called Aztec Skull which had been on exhibit since 1898 in London’s Museum of Mankind has since been removed from public viewing because its origins are now also in question. It is said to be a twin of the Paris Crystal Skull on exhibit in the Musee de l’homme since 1878. Both now appear to have been purchased by mercenaries in Mexico in the 1870’s and shipped to Europe. In 1996 the British Museum made a detailed study of several crystalline skulls in its possession that had been claimed to be Mayan or Aztec. But examination using an electron microscope reveals that the stone craniums had straight, perfectly spaced surface markings, indicative of a modern polishing wheel.

Many of these American, French and English skulls ultimately originated with a Frenchman, Eugene Boban, who dealt in antiquities in Mexico City between 1860 and 1880. It is now claimed hat he obtained the skulls from a crystal carver in Germany during this period.

Curiously, even though these skulls are thought to be modern in their production, many investigators and psychics have reported internal anomalies and strange energy manifestations surrounding them, not unlike those seen in the more legitimate Mitchell-Hedges skull. It has been suggested by more than one expert that Boban was part of a nineteenth century secret society that commissioned the new crystal skulls to be made in order to replace those more ancient skulls that had been previously destroyed. They are, in effect, the new physical vehicles holding and preserving etheric Halls of Records from the remote past now contained within them.

As for truly ancient crystal skulls, there are a number of these that have been tested and passed scientific scrutiny. One of these is the Mayan Crystal Skull, discovered in Guatemala in the early 1900’s. About the same time, an Amethyst Skull was found near Oaxaca, Mexico, and was said to have been owned by Mexican President Diaz from 1876 to 1910. During a later period, both skull artifacts were brought to the United States by a Mayan priest, and given to private collectors for safe-guarding. They were subsequently studied by Hewlitt-Packard, and like the Mitchell-Hedges skull, both were shown to have been cut against the natural crystal axis, with no modern marks of polishing whatsoever.

Other crystalline skulls include:

*Max or the Texas Crystal Skull, weighing 18 lbs., found in a Mayan tomb between 1924 and 1926. An electron microscope scan revealed markings indicating the method of carving was at least five thousand years old.

*The Rose Quartz Skull, larger and closest in workmanship to the Mitchell-Hedges skull, found at the turn of the century on the border between Honduras and Guatemala.

*The E.T. Skull—so-called because of its curious pointed cranium—found in 1906 in Guatemala.

*The Sha-Na-Ra Skull, discovered in Guerro Province, Mexico in the late twentieth century, weighing over 13 lbs. It, and a sister piece, the Rainbow Skull, employed carving methods that are extremely old.

In each of these, as reported by those who have owned and handled them, are inherent strange phenomena above and beyond what purely scientific observations can explain. Joshua Shapiro, who heads the World Mystery Research Center based in the United States and the Netherlands, has made a life-long study of all of the various crystal skulls found to date, and describes their overall purposes in these terms:

1. The crystal skulls are repositories of hidden information. On a very primary functional level, they stimulate visions through vibratory influences. By opening Doorways into the Inner World, the skulls contain structures, offering a journey into the Temple or Library each contains.

2. Similarly, in the Outer World, the skulls project structures, creating etheric walls, rooms and chambers around them, which contain a three- and four-dimensional Temple or Library.

3. On the more physical level, through crystal-gazing images can be seen in the skull. These include changes in light and color that transpose into full images of temples and other structures. Such forms can be photographed, and either as full pictures or parts of images mirrored in reverse, create symmetrical symbols and portraits.

4. The skulls are likewise communication devices, stimulating dialogue on other levels of consciousness. They are learning as much from those who speak with them, as they impart, carrying on conversation exchanges.

5. The skulls are also sources of major healing and rejuvenation. While the individual skulls bring out individual healing, it is said that when the right time comes and all the various skulls will be brought together, the collective skulls will bring about a special healing for all humankind.

6. Each skull furthermore contains its own Hall of Records, with the Image Records of both past civilizations and future possibilities, destinies and prophecies. Again, if the skulls are one day brought together, they will offer an opening to a larger collective Hall, greater than the sum of its parts.

[Copyright 2009. Joseph Robert Jochmans. All Rights Reserved.]