world-mysteries

A Laguna Beach Ghost Story

2012-02-15T12:48:00.002+05:30

Residents of the Arch Beach Tavern report seeing ghosts and hearing mystery sounds. The paranormal activity is making people jumpy.

A rocking chair sits in a corner of the lobby of the Arch Beach Tavern, the scene of numerous ghost sightings in Laguna Beach.

It used to be a brothel, or so they say.

The old white building sits on the hill, like the hotel in "The Shining," cavernous and creaky, with long dark hallways and strange apartments. It is the Arch Beach Tavern, built in 1915 to house people from the movie industry.

It is an odd place where mystery abounds. There are blank doors with no handles and light switch panels with no switches. In the lobby, an empty rocking chair sits in the corner as if waiting to move with an unseen breeze.

Put it this way: On Halloween in Laguna Beach, Oak and Brooks streets get all the attention, but no one goes trick-or-treating at this house, perhaps because it's too scary.

"Nobody ever comes up to the building," said Briandy Walden, a 10-year resident. "The building itself can be kind of creepy. The carpet used to be red."

Walden tells stories about mysterious sightings on the third floor and the backyard garden and about the unexplained sounds.

"People have said they've heard and seen things, but I haven't," she said, fidgeting and glancing over her shoulder.

The Catalina Street building can make visitors jumpy.

In fact, according to postings on the Ghosts of America website, of all the ghost sightings in Laguna Beach, this building is the most storied.

"Two residents have reported seeing a little girl playing on the balcony at night behind the building on the third floor," someone named Ryan, who did not give a last name, wrote on the website. "Another 12-year resident reported hearing digging going on in the laundry room, but the floor is concrete, and the digging sounded like a shovel into gravel and dirt."

There have been several other mysterious reports, according to the website.

"I have lived at 2180 Catalina (bottom level) in Laguna Beach and have witnessed several different ghost sightings in the years that I've lived here," Nikki wrote. "Mostly seeing an older woman with white, short perm-style hair in my kitchen and standing over my bed.

"When I first moved in I woke up to what I thought was a nightmare but clearly was not; I saw a woman in old-style courtesan clothing. She had curly long dark hair and was wearing old-fashioned lingerie. She was scratching at me and telling me to 'get out.' I had actual marks on my arms, so this was very real! I remember she had long red-painted nails."

There are other locations in Laguna Beach where people claimed to have seen or heard strange things: the high school theater, Pyne Castle, Ti Amo Ristorante, the Royal Hawaiian and a beach cottage called the witch's house.

But the stories at the Arch Beach Tavern persist � not around the campfire but in the shower.

"I lived [there] for about six months back in 2002," wrote Amanda. "I had many paranormal experiences while living there. My apartment was on the second floor and on two occasions I could feel banging underneath my feet as I was showering. I also experienced a wine glass shatter on my coffee table as a friend and I were watching a movie.

"I would also hear activity in my bathroom. I would hear the shower curtain shuffle and move around quite often. Not to mention many nights of insomnia and being creeped out. My neighbor across the hall heard activity in her apartment every night. I would love to see a paranormal investigation done there."

Fishermen Find Ancient Skull in Lake - Georgetown, Texas

2012-02-15T12:38:00.001+05:30

Anthropologists at Texas State University are studying the skull of a Native American man that fishermen found at the edge of the water on Lake Georgetown on Monday.

The skull could be anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years old, said Kate Spradley, an assistant professor of anthropology at the university who has examined it.

"It is likely prehistoric because of a number of features," she said.

The three molars remaining on the skull are "completely worn down due to a very gritty diet," she said. The diet would have consisted of unprocessed foods, she said.

The skull also has features that are very "male," she said, including a brow ridge and wide cheekbones, she said.

Spradley said she cannot determine how the man died but said that a side of the skull is missing.

"It looks like postmortem damage, but it's hard to tell if it was trauma associated with the death or it happened after death," she said. The man was probably middle-aged because some of the lines that form when the human skull grows together are obliterated, she said.

It's not unusual to find the remains of Native Americans in the area, she said. Lake Georgetown is near the famous Gault site, halfway between Georgetown and Fort Hood, said Steve Black, an anthropology professor at Texas State. Scientists have found thousands of artifacts at the Gault site, including spear points of the Clovis people, thought to be some of the earliest human inhabitants of the New World 13,000 years ago.

It is hard to determine what tribe the man might have belonged to, Spradley said. Historical records were not established until the arrival of the Spanish, who established missions near Rockdale in the mid-18th century, said Pat Mercado-Allinger, the state archaeologist for the Texas Historical Commission.

The fishermen found the man's skull Monday in a cove near Russell Park, on the north shore of the lake, about 1� miles from a swimming area, Terbush said. Lake levels in that area are lower because of the drought, he said.

Police were notified at 1 p.m. Monday. Investigators initially regarded the case as a suspicious death, and one of the possibilities they later considered � before one of the Texas State anthropologists examined the skull � was that it might be related to the 2002 disappearance of Rachel Cooke, Terbush said.

Cooke, 19, was last seen jogging near where her family lives, northwest of Georgetown about two miles from where the skull was found, Terbush said. Authorities dragged the lake when she disappeared, he said.

Spradley said she thinks the skull was originally embedded in the bank of the lake.

"For something in the water to be that well preserved makes me think it was buried," she said.

Mexico's Mysterious Zone of Silence

2012-02-15T12:28:00.000+05:30

Deep in an arid desert region of Mexico lies a little known area that seemingly defies the physics of sound. Known as the Zone of Silence, locally as the Vertice de Trino, it is a place where radio waves barely permeate the air.

Located between the states of Chihuaua, Coahuila and Durango and only 400 miles from the U.S. Border, something in the area makes it almost impossible to receive radio, television, cell phones or any other sound related transmissions.

While the exact cause of this phenomenon has not been fully explained to date, there are many theories abounding that the area has been heavily influenced by past extra-terrestrial and other paranormal activities. Regardless of the cause, the Zone of Silence continues to be a fascinating study into the unknown.

The unique qualities of the region were first discovered when Mexican aviator Francisco Sarabia reported radio trouble while flying over the area in the 1930s. This phenomenon was then later confirmed in 1966 when an organic chemist could not contact fellow team workers on his hand-held radio while conducting a field study.

However, full awareness of the unique sound anomalies within the zone did not arise until July 11, 1970. On that date, a faulty U.S. Air Force rocket launched from the White Sands Missile Base in New Mexico went suddenly off course and crashed into the remote desert region.

Because the rocket was carrying two containers of radioactive elements, an Air Force recovery team was immediately dispatched to the area where it was once again confirmed that all types of radio signals failed to travel through the air. As a result, research headed by the Mexican government was established to study the unique plant, animal and mineral components of the area in an effort to determine the cause of the drop in signals.

The most commonly held position among scientists for the sudden disappearance of radio waves is the high amounts of mineral deposits in the region. Very high levels of both magnetite and uranium are present, which could create enough electromagnetic pulses to interfere with radio signals. In addition, the region has also received an unusually high level of meteorite activity over thousands of years. This has given rise to speculations that there may be some unusual magnetic properties in the soil arising from the breakdown of meteorite fragments.

The high level of meteorite activity has generated many theories that the region is a vortex where an extraordinary amount of earth energy is concentrated, leading it to be a hot spot for paranormal activities.

Numerous reports by local residents of UFO sightings and contact with extra-terrestrial beings have been documented on a regular basis since 1910. Some people have claimed to being witness to large disks landing on area hills, while many others describe a regular occurrence of mysterious lights and fireballs in the night skies.

Backing the theory of spaceships landing in the area are reports of contacts with alien beings. In all cases, these beings have been described as strange looking blond people wearing long raincoats and ball caps. When asked by a rancher where they came from, their response was from above.

How the Zone of Silence disrupts radio signals and seems to attract extra-terrestrial activity has yet to be fully explained. But there is little question that the area contains many phenomenons that continue to defy logical explanations.

Brown Mountain Lights remain unexplained

2012-02-15T11:51:00.000+05:30

For years the area around Brown Mountain has been a hotspot for strange orbs and lights in the sky.

Located in North Carolina, the orange-like orbs have been a topic of much debate among scientists and visitors alike for decades. Numerous studies have been conducted in an effort to get to the bottom of the mystery however there has never been a conclusive explanation. Everything from ball lightning and swamp gas to alien spacecraft have been suggested at one point or another.

The Brown Mountain Lights, which can be seen from several vantage points along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Brown Mountain Overlook on North Carolina Highway 181, have been explained as a series of orange-like orbs by those who claim to have seen them.

Piri Reis map

2012-02-14T11:54:00.000+05:30

The Piri Reis Map is a famous pre-modern world map created by 16th century Ottoman-Turkish admiral and cartographer Piri Reis. The map shows part of the western coasts of Europe and North Africa with reasonable accuracy, and the coast of Brazil is also easily recognizable. Various Atlantic islands including the Azores and Canary Islands are depicted, as is the mythical island of Antillia. The map is noteworthy for its depiction of a southern landmass that some controversially claim is evidence for early awareness of the existence of Antarctica. Some scholars claim this and other maps support a theory of global exploration by a pre-classical undiscovered civilization.

Angel Hair

2012-02-14T11:52:00.000+05:30

Angel Hair is a rare phenomenon that has so far defied explanation. It is made up of silken threads that rain down on to the earth, but reach out to touch it and it will almost certainly vanish before your eyes. It is a world wide phenomenon with the most regular occurrences from North America, New Zealand, Australia, and western Europe. There is no known proof for what causes this substance, or even what it is made up of. Speculations are that it has come from Spiders or another type of silk-spinning insect, and even UFO’s as it has often been associated with UFO sightings. Because of its sensitive nature, it has been difficult to collect, and to analyse as it is subject to contamination from car exhaust fumes, and even human contact, which could skew the chemical results.

Ark Of The Covenant

2012-02-14T11:51:00.000+05:30

The Ark is considered the greatest of all hidden treasures and its discovery would provide indisputable truth that the Old Testament is hard fact. Its recovery remains the goal of every modern archaeologist and adventurer. Its purpose was as a container for the ten commandments given on stone tablets by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. According to the book of Exodus, the Ark is made of shittim wood (similar to acacia) and gold-covered inside and out. It was topped by a mercy seat comprising two cherubs also made of gold. It was believed to have supernatural powers due to several events, including causing the death of a man, who attempted to steady the Ark as the oxen hauling it stumbled, bringing down the walls of Jericho in one battle, and showering misfortune on the Philistines after they captured it in another. There are several speculations around the final resting place of the Ark, and whilst it would take a shrewd operator to find it, it would need a brave or even foolhardy person to open it!

Out-of-Place Metal Objects

2012-02-14T11:49:00.000+05:30

Humans were not even around 65 million years ago, never mind people who could work metal. So then how does science explain semi-ovoid metallic tubes dug out of 65-million-year-old Cretaceous chalk in France? In 1885, a block of coal was broken open to find a metal cube obviously worked by intelligent hands. In 1912, employees at an electric plant broke apart a large chunk of coal out of which fell an iron pot! A nail was found embedded in a sandstone block from the Mesozoic Era. And there are many, many more such anomalies.

Impossible Fossils

2012-02-14T11:45:00.000+05:30

Fossils, as we learned in grade school, appear in rocks that were formed many thousands of years ago. Yet there are a number of fossils that just don’t make geological or historical sense. A fossil of a human hand print for example, was found in limestone estimated to be 110 million years old. What appears to be a fossilized human finger found in the Canadian Arctic also dates back 100 to 110 million years ago. And what appears to be the fossil of a human footprint, possibly wearing a sandal, was found near Delta, Utah in a shale deposit estimated to be 300 million to 600 million years old.

Oera Linda Book

2012-02-14T11:43:00.000+05:30

The Oera Linda Book is a controversial Frisian manuscript covering historical, mythological, and religious themes that first came to light in the 19th century. Themes running through the Oera Linda Book include catastrophism, nationalism, matriarchy, and mythology. The text alleges that Europe and other lands were, for most of their history, ruled by a succession of folk-mothers presiding over a hierarchical order of celibate priestesses dedicated to the goddess Frya, daughter of the supreme god Wr-alda and Irtha, the earth mother. The claim is also made that this Frisian civilization possessed an alphabet which was the ancestor of Greek and Phoenician alphabets. The current manuscript carries a date of 1256. Internal claims suggest that it is a copy of older manuscripts that, if genuine, would have been written by multiple people between 2194 BC and AD 803.

Giant Stone Balls of Costa Rica

2012-02-14T11:41:00.001+05:30

Workmen hacking and burning their way through the dense jungle of Costa Rica to clear an area for banana plantations in the 1930s stumbled upon some incredible objects: dozens of stone balls, many of which were perfectly spherical. They varied in size from as small as a tennis ball to an astonishing 8 feet in diameter and weighing 16 tons! Although the great stone balls are clearly man-made, it is unknown who made them, for what purpose and, most puzzling, how they achieved such spherical precision.

The Ica Stones

2012-02-14T11:38:00.000+05:30

Beginning in the 1930s, the father of Dr. Javier Cabrera, Cultural Anthropologist for Ica, Peru, discovered many hundreds of ceremonial burial stones in the tombs of the ancient Incas. Dr. Cabrera, carrying on his father’s work, has collected more than 1,100 of these andesite stones, which are estimated to be between 500 and 1,500 years old and have become known collectively as the Ica Stones. The stones bear etchings, many of which are sexually graphic (which was common to the culture), some picture idols and others depict such practices as open-heart surgery and brain transplants. The most astonishing etchings, however, clearly represent dinosaurs – brontosaurs, triceratops (see photo), stegosaurus and pterosaurs. While sceptics consider the Ica Stones a hoax, their authenticity has neither been proved or disproved.

The Dropa Stones

2012-02-14T11:36:00.000+05:30

In 1938, an archaeological expedition led by Dr. Chi Pu Tei into the Baian-Kara-Ula mountains of China made an astonishing discovery in some caves that had apparently been occupied by some ancient culture. Buried in the dust of ages on the cave floor were hundreds of stone disks. Measuring about nine inches in diameter, each had a circle cut into the center and was etched with a spiral groove, making it look for all the world like some ancient phonograph record some 10,000 to 12,000 years old. The spiral groove, it turns out, is actually composed of tiny hieroglyphics that tell the incredible story of spaceships from some distant world that crash-landed in the mountains. The ships were piloted by people who called themselves the Dropa, and the remains of whose descendants, possibly, were found in the cave.

The Grooved Spheres

2012-02-14T11:32:00.000+05:30

Over the last few decades, miners in South Africa have been digging up mysterious metal spheres. Origin unknown, these spheres measure approximately an inch or so in diameter, and some are etched with three parallel grooves running around the equator. Two types of spheres have been found: one is composed of a solid bluish metal with flecks of white; the other is hollowed out and filled with a spongy white substance. The kicker is that the rock in which they where found is Precambrian – and dated to 2.8 billion years old! Who made them and for what purpose is unknown.

Easter Island

2012-02-14T11:10:00.000+05:30

Easter Island (Rapa Nui in the indigenous language), is a Chilean-governed island in the south eastern Pacific Ocean. Rapa Nui is a small, hilly, now treeless island of volcanic origin. It's been called the most isolated inhabited territory on Earth, but there is another aspect that sets it apart from any other place on Earth - its hundreds of megalithic human-like statues that face inland from the shore. These enigmatic statues are called moai.

Almost all moais were carved out of distinctive, compressed, easily worked volcanic ash. The largest one weights up to 165 tons, and its height is almost 22 meters. Some upright moai have become buried up to their necks by shifting soils.

This massive production of megalithic works on an island that is absolutely barren, with just grass, immediately captures our imagination. How did it all happen? Who built these statues? And why did they build them?

Some scientists suggest that Easter Island inhabitants, the Rapanui, came from Polynesia. But similarities to Indian stone statues around Lake Titicaca in South America are striking. Is this accidental or not? Scholars are unable to definitively explain the function and use of the moai statues. Some of them suggest that the statues were symbols of authority and power, both religious and political.

One of the biggest riddles about Easter Island is how the statues 'traveled' from the quarry to their platforms or ahus, sometimes as far as 20 or 25 kilometres away? Rapa Nui legend has it that the moai "walked from the quarry". But less than one third of all carved moai actually made it to a final ceremonial ahus site. Was this due to the inherent difficulties in transporting them? Were the ones that remain in the quarry deemed culturally unworthy of transport? Or had the islanders run out of the resources necessary to complete the Herculean task of carving and moving the moai?

Easter Island is more well known as Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua, meaning ‘The Navel of the World’ and as Mata-Ki-Te-Rani, meaning ‘Eyes Looking at Heaven’. These ancient names and a host of mythological details point to the possibility that the remote island may once have been both a geodetic marker and the site of an astronomical observatory of a long forgotten civilization.

Nazca Lines

2012-02-14T10:56:00.000+05:30

Nazca Lines are the most outstanding group of geoglyphs in the world, they are located in the Nazca Desert, between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. Etched in the surface of the desert pampa sand about 300 hundred figures made of straight lines, geometric shapes and pictures of animals and birds - and their patterns are only clearly visible from the air.

There are 3 mysterious aspects to Nazca Plateau:
First, the straight lines, many kilometers long, crisscross sectors of the pampas in all directions.
Second, many of the lines form geometric figures: angles, triangles, bunches, spirals, rectangles, wavy lines, etc.
Third, many lines form animal patterns.

Nazca Lines Map Extract:

It is believed that the geoglyphs were built by a people called the Nasca- but why and how they created these wonders of the world has defied explanation. Since the Nazca lines cannot be recognized as coherent figures except from the air, it is presumed the Nazca people could never have seen their work from this vantage point, there has been much speculation on the builders' abilities and motivations.

Could these geoglyphs be effigies of ancient animal gods or patterns of constellations? Are they roads, star pointers, maybe even a gigantic map? If the people who lived here 2,000 years ago had only a simple technology, how did they manage to construct such precise figures? Did they have a plan? If so, who ordained it? It all seems so otherworldly. To comprehend the Nasca lines, created by the removal of desert rock to reveal the pale pink sand beneath, visitors have proposed every imaginable explanation - from runways for spaceships to tracks for Olympic athletes, from op art to pop art, to astronomical observatories.

This mysterious footprint

2012-02-14T10:38:00.000+05:30

The yeti is a mythical creature who is supposed to live in the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world. In Tibetan the word means "magical creature". Alternatively: "The Western name is derived from the Tibetan yeh-teh (transliterated: gYa' dred), "little man-like animal". Some Tibetan locals call a Yeti like creature a Kanchenjunga demon.

This mysterious footprint was photographed in the Menlung Basin in the Himalayas in 1951:

A team of mountaineers travelled to the region on a reconnaissance mission before attempting to conquer Everest for the first time, a feat achieved two years later.

Eric Shipton recorded the footprint, and Tom Bourdillon, passing on the evidence to his friend Michael Davies, wrote: "Dear Mick, Here are the footprint photos: sorry for the delay. We came across them on a high pass on the Nepal-Tibet watershed during the 1951 Everest expedition.
"They seemed to have come over a secondary pass at about 19,500 ft, down to 19,000 ft where we first saw them, and then went on down the glacier.
"We followed them for the better part of a mile.
"What it is, I don't know, but I am quite clear that it is no animal known to live in the Himalaya, & that it is big.
"Compare the depths to which it & Mike Ward (no featherweight) have broken into the snow. Yours, Tom Bourdillon."

Are the Yetis of Extraterestrial Origin?
Yetis could be of alien origin. Their home planet might be much colder than the Earth so they have physical bodies adapted for the extreme cold of the higher himalayan regions. Perhaps they crash landed hundreds of years ago and live in secret in mountain caves.

Are the Yetis Spiritual Adepts?
Advanced spiritual adepts may have extraudinary powers. They can survive in extreme temperatures and can take on different appearances. Their physical form may actually mutute by an act of will and they can live for hundreds of years or more if they decide to. High mountainous and inaccesscable places are sometimes chosen as living places by the Spiritual Masters. Mountain regions are said to be holy and have a pure atmosphere.

Are the Yetis Programmed Thoughtforms?
Yetis may be thought creations used as servitors/golems/servants by meditating Spiritual Adepts. The Spiritual Adept would be sitting in a concealed cave and occasionally sending out the Yeti thought creation to perform various tasks such as gathering food/recources or interacting with the environment. Perhaps they are are used to direct people away from the hidden caves either by fear or curiosity.

Are the Yetis Ghosts?
Yetis could be ghosts from a long past civilization or a group of advanced primates-humanitiy's ancestors.

Are the Yetis Remnants of a Primitive Race?
Yetis could be part of a small remaining tribe of ancient humans or-pre-humans. There maybe a vast network of undiscovered caves in the himalayas that helps them survive and remain concealed. They may be more telepathic than most present day humans and have other powers as well.

Are the Yetis Remnants of an Advanced Race?
The Yetis could be an advanced race with access to advanced technology from a past Golden Age.

Man's face seen in clouds before death

2012-02-14T10:27:00.000+05:30

14:30 AEDT Wed Feb 8 2012

Lismore resident Marion Dawson says a photo of clouds that bear a remarkable resemblance to her late brother Gerry Wells gives her "goosebumps".

The photo was taken on January 9 at Ocean Shores, on NSW's far north cost, at the same time as Mr Wells was flying overhead from Brisbane to Sydney to visit family and friends, the Northern Star reports.
Mr Wells, 62, died from a heart attack only a few days later on January 24.
Mr Wells, who lived in Brisbane, never saw the photo, which was taken by a former editor of the Northern Star, Russell Eldridge, and published in the paper on January 11.
It was only after Mr Wells passed away that a friend of his son saw the photo on the internet.
The family used the cloud photo in a leaflet handed out to people at his funeral.
Ms Dawson said they all got goosebumps when they saw the similarity.
She said she did not believe it was a coincidence that Mr Wells was flying to Sydney to catch up with family and friends while the photo was being taken below and that he still managed to get home to say goodbye to his wife one last time.
"I truly believe somebody greater than us knew this was about to happen," she said.

Crystal Skulls

2012-02-14T10:07:00.000+05:30

Many skeptics feel that the crystal skulls are probably of a much more recent vintage than their accompanying stories suggest. This, they believe, is the best way to explain their existence, since no one could have created them without technologies available only within the past century.
Skulls are humanity’s foremost symbol of death, and a powerful icon in the visual vocabularies of cultures all over the globe. Thirteen crystal skulls of apparently ancient origin have been found in parts of Mexico, Central America and South America, comprising one of the most fascinating subjects of 20th Century archaeology.

These skulls, found near the ancient ruins of Mayan and Aztec civilizations (with some evidence linking the skulls with past civilization in Peru) are a mystery as profound as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Nazca Lines of Peru, or Stonehenge. Some of the skulls are believed to be between 5,000 and 36,000 years old.

Many indigenous people speak of their remarkable magical and healing properties, but nobody really knows where they came from or what they were used for.
Were they left behind after the destruction of a previous world, such as Atlantis? Are they simply ingenious modern fakes or can they really enable us to see deeply into the past and predict the future?
Much research is currently being done on the skulls. However, their origin is still a baffling mystery. They seem to defy logic. Everything that is known about lapidary work indicates that the skulls should have been shattered fractured, or fallen apart when carved.

An old Native American legend tells of thirteen life-size crystal skulls, which are said to hold crucial information about humankind’s true purpose and future destiny. The skulls would be discovered and their secrets revealed when the human race was sufficiently developed. The authors hear of this legend while in the jungles of Belize and set out on a quest to discover its truth. “The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls” follows their journey from Maya temples to the British Museum, the Smithsonian, and to the crystal laboratories of Hewlett-Packard, where tests lead one scientist to conclude, “This {crystal} skull should not even exist.” In the end, shamans and native elders reveal the sacred knowledge the skulls contain and answer the questions this enduring mystery raises: Are the skulls artifacts from the lost civilization of Atlantis, or are they extraterrestrial in origin?
Made from piezo-electric quartz crystal, used in today’s computers, are the skulls information storage devices?
Do they really posses telepathic qualities, allowing us to see deep into the past and predict the future?
What is the message they bring about future earth changes and the destiny of humanity?

Famous Crystal Skulls

This report examines the known history of crystal skulls, various viewpoints on where they might have came from, and the secrets they may reveal.

The Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull

The most widely celebrated and mysterious crystal skull is the Mitchell-Hedges Skull, for at least two good reasons. First, it is very similar in form to an actual human skull, even featuring a fitted removable jawbone. Most known crystal skulls are of a more stylized structure, often with unrealistic features and teeth that are simply etched onto a single skull piece.
Second, it is impossible to say how the Mitchell-Hedges skull was constructed. From a technical standpoint, it appears to be an impossible object which today’s most talented sculptors and engineers would be unable to duplicate.

The discovery of this baffling artifact is a controversial matter. It was brought into prominence by British explorer F. A. Mitchell-Hedges, who claimed that his daughter unearthed it in 1924. Mitchell-Hedges led an expedition in the ancient Mayan ruins of Lubaantun, in Belize (then British Honduras), searching for evidence of Atlantis.

The story goes that his daughter, Anna, was rummaging inside a structure believed to have once been a temple, when she found the beautifully carved cranium of the crystal skull. It was lacking its jawbone, but the matching mandible was found three months later, some 25 feet away from the first discovery. Mitchell-Hedges claimed that he refused to take the skull away, and offered it to the local priests, but the Mayans gave the skull back to him as a gift upon his departure.

It now appears that this tale of the skull’s discovery was entirely fabricated. Mitchell-Hedges apparently purchased the skull at an auction at Sothebys in London, in 1943. This has been verified by documents at the British Museum, which had bid against Mitchell-Hedges for the crystal artifact.

This revelation is consistent with the known history of Mitchell-Hedges’s involvement with the skull. There are no photographs of the skull among those that were taken during his Lubaatun expedition, and there is no documentation of Mitchell-Hedges displaying or even acknowledging the skull prior to 1943.

The skull remains in the possession of the octogenarian Anna Mitchell-Hedges. She resides in Canada and displays the skull on frequent tours. Anna has maintained for all these years that she discovered the skull, even though there is reason to doubt that she was present at the Lubaatun expedition at all.

The Mitchell-Hedges skull is made of clear quartz crystal, and both cranium and mandible are believed to have come from the same solid block. It weighs 11.7 pounds and is about five inches high, five inches wide, and seven inches long. Except for slight anomalies in the temples and cheekbones, it is a virtually anatomically correct replica of a human skull. Because of its small size and other characteristics, it is thought more closely to resemble a female skull — and this has led some to refer to the Mitchell-Hedges skull as a “she.”

The Mitchell-Hedges family loaned the skull to Hewlett-Packard Laboratories for extensive study in 1970. Art restorer Frank Dorland oversaw the testing at the Santa Clara, California, computer equipment manufacturer, a leading facility for crystal research. The HP examinations yielded some startling results.

Researchers found that the skull had been carved against the natural axis of the crystal. Modern crystal sculptors always take into account the axis, or orientation of the crystal’s molecular symmetry, because if they carve “against the grain,” the piece is bound to shatter — even with the use of lasers and other high-tech cutting methods.

To compound the strangeness, HP could find no microscopic scratches on the crystal which would indicate it had been carved with metal instruments. 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.

Under these circumstances, experts believe 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.”