by Meg Suttle
The Skull of Doom is one of the more infamous, well-known crystal skulls that exists. For those of you who don’t know, crystal skulls are stone carvings of human skulls that are said to have originated from the lost city of Atlantis, and the skulls possess various magic powers. Skulls known as “skull masks” or “death heads” are often what these skulls are modeled after, and these artifacts typically were products of cultures like the Aztecs. The true believers claim that while there are infinite replicas of these crystal skulls in various types of stone, the powerful crystal skulls have no known creators and are one of a kind. The Skull of Doom is considered “the most famous crystal skull” (Carroll skeptic’s dictionary). Mitchell-Hedges wrote in his book, Danger My Ally, the skull of doom is said to have been used in a death ritual that could be cast upon a victim by the high priest of the indigenous people. The story behind the Skull of doom is that in 1927, (this date differs depending on the website) a man by the name of F.A. Mitchel-Hedges was adventuring through the “Mayan ceremonial center at Lubaantun, Belize” (Haughton) also known as the place of the fallen stones. While exploring the grounds, Mitchel-Hedges and his daughter found the skull under what appeared to be sacrificial alter. According to Brian Haughten’s article, The Crystal Skull of Doom, no news was given about the skull until after the skull’s jaw had been found months later. Mitchell-Hedges claims that after the missing jaw piece was located, he unveiled his original finding to the native people and they gifted him the part of the jaw because of his amazing discovery. Mitchell-Hedges also claims that the skull of doom was 3,600 years old and took over 150 years to create even though there is no evidence of this ancient creation.
This claim is surrounded by so much doubt, for multiple reasons. No writings, newspaper articles, or journal entries were written about the skull of doom until 1954, which is twenty-seven years after the fact. According to publication of the Archaeological Institute of America, a gallery owner by the name of Sidney Burney went on record saying she sold Mitchell-Hedges the skull and that’s why there is no written evidence of the skull since the 1930’s. Anna Mitchell-Hedges continued her father’s life work by displaying the skull of doom and spreading its story. She even went so far as to have a crystal carver named Frank Dorland examine the skull to prove its authenticity. After examination, Dorland said that the skull had the power of scrying, so its onlookers could gaze into the crystal and see the past, present, and future, and could emit light depending on the earth’s orbit. Another examination at the Hewlett-Packard lab supports their claim that the crystal was cut “against the grain” and to do so would make the crystal shatter (Haughton). The lack of microscopic scratches from a metal tool provides further evidence true believers say, because the best guess as to how it was cut, was through a silicon, sand, and water solution that would take “up to 300 years for a man to complete” (skeptics Dictionary). The Skull of Doom isn’t the only of its kind to surface with claims of magical powers and ancient origins. Researchers at the Smithsonian have examined over thirteen crystal skulls, including the Skull of Doom, and have concluded the skulls were made in Germany within the last 150 years explaining they couldn’t have been made with tools available to the indigenous people thousands of years ago (skeptics dictionary.)
With all of the evidence against the Skull of Doom, it’s hard to believe how true believers can really get behind this belief. People, like Mitchell-Hedges and his daughter Anna, had a lot to gain by believing in the Skull of Doom’s mystical powers. Along with the notoriety, Mitchell-Hedges was able to get multiple books and papers published about the topic. After his passing, his daughter Anna made some money off of the belief that this ancient artifact possessed magical and deadly powers (Carroll). I believe that people other than the Mitchell-Hedges fall victim to believing in the Skull of Doom’s powers due to appeals to authority. Some believe that if you are published, your writing has to be true. Mitchell-Hedges had written a book and published articles about his findings, so some of the general public and “New Agers” could fall victim more easily. The Frank Dorland examination could also be an appeal to authority because the average person wouldn’t know anything about the process of cutting a crystal. If one was told by a crystal carver that a crystal shouldn’t be able to be cut in the way that it is, and it should take someone hundreds of years to cut, they are probably going to be more likely to believe it given the novelty of the subject. Given the right circumstances, anyone can believe an extraordinary belief, even one as crazy as this one.
The group of people that qualify as true believers for this extraordinary belief are known as “New Agers”. The All About Spirituality website defined the term “New Ager” as a big blanket label for a grouping of eastern influenced western beliefs. “New Agers” tend to detest the label of being a religion and prefer to be thought of as a collection of theologies and a mind body connection. Their mission is to bring peace and enlightenment to all of the earth’s people and are often connected to mythical and magical beliefs such as the crystal skulls. Many of the “New Agers” believe the crystal skulls were created by aliens in the lost city of Atlantis and dispersed throughout the world (Carroll).
Due to factors like retreats to authority and the passing of traditions, the legend of the skull of doom lives on. I definitely think this is an extraordinary belief that is continuously losing followers due to the overwhelming amount of evidence against it. “New Agers” continue the belief on as a means of supporting their other beliefs like the existence of the lost city of Atlantis. No matter how much evidence exists to the contrary, true believers will insist the skull of doom is ancient and have the power to cause enemies to die.
http://brian-haughton.com/crystal-skull-of-doom/
https://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/mitchell_hedges/facts.html
http://skepdic.com/crystalskull.html
https://www.allaboutspirituality.org/new-age.htm
I liked reading this post and this was an extraordinary belief that I’ve never heard of. I think you did a great job of countering this belief and proving that it is very improbable. If we were to follow Occam’s razor, we’d certainly choose this, more simple explanation over the extraordinary one.
This is a theory I have never heard of before! I thought your post was very informative and interesting. I agree with you that Mitchell-Hedges and his daughter had a lot t again by spreading this theory, and whether they truly believed it or not most likely didn’t matter as much as their success. I think it’s also very convincing when one hears a professional say that it could not possibly have been made in the past couple centuries, and this in my opinion is one of the biggest pieces of “evidence” they have. But with so much to prove it isn’t real, it’s crazy that people still believe in it.
I had never heard of this theory before reading your post. I can see why people still believe in this after experts have said that indigenous people around the time that they think the skull was made especially since they believe it was created by the City of Atlantis, which I know that it is thought to have been an extremely advanced society so it makes sense that they would have the technology to carve crystal in this way. However, I agree with you that the more simpler and more believable reason for this belief is that Mitchell-Hedges just made it all up as he had so much to gain from it.
It is a pretty novel theory. However, it is claimed that the skull of doom was 3,600 years old and took over 150 years to create even though there is no evidence of this ancient creation. I like how you explain that it is a practice appealed authorities and the wealthy. Extraordinary beliefs are always related to social factors. However, without having real examples explaining the function of the crystals stone, which is to let the enemies die, I am confused about what promotes the claim nowadays?