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Crystal Skulls

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The Mitchell Hedges Crystal Skull resides these days somewhere in England. I'm wondering: is "Samy" (Anna Mitchell Hedges) still on this plane? Last I heard she and the skull moved in with her nephew somewhere in England. I was privileged to spend lots of quality time with this amazing artifact in New York City on more than one occasion...and wonder...is Samy still with us? Is the skull still visitable? It is an extraordinary piece, well worthy of all the fuss it has caused...I'm not particularly called to see it again...but I'd like to know if it's dropped out of sight or not. It and Samy are old, old friends.

I figured, what with so many of you living in England and all, and me being stuck in the backwaters of New York City....
 
The Crystal Skulls Of Doom

Like the subject title says. This thread is about the Crystal Skulls of Doom.

Two , nearly life-size, skulls. Carved from solid quartz rock, by methods that we find hard to replicate even today. The quartz is perfectly clear and the core can be seen clearly. The Crystal is tinted slightly pink.

Legend has it that, if one were to look directly into its eyes, you could see what appeared to be "video" like imagry of temples, mountains and other ancient sites, like a sort of projector. These skulls were different however, in the way that one has an aposabl jaw and the other does not. The same has been suggested for both though. That they served as "illumination" or "projection" devices.

They would be placed on a pedastle so that the rising sun would sine directly into their cranium and project through the "lens-like" teeth. Scattering light into the chamber. And like most crystal, it vibrates and responds to certain frequencies...emitting as well as receiving.

Also, it has been documented that, the skull can emit an "Aura". A feild of light. They are said to be almost hypnotic, and have been dubbed "The Skulls of Doom" because of their effect on the human psychosis. As some of the team that documented them and analysed them, have gone "Insane. Suffering unbearable fits of laughter and halucinations of the most incomrehendable..."

So, fellow Forteans, what are your thoughts on these mysterious objects?
 
i think the crystal skulls are very pretty but just a byproduct of a culture where the skull was sacred (aztecs). The "projector effect" i doubt exists and would just be the power of suggestion acting on the visual equivalent of white noise caused by the complex light scattering within the planes of the carved natural quartz. It's like looking for shapes in a flickering fire. I think one of the skulls is in the British museum as i saw it there when i were a lad. Didnt give me nightmares though.
 
I brought this subject up for two reasons:

1)I've always been interested in the skulls.

2)I recently watched the episode of StarGate SG-1 were they find a crystal skull, and it got me looking at books only to find that the effects of the skull in StarGate SG-1 were very close to the documented effects of the real skulls!
 
Two , nearly life0size, skulls. Carved from solid quartz rock, by methods that we find hard to replicate even today.
Except by all those people selling replicas to the New Age crowd.

Also, it has been documented that, the skull can emit an "Aura". A feild of light. They are said to be almost hypnotic, and have been dubbed "The Skulls of Doom" because of their effect on the human psychosis.
Documented By whom? Since one of these skulls is on display in the British Museum's Museum of Mankind, a visible, hypnotic aura would rather noticeable.
 
As entioned already, skulls were sacred to many South American cultures, and so there are in fact several sets of skulls, crystal and otherwise. Are you talking about the repeutably cursed ones, with the missing third skull and prophesies etc etc (as hijacked by the camp movie flop that was "The Phantom")?
 
Were-skulls

I seem to remember seeing a crystal skull in the BM - might have been this one. It didn't have much effect on me, though. I was mad when I went in and mad when I came out.

There are some accounts of evil doings occurring in relation to carved skulls, etc., one of the ones that springs to mind being the Hexham Heads, where three appallingly crafted stone heads were found by a family who subsequently claimed to have been visited by poltergeists and werewolves and a-manner o' things that be bad. Then I believe some farmer said that he'd made the heads himself and it all went rather pear shaped. Mind you, all the above relies on my memory which is suspect at the best of times.

Q: What's big, square and hairy and changes shape every full moon?

A: A warehouse.

All right, so it's never a good thing to write your own jokes...
 
The Crystal Skulls are indeed fasinating artifacts there was I think a Horizon special on them a couple of years ago, alltho it focused primarily on the large one that was recoverd from south america in the 1930s or 40s this example is the one whit the seperate jaw bone. It also has aparently a habit of wandering around the owners bungerlow!

The manufacture of one is not particualy dificult all you need is a large lump of quartz cristal, sand , human hair and about 60 years solid polishing, the source of the quartz can be traced, in that particual case the source was traced to siberia, and a facial reconstruction based on a model of the skull produced a face that was typical of the inhabitants of siberia at the projected date of manufacter which leaves the qestion what was it doing in south america?

Far as I know none if the crystal Skulls have features associated with the peoples of south america.

An lot of the smaller skulls were made in germany in the 19th century using engraving weels to cut and pollish the shape.

Wm.
 
The Hexham Head Case given above is essentially correct.

Not sure how apallingly-crafted the heads were - they were certainly
very crude little egg-shaped things that had been thought sufficiently
Celtic to be sent to Dr. Anne Ross, an expert on Celtic art.

The family who found them in the garden in 1972 were troubled by
poltergeist phenomena and a next-door neighbour saw a
half-man, half-beast, which entered a bedroom then padded
downstairs. It was, however the events which broke out in
Dr. Ross's house which have been most often repeated. Both
she and her daughter saw a creature again described as half-man
half-beast. The day the heads left the house, the atmosphere
is said to have changed. The case was given wide publicity,
chiefly because of the professional status of the chief witness.

The case then took the twist as described: the heads turned out
to be artificially moulded and were recognized by one Desmond
Craigie as his own handiwork, made for his daughter in 1956 when
he lived at the house, where they were unearthed.

The accounts do not really explain whether Dr. Ross was aware of
the reputation attaching to the heads when she took charge of them.
I have dim memories of seeing her or the daughter on the tv and I
think the story was that they were unaware of the earlier scares.

Very curious case. Not sure if it helps explain the horrid crystal skulls,
though. But, no, I don't want one. ;)
 
One of the crystal skulls was on display at the London Museum of Mankind, and the other one apparently has a movable jaw. Anyway, as far as I know neither has been dated and the country of origin is in dispute, although they were probably made by the Aztecs. There was also an Arthur C. Clarke documentary on them, but I can't remember much about it.
 
The skull in the british museum is (whoa dejavu! I'm now going to write::)) IMO a pretty piece of archaeology/art but not very anatomically accurate. I was a little dissapointed when I saw it a few years ago (I'd hoped for the one with the moveable jaw).

Personally I have a crystal skull (so I must be careful not to bang my head ;) - but seriously) it's about an inch across and allegedly made out of quartz and has a hole drilled through it, apparently so that it can be hung an a cord. It vaguely resembles the BM skull - I bought it at the local "odd-things/occult" store. It's kinda kewl in a gothy kinda way. :D

Niles
 
Well, I´ve read some different articles on the skulls. There´s some in a book I have based on the Arthur C Clarke mysteries, and according to that one of the skulls is anatomically correct while the other is more of a stylistic image. They do not have the usual markings you get when polishing things, which could be achieved by using water to polish it. Sadly this would take around 300 years. So they must have used some method we don´t know of. They should also have some rather interesting optical effects, even though I have never heard about people going insane or anything. Probably no more than the so-called Pharao´s Curse.

This is all from meory though, I can go find the book if you want more accurate info. But do tell me more about the facial reconstruct, I always wondered what would happen if you did that.
 
Hey, don't knock the Pharoh's Curse. Look what happened to Howard Carter and Lord Canarven (Is that right?). They died of mysterious plague brought about by the opening of the tomb of Tutenkhamun (which means "in the likeness of Amun").

Hmm, it is strange that we are all different. We all have different intersts and life styles. I'm a loner with a small fortean library in my bedroom. Niles is exhibiting typical Crystal Skull/Goth symptoms. Lucydru is Wiccan and others are, well...whatever. My point is that we all share a love for the thing that most people fear. The Unknown. And the dark and the cold and the Winter...well, I love all those things anyway. And rain!:confused:
 
-Oracle- said:
Hey, don't knock the Pharoh's Curse. Look what happened to Howard Carter and Lord Canarven (Is that right?). They died of mysterious plague brought about by the opening of the tomb of Tutenkhamun (which means "in the likeness of Amun").

Yeah yeah... and the sarcophagus was carried on the Titanic, on display on the toilet where Elvis died, and was used as a pillar in the underpass where Diana was killed...

...unless I'm very much mistaken, the whole Pharoah's Curse story was made up as a scary story.
 
Ahem (clearing my throat to give ES a total ear blasting)...

...WHY IN THE NAME OF THE PHAROH'S WOULD IT BE MADE UP FOR HOLLYWOOD IF THE CURSE WAS ALREADY INSCRIBED ON THE MANTLE OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE BURIAL CHAMBER?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......answer me that you small cabbage!
 
(clears throat... no ear bashing to do, just has cold...)

Carter died age 65, of Hodgkin's disease, back home in England, in 1939. Lord Carnarvon, his patron, did die in 1923 just after the excavation of the tomb but, heck, everyone's gotta die at some point. And he died of a mosquito bite, which is, like, oooooooh, so rare in Egypt, isn't it?!

You really shouldn't believe everything you read in 'The Usbourne Book of Scary Mummy Stories'.
 
Okay then, smart arse, why did he die of a mosquito bite and yet the other people who also got bit didn't. You aren't telling me that out of all the people who were there, that only he got bit and suffered any symptoms from it. Further more, that symptom happened to be in the form of "unrecoverable death syndrome" (just made that up to sound good) by which I mean...HE...WAS...DEAD. Yes, D-E-A-D. DEAD. As a door nail.

Whats a door nail?:confused:
 
Re: Mosquito bite. I'm not a doctor, so I won't comment. But just cos I don't know how it happened doesn't mean I'll scream "CURSE!". And was this diagnosis of "uncoverable death syndrome" found at the same source as you found out Carter and his team all died of a mysterious plague?!

And if the curse is right, how come the excavation's patron died, and not Carter, who was busy digging around among the bodies? He died at a relatively old age of natural causes.

You're being rather un-Fortean there, ignoring facts that don't tally with the Curse theory. One death does not a deathcurse make.
 
That syndrome does sound quite cool.

If everybody who was bitten by mosquitoes died, there would probably be a whole lot less Egyptians. But not every mosquito bite gives you malaria.

The curse wasn´t made up for Hollywood, it was a real curse. It was the effects that were made up. As mentioned people dying in their beds instead of being strangled by a mummy.
 
But... but... but...

Look at the evidence, oh Demicabbage of Darkness, everyone who was involved in the dig is now dead! It must be a curse, it's the only theory that fits all the evidence! (must...keep...straight...face...)
Bwahahahahahahahaha! :D
Niles
 
Yo Mummy

People die all the time, it's a fact of life. A number of people died during the excavation, but mainly due to harsh conditions, native diseases and (some say) bacterial infections from inside the pyramid itself. If you're a bit past it and you dig around in musty tombs in temperatures of 140 degrees surrounded by disease-laded mosquitoes then you're going to have problems. I admit, I'm not particularly knowledgable about this subject, but from what I've read I can't see any evidence of any curse, King Tut's or any other.

Just to put it into perspective, in Yorkshire there are entire graveyards (literally) full of men, women and children who died during the construction of the Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle railway, but was that cursed? Ah, nope. As Evilsprout says, a person dying does not a curse make.
 
Xanatic said:
That syndrome does sound quite cool.

If everybody who was bitten by mosquitoes died, there would probably be a whole lot less Egyptians. But not every mosquito bite gives you malaria.

True upto a point, In fact in the 1920s you stood a VERY GOOD CHANCE of dieing from a mosquitoe bite if it went ceptic....

The curse wasn´t made up for Hollywood, it was a real curse. It was the effects that were made up. As mentioned people dying in their beds instead of being strangled by a mummy.

Actualy the curse was made up other wise Howard Carter would have died in the same time scale as Lord Carnarvon and not 23 years later as would have a considerable number of other people.

Wm.
 
James Whitehead said:
It was, however the events which broke out in
Dr. Ross's house which have been most often repeated

As an aside, she recounted the tale in the preface to the Reader's Digest Myths and Legends of Britain. An extremely dodgy big black book from the early 70s.
 
Egyptian rubbish

I'm not aware that there was any such curse inscribed on the clay doors to the tomb - I belive this was made up by newspapers putting together a story after the fact.

It certainly didn't frighten the ancient Egyptians themselves, as Tutankhamen's tomb was robbed twice relatively soon after completion.

The ancient burial party kept detailed written inventories of everything that had been included in Tutankhamen's grave goods. These written records were buried with the king, and, when discovered, enabled archeologists to figure out which objects were missing from the original funerary ensemble. This also supplied information about the kind of things the thieves were after. According to C. N. Reeves, who made an in-depth study of tomb robbing in the Valley of the Kings, most robbers went first for precious metals that could easily be melted down in order to conceal their illicit source of origin. The perishable goods contained in tombs, i.e. the expensive oils, spices, and wine which wealthy Egyptians took in bulk quantity with them into the Underworld, were also a high priority and were usually removed during the first wave of pilfering. Next on the robber's shopping list came the costly linens that the rich had buried with them.

There are even instances quoted where inner coffins had been rifled before the actual burial.

The ancient Egyptians certainly weren't afraid of any "curse" - they were more afraid of the widely-cited punishment of impalement on a stake which was the accepted one for tomb robbing. Courts of inquiry after tomb-robbing incidents didn't mention curses, and the robbers themselves seemed totally unafraid of such mumbo-jumbo.

Carnarvon is thought to have died from Septicaemia - blood poisoning brought on by an infected mosquito bite. Not unusual in the days before antibiotics, and not surprising considering that Carnarvon originally began spending time in Egypt because of his frail health.
 
Thanks, Tinfoil for reminding me of that dodgy book. Naturally it
is in my Library of Piffle.

For the record, in that account, Dr. Ross says she took an
instant dislike to the heads on seeing them but it was only
when she found out about the earlier episode that she
associated the heads with her own phenomena.

It is I think very unusual for a case so extreme to be associated
and vouched for by a named professional academic. As a way
of raising her profile in the field of Celtic antiquities, it would have
been a high-risk strategy. I do note, however, that she was one
of the major contributors to the RD tome, which appeared within
a couple of years of the alleged incidents. ;) Though, if we set
aside the things from dodgy old Reader's Digest tomes, we'd have
little left to discuss on here. :D

On the Conspiracy thread called A Conspiracy Theory about
Conspiracy Theories, I raised the issue of the RD as a major source
or at least distributor - of weirdness. :rolleyes:
 
The skulls were manufactured by alien intelligence using advanced laser technology.
 
Alan said:
The skulls were manufactured by alien intelligence using advanced laser technology.
Are you able to back that statement up with some evidence? Or are you just speculating?

The Boggart
 
Alan said:
The skulls were manufactured by alien intelligence using advanced laser technology.

Why Woud they bother? you can get perfectly satisfactry results using a diamond cutting wheel. also if they did it was very clever of them to leave all the microscopic surface marks associated with more traditional hand metods:rolleyes:
not to mension the difficualty of cutting an opticaly clear material with a laser.
Wm.
 
(In my best Christopher Lambert voice...):

"I love you guys, such great senses of humour..."

"Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, and don't put up with people who are reckless with yours..."
 
James Whitehead said:
As a way of raising her profile in the field of Celtic antiquities, it would have been a high-risk strategy. I do note, however, that she was one of the major contributors to the RD tome

Perhaps meetings with man-beasts are par for the course in her field of study. It would certainly explain the thick glass cases that abound in museums. It was certainly an impressive tale especially considering the author.

On the role of the RD as a distributer of weirdness it's probably just a simple CIA smokescreen :D
The big black book only had one article of local interest for me which was easily shown to be in error. The alledged Walsall hand of glory which had been disected, pickled and left in his lodgings by a student doctor. It was still on display in the local museum when I last checked.

The role of the book must be in line with the role of the organisation, to prevent serious delving into the rum and uncanny.
 
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