The Truth Behind the Crystal Skulls
The Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull is one of the most mysterious, controversial and down right weird artifacts of all time. The inspiration behind the Indiana Jones movie, it was discovered in 1924 by a young woman called Anna Mitchell-Hedges.
She claims to have discovered this bizarre, almost impossibly well-crafted crystal skull in the ruins of an ancient Mayan city called Lubaantun. Carved from a single piece of quartz, with a detachable jawbone, the object seemed way too advanced for the time period. Naturally, stories of its supernatural powers followed.
Anna swore the skull could glow, change temperature, and even predict major world events. Scientists, of course, weren’t buying it. But that didn’t stop her from spending her entire life defending its mystical reputation.
Join me as we dive into the history, the myths, and the ongoing debate around the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull. Let’s see if we can separate fact from fiction… or if the truth is even stranger than we thought.
Takeaways:
- The discovery of the Mitchell-Hedges skull in 1924 led to extraordinary claims about its supernatural powers.
- Anna Mitchell-Hedges experienced strange phenomena associated with the skull throughout her life, including mysterious lights and temperature changes (apparently!)
- Despite skepticism from the scientific community, Anna's conviction about the skull's powers remained unwavering until her death in 2007.
- The origins and craftsmanship of the crystal skull remain a mystery, intriguing both enthusiasts and skeptics alike.
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Transcript
The ruins rise from the Belizean jungle like stone ships in a green ocean.
Speaker A:17 year old Anna Mitchell Hedges is helping her adopted father's archaeological dig, probably wondering why they always had to go places with loads of bugs and no air conditioning.
Speaker A:The team has been clearing debris from beneath the collapsed altar all morning before breaking for lunch.
Speaker A:Anna stays behind.
Speaker A:Maybe she's being a stubborn teenager, or maybe she knows that something incredible is about to happen.
Speaker A:She picks through the rubble with her feet when the ground starts to shift beneath her.
Speaker A:Before she can call out or move to grab hold of something, the stone floor completely gives way.
Speaker A:Anna plunges down through the darkness, a heartbeat of terror, before landing hard on packed earth about 15ft below.
Speaker A:As the dust settles and her eyes adjust to the gloom, she realizes she's in some kind of ceremonial chamber.
Speaker A:Rays of sunlight pierce the hole above, dancing across ancient walls covered in worn Mayan glyphs.
Speaker A:And there, on an altar in the center of the chamber, something catches the light and throws it back at her a thousand times brighter.
Speaker A:Anna rubs her eyes, blinks, but the image doesn't change.
Speaker A:She climbs shakily to her feet and takes a tentative step forward, then gasps.
Speaker A:What she's looking at is something too well produced for the civilization they're investigating.
Speaker A:It's perfect.
Speaker A:It's impossible.
Speaker A:It's a human skull, entirely carved from crystal.
Speaker A:Sunlight plays through it like liquid, casting rainbow patterns on the chamber walls.
Speaker A:But the truly bizarre detail, and the thing that would cause so much controversy later, is that it has a detachable jawbone, a feature unique among all known crystal skulls.
Speaker A:Anna later claimed she could feel heat emanating from the skull itself, even though the crystal should have been cool to the touch.
Speaker A:She cries out, desperate to get out of the chamber with the eerie artifact.
Speaker A:Hearing the noise, the workers return and help her out when they learn of what's inside.
Speaker A:Many refuse to go back, claiming that something there just isn't right.
Speaker A:Here's where our story takes a turn from the realm of archaeology into something far stranger.
Speaker A:Hey, I'm Luke.
Speaker A:I'm an author of archaeological adventure novels.
Speaker A:I travel the world looking for stories to put into my books and share with you right here on the Adventure Story podcast.
Speaker A:Remember that scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where Indy is sat in the diner hearing about the crystal skull for the first time?
Speaker A:He mutters something about Mitchell Hedges, which, if you don't know, you might just think was a bit of movie Magic.
Speaker A:But it's not.
Speaker A:That's the thing.
Speaker A:The Mitchell Hedges skull is very, very real.
Speaker A:And what's more, some people believe it actually has supernatural powers.
Speaker A:Let's get to the bottom of it.
Speaker A:After finding the skull in her teenage years, Anna Mitchell Hedges spent her whole life making extraordinary claims about its powers.
Speaker A:Claims that sound like they're something straight out of one of my books.
Speaker A: the skull until her death in: Speaker A:She claimed that neighbours could see mysterious lights flickering in her house at night, emanating from the room where she kept the skull.
Speaker A:She told stories of people being spontaneously healed after spending time with the skull.
Speaker A:And others reported vivid visions of past and future things whilst meditating near it.
Speaker A:She also claimed that on certain nights, particularly during during the full moon, the skull would emit a faint bluish glow.
Speaker A:She said she could sometimes hear it resonating with a high pitched sound almost at the edge of human hearing.
Speaker A:And most incredibly, she claimed the skull would occasionally change temperature on its own, becoming warm to the touch even in a cold room.
Speaker A:Anna even went on to claim that the skull had predicted several major world events, including aspects of World War II.
Speaker A:She then said she'd received these premonitions in dreams after spending time meditating.
Speaker A:Yeah, you guessed it.
Speaker A:With the skull.
Speaker A:Now, if you're thinking this all sounds a bit far fetched, you're not alone.
Speaker A:The scientific community was, let's say, sceptical about Anna's claims.
Speaker A:But perhaps the most compelling aspect of Anna's relationship to the skull was her absolute conviction of its powers.
Speaker A:She refused offers of millions of dollars to sell it, saying that the skull was a sacred object that needed to be protected.
Speaker A:She kept it until her death and in her final years she would still talk about its mysterious properties with the same wide eyed Wonder as that 17 year old girl who allegedly found it in the ruins.
Speaker A:Now, we can't talk about this legend without mentioning Anna's father, self dubbed explorer F.A.
Speaker A:mitchell Hedges.
Speaker A:He's a fascinating guy.
Speaker A: Born in: Speaker A:He claims to have discovered lost cities in the Honduran jungle for pirates in the Caribbean.
Speaker A:I know, it sounds great, doesn't it?
Speaker A:And found evidence, get this one.
Speaker A:Of Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Speaker A: In his: Speaker A:Almost.
Speaker A:The thing is, most of his discoveries were already well documented by other explorers.
Speaker A:And many of his adventures seem to have been, shall we say, embellished.
Speaker A:Interestingly, though, in this same book, the Land of Wonder and Fear, he's happy to talk about every other adventure under the sun, but he doesn't think to mention the crystal skull.
Speaker A:Not one word.
Speaker A:Doesn't even.
Speaker A:Doesn't even mention it.
Speaker A:This is supposedly three years after his daughter discovered the magical thing, so it strikes me as a little odd to forget to put it in there.
Speaker A:Say we cast this whole thing off as a bit of creative fiction, and there's nothing wrong with creative fiction, as I hope at least there is still one mystery that remains unanswered.
Speaker A:No one has been able to explain fully how the skull was made.
Speaker A:The crystal itself is a single piece of extraordinarily pure quartz, and the craftsmanship is remarkable, even by today's standards.
Speaker A:It's a mystery, certainly.
Speaker A:Is it magic?
Speaker A:Probably not.
Speaker A:Does it make a great story?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:So where is this mysterious skull today?
Speaker A: itchell Hedges passed away in: Speaker A:He continues to tour with it, allowing people to experience its alleged powers for themselves.
Speaker A:I bet there's a fee involved, though.
Speaker A:The skull sits in a custom made wooden box lined with purple velvet, still catching the light, just as it did in that jungle chamber supposedly all those years ago.
Speaker A:Homan claims it still exhibits the same mysterious properties as Anna described.
Speaker A:The unexplained temperature changes, the faint hummingbird, the strange lights.
Speaker A:He's even added his own stories to the skull's lengthy legend, saying he witnessed it glow blue during a total solar eclipse in Mexico.
Speaker A:Maybe it is an ancient Mayan artifact with mystical powers, or a masterpiece of Victorian craftsmanship that no one can quite explain.
Speaker A:Or simply an elaborate hoax dreamed up by a professional adventure storyteller.
Speaker A:There's one thing that's undeniable, though.
Speaker A:The Mitchell Hedges skull continues to captivate our imagination.
Speaker A:Maybe sometimes the most powerful artifacts aren't the ones with the actual supernatural powers, but the ones that make us wonder, make us question.
Speaker A:What if this is the Adventure Story Podcast.
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