'Crystal Skulls' debunk link needed, please.

[SusanB-M1]

On the GHMBs, the subject of the 'fantastic crystal skulls' comes up occasionally, and it has appeared again today. Is there a good link I can keep in reserve to trot out whenever necessary? I would be grateful for help here.

Some threads there are too woo to attempt to counter, but I do my sceptic best here and there!

[Professor Yaffle]

http://skepdic.com/crystalskull.html

http://www.csicop.org/si/2006-04/nickell.html

[Drudgewire]

Skepdic.com (http://skepdic.com/crystalskull.html):

There isn't a shard of evidence that these crystal skulls are mysterious in any way. What is mysterious is their continued popularity and the continued mythology as to their origins and powers.



CSIcop.org (http://csicop.org/si/2006-04/nickell.html)

The chief power of the skulls seems to be that of attracting the credulous, including some with fantasy-prone personalities, and transporting them to a mystical realm from which they return with addled senses. It seems likely that further revelations about the crystal skulls will best come, not from channeling sessions, but from science and scholarship.



Skepticwiki.org (http://skepticwiki.org/index.php/Crystal_skulls)

Crystal skulls are first reported in the mid-nineteenth century. None of them has any verifiable archeological provenance. As other Mesoamerican depictions of skulls are highly stylized, rather than realistic, they have no cultural or artistic provenance in Mesoamerica either.

That should get you started. :)

ETA: Beaten. :mad:

[SusanB-M1]

Professor Yaffle and DrudgeWire

Thank you both very much for those links - much appreciated, also for the quotes. I will have a good read through, then post them on GH.

[Big Les]

(Probably duplicate info, but new links...)

The British Museum has determined its own skull (http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aoa/r/rock_crystal_skull.aspx) to be a fake (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20050107/ai_n9693631/pg_1) based on the likely Brazilian provenance of the crystal itself, and more damningly, marks left by a modern jeweller's wheel (includes a couple of biblio refs).

How Stuff Works has an article (http://science.howstuffworks.com/crystal-skull.htm) too.

[dudalb]

Thanks to Dr. Jones, in about 8 weeks there will be a LOT of discussion and probably news features about Crystal Skulls. Just a wierd little feeling I have....:D

[Tumblehome]

I think the links tell you everything you need to know about the crystal skulls, but I have a couple of personal anecdotes about the ruins where The Skull of Doom! (...woo-woo...) was "discovered".

In 1979, I visited Lubaantun, the Mayan ruins in southern Belize where The Skull of Doom was supposedly found, though I didn't know that at the time. It was the first ruins of any kind I had seen, and I had a religious experience (for lack of a better term ;)) wandering around the site. It's in a fairly remote area and was mostly overgrown with jungle, but was still subject to looting laws, as I found out later. I heard about the crystal skull a year or so after I got back home and that just added to the mystery of the place. (When I first got connected to the Internet, one of the first things I looked up was the crystal skull and was disappointed to find out it was a hoax, and was actually bought at auction in England.)

We were staying in a primitive farming village about a mile and a half from the ruins, and at one point, an odd American tourist showed up, always holding a Book of Mormon. He told me that the book said there was gold buried in these ruins, and that he was there to find it. I don't know if he meant Smith's gold plates, but I assume now that he did.

On the morning we left the village to start the long trip home, he was on the "bus" (a three-ton truck with wooden planks for benches in the box), along with several villagers and the man who acted as policeman in the village. He was handcuffed to the bench, and the policeman was bragging about "nabbing" him for digging in the ruins. He had caught the guy once and given him a warning, then caught him again and arrested him, and was now taking him to face Belizean justice. I don't know what became of him.

Besides being a great trip, it was a good lesson in the dangers of wooish thinking.

[dudalb]

Hey,Crystal Skulls are fine in a Indy Jones Movie...and I will probably be one of the fools who will brave the opening night mobscene on May 22nd (something I have not done since Return Of The King opened) but anybody who takes this crap seriouly is truly gullible.

[Drudgewire]

I gotta tell you, I was googling to be helpful but the crystal skulls were a new one on me. I've been LOVING catching up on them.

Geez, every time I think I woo couldn't dip further into the realm of stupid...






ETA: Aaaaand it's just been outdone by asparagus. Holy...

[tripi]

Hey,Crystal Skulls are fine in a Indy Jones Movie...and I will probably be one of the fools who will brave the opening night mobscene on May 22nd (something I have not done since Return Of The King opened) but anybody who takes this crap seriouly is truly gullible.


I dunno. I might wait til early Sunday as to avoid the little kiddies and crying babies...not to mention unruly teenage brats. But back to the skulls...

[SusanB-M1]

#5-10
Thank you very much for your help and all the interesting information about the skulls.

Big Les - No, I don't think the link was a duplicate. By the way, is your avatar a photo of you?

Drudgewire - Could you please explain what you mean by 'outdone by asparagus'?! (I live quite a sheltered life realy!!)

dudalb - I have recently realised that I could play DVDs on the computer, so I might be able to play it later on. However, I shall probably rely on my granddaughters to tell me about it.

Tumblehome - Lovely story - from what sounds like a fascinating trip.

[Big Les]

Big Les - No, I don't think the link was a duplicate.

Some info will be the same, but I thought you might like to hear from the horses' mouth as it were (i.e. the British Museum).

By the way, is your avatar a photo of you?

Lord Xenu, no! It's David Miscavige, head of the cult of $cientology. Don't look into his eyes!

[Father Dagon]

/.../ marks left by a modern jeweller's wheel /.../Not only that. Whoever is supposed to have make these skulls didn't use the wheel. Maybe for toys, but not for any serious use.

[technoextreme]

Did anyone think of Stargate when they read the topic.:) The more I stay on this forum the more I realize that the writers ripped off every single wooish belief imaginable.

[-Fran-]

I remember reading about the "mysterious" crystal skulls as a teen. I must admit I find them extremely beautiful. Some of those skulls are really a cool piece of art or crafts. Why can't woo inclined people never leave it at that? I think it's quite enough that someone made a cool looking skull in crystal, why create a silly story around it?

[AgeGap]

The crystal skulls were on the book-cover of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. The real mystery is whether SusanB-M1 (Incurable Optimist-explains a lot) has the hots for the Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center, David Miscavige.:D

[SusanB-M1]

The crystal skulls were on the book-cover of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. The real mystery is whether SusanB-M1 (Incurable Optimist-explains a lot) has the hots for the Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center, David Miscavige.:D


Nah! At my age, I am long past such flights of fancy!;) But a handsome face is always of passing interest. I sometimes ask people about their avatars because I have only peripheral vision and can't make them out!! On the other hand, everyone looks much younger.

[Beerina]

My favorite story was a farmer who found some crystal skulls in his yard. They were warped, too. How eerie! Got on the woo woo train.

Turns out he was down the road from a factory that used to make crystal skulls for sale as tourist nik-naks. The warped ones were the rejects.

[Big Les]

Nah! At my age, I am long past such flights of fancy!;) But a handsome face is always of passing interest. I sometimes ask people about their avatars because I have only peripheral vision and can't make them out!! On the other hand, everyone looks much younger.

Maybe the avatar favours his thetan-induced boyish good looks. Try this one instead - http://www.xenutv.com/lisa/dm0.JPG - I think he's unbefugly, personally.

[Charlie Monoxide]

In 1979, I visited Lubaantun, the Mayan ruins in southern Belize where The Skull of Doom was supposedly found, though I didn't know that at the time. ... and at one point, an odd American tourist showed up, always holding a Book of Mormon. He told me that the book said there was gold buried in these ruins, and that he was there to find it. I don't know if he meant Smith's gold plates, but I assume now that he did.
...
To paraphrase my favorite joke about Florida:

Nothing good ever came out of the Book of Mormon ...

Charlie (loving the skullduggery) Monoxide

[SusanB-M1]

Maybe the avatar favours his thetan-induced boyish good looks. Try this one instead - http://www.xenutv.com/lisa/dm0.JPG - I think he's unbefugly, personally.
Yes, that one certainly makes him look grumpy and fed up.
Why the choice for your avatar then, I wonder?

[Madalch]

I remember reading about the "mysterious" crystal skulls as a teen. I must admit I find them extremely beautiful. Some of those skulls are really a cool piece of art or crafts. Why can't woo inclined people never leave it at that? I think it's quite enough that someone made a cool looking skull in crystal, why create a silly story around it?
Agreed- I always wanted one, but why assume it's magic?

[Big Les]

Yes, that one certainly makes him look grumpy and fed up.
Why the choice for your avatar then, I wonder?

It's a long story, but you have a point. I get sick of looking at him! He's not a permanent fixture by any means. I have a new one in the works that's actually of me ;)

[Soapy Sam]

Flying helmet and all?

[gnome]

Agreed- I always wanted one, but why assume it's magic?

It's a "guilding the lily" phenomenon just like this that began to drive me away from Wicca.

Not everything pretty and cool looking is magical!

[Tumblehome]

To paraphrase my favorite joke about Florida:

Nothing good ever came out of the Book of Mormon ...

Charlie (loving the skullduggery) Monoxide



I imagine nothing good went into the Book of Mormon either.

I found out reading the links here that Mitchell-Hedges, the guy who said he found the crystal skull, also believed in Atlantis, and was actually looking for evidence of it in Lubaantun, so the Book of Mormon guy wasn't the first to have his wooish dreams dashed there.

[SusanB-M1]

Flying helmet and all?
Has he got a pilot's licence then? One of my brothers took his in his 50s and and with a friend he went up in an open cockpit bi-plane, complete with old-worlde helmet and goggles! I don't know whether he had a scarf as well. He hopes to do a solo flight some time this year.

[AgeGap]

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_1813247e2ea0939447.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=11352)

Here is my copy of mysterious world on top of Arthur C Clarke's World of Strange Powers. You may be able to make out some Israeli guy and another bloke with a beard. RIP Arthur.

Flying helmet and all? Are you really Roy 'Chubby' Brown?

[Big Les]

Has he got a pilot's licence then? One of my brothers took his in his 50s and and with a friend he went up in an open cockpit bi-plane, complete with old-worlde helmet and goggles! I don't know whether he had a scarf as well. He hopes to do a solo flight some time this year.

I wish :( I couldn't afford it. My username is indeed a play on "Biggles", the fictional flying hero. But I did used to work at Europe's biggest aviation museum, and had a flight in a gorgeous old Dehavilland Dragon Rapide biplane. I still have peripheral involvement in aviation history, but I'm more general military/arms and armour now.

[AgeGap]

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_1813247e394934bbf7.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=11361)

BigLes-Where is the biggest aviation museum in Europe?

SusanB-M1-Sorry just being childish.:o. I have a warped sense of humour.

[SusanB-M1]

Age Gap

No apology necessary. My computer teacher is very involved with an aircraft museum in bournemouth and was saying the other day that he is involved in negotiations to provide space in a hangar for a particular aircraft they own. I think that's the gist of it anyway.

My older son (no longer RAF) is at present working in Madrid and is involved with the company who are going to make and supply the plane to take over from the Hercules and he, as a Hercules pilot for most of his RAF career, hopes to handle the controls one day.

[Big Les]

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_1813247e394934bbf7.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=11361)

BigLes-Where is the biggest aviation museum in Europe?

Well, I may be falling prey to my former employer's marketing line, but it's this place (http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/).

[Alareth]

The crystal skulls were on the book-cover of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World.

IIRC, it was featured pretty prominently in the opening credit sequence of his TV show as well.

[AgeGap]

I am going to Bournemouth in Summer and will try to visit the Aviation Museum. May also visit The Rude Man Of Cerne. Can't get to Duxford but may visit Imperial War Museum North next week.

[Drudgewire]

Bump for feature article about them on FoxNews:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355072,00.html

"I personally feel that [the skulls] are coming out now because humanity needs the information, their energy and they have probably their own purpose why they're coming out: to help us to create world peace," said Joshua "Illinois" Shapiro, 53, a self-described Crystal Skull Explorer who makes a living touring and giving lectures.

Thankfully they do explain the ones that have been found don't date back any further than the 1800s, and speaks to the Smithsonian anthropologist who doubts there were any Mayan crystal skulls at all.

About the purported powers, she notes wryly: "I've been sitting in fairly close proximity to one of the skulls for about 16 years, and I have not witnessed anything like what people say."

:p

[leonAzul]

About the purported powers, she notes wryly: "I've been sitting in fairly close proximity to one of the skulls for about 16 years, and I have not witnessed anything like what people say."

:p

To which I would add:

"I personally feel that [the skulls] are coming out now because humanity needs the information, their energy and they have probably their own purpose why they're coming out: to help us to create world peace," said Joshua "Illinois" Shapiro, 53, a self-described Crystal Skull Explorer who makes a living touring and giving lectures.

P.T. Barnum must be proud.