All language subtitles for Forbidden History S06E04 Curse of the Crystal Skulls 1080p DSCP WEB-DL AAC2 0 H 264-BTN_track3_[eng]1

Narrator: over the past century,

Some of the world's
Greatest museums

Have collected a handful
Of mysterious crystal skulls

Said to be masterpieces

Of ancient mesoamerican
Civilizations.

Some people believe the
Skulls have supernatural powers.

Gough: you can't help to be
Skeptical

About the crystal skulls,
But what if it's true?

What if they are ancient
And other worldly?

Narrator: many amazing legends
Have formed

Around the crystal skulls.

And today, believers
Claim to be able

To harness
Their ancient powers.

It works not only
On your physical body,

But it also works
On your mental, your psyche,

And your spiritual body.

Johnsen-moser:
I went into an altered state.

I was being lifted
Through the dimensions.

Narrator: what is the truth?

Are the crystal skulls
Just modern fakes

Or are they genuine
Ancient artifacts

That possess
Extraordinary powers?

Nickell: that's just not
Credible,

And I would say not
Scientifically possible.

They're modern, post-columbus.

Gough: whether we believe the
Legends of the crystal skulls

Or not,
We're fascinated

By the fact
That it just might be true.

These things could be ancient,

They could be powerful,
They could be evil,

And what if they were?
How amazing would that be?

*

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Narrator: for over 120 years,

A handful of
Extraordinary crystal skulls

Have been collected
And exhibited

By some of the world's
Leading museums,

Such as
The smithsonian institution

And the british museum.

Historically renowned
As masterpieces

Of ancient mesoamerican
Civilizations.

The crystal skulls are said

By some to possess
Supernatural powers.

Many people have come to believe
That crystal skulls

Are in themselves
Objects of power.

They're like spiritual batteries
For good or evil.

They are pre-programmed
Computers.

You just have to basically
Touch them to tune in to

Their extraordinary
Ancient lost knowledge.

Narrator: skeptics, however,
Dispute the crystal skulls'

Seemingly magical properties

And claim that
The crystal skulls

Are instead
All-too-ordinary modern fakes.

Is the whole crystal skull
Legend a big hoax?

The challenge in
Dating the skulls

Is that the crystal itself
Can be very, very old,

But when was it carved?

Mcmahon:
There are two schools of
Thought on the crystal skulls.

One is that they are
Incredibly ancient.

Alternatively,
There are more skeptical voices

Who say that the technology
Used is modern

And the evidence is there,
They're barely 150 years old.

Narrator:
Probably the most mysterious
And remarkable

Of all crystal skulls

Is the so-called
Mitchell-hedges skull.

Exquisitely carved,

This privately owned,
Apparently ancient masterpiece

Is said to have been discovered
In the 1920s

In the lost mayan
City of lubaantun

In what was then british
Honduras, now belize.

The mitchell-hedges
Crystal skull

Is perhaps the world's
Most famous crystal skull

And continues to draw
Huge crowds

Wherever and whenever
It's displayed.

It really is just
A remarkably beautiful artifact.

Narrator:
The original discoverer
Of the skull in the 1920s

Was said to be
The british adventurer

And popular author
F.A. Mitchell-hedges,

Who later wrote about the skull

And his explorations
At lubaantun in his lurid

And melodramatic
1950s autobiography,

"Danger my ally."

In his memoirs, mitchell-hedges
Stipulates that the skull

Is over 3,000 years old
And is the embodiment of evil.

In fact, he calls it
The "Skull of doom."

Narrator:
Mitchell-hedges also said
In his memoirs

That according to local legend
In lubaantun,

The skull of doom was used by
The ancient mayan high priests

To perform dark
And esoteric rituals.

Mitchell-hedges was a kind of
Stereotype of the pipe smoker

Who just would take a puff
On his pipe

And then tell
Some whopping tall tale.

I think everything he did
Was kind of self-promotion,

Trying to give himself a kind
Of exotic and exciting life.

Mitchell-hedges is
A really interesting character.

He was absolutely
A big personality,

A very high profile
Adventure explorer,

Quite the indiana jones
Of his day.

Narrator: fittingly, one of the
Indiana jones movies

Was focused on the mystery
Of the crystal skulls.

Indiana jones movie
About the crystal skulls

Certainly added
To the oomph behind

The whole crystal skull story,

Narrator: as told by
The mitchell-hedges family,

The drama surrounding the
Discovery of the crystal skull

In the 1920s rivaled
Any indiana jones plotline.

Ironically, today,
The current owner of

The skull of doom
Lives in indiana.

Bill homann regularly
Does public tours

With the skull
Spreading its fame.

Bill is the widower of
Mitchell-hedges' daughter anna,

Who died in 2007.

Anna inherited the crystal skull
After her father's death.

And when bill first met her
In the 1980s,

They bonded over their reverence
For the skull

And its legendary powers.

Homann: yeah, we would sit
At a picnic table

In the backyard with the skull
And we'd sit there and talk

And it'd be just the skull
And anna and I's self.

And as we were talking and
Somebody took a picture of it.

If you look at the skull, to me,
It looks like a little baby

Sitting there right between us.
Can you see that?

Narrator: anna mitchell-hedges
Explained to bill

That at the age of 17,
She had accompanied her father

During his explorations
In belize,

And she told bill
That it was she, not her father,

Who had originally
Discovered the skull

In lubaantun's tallest pyramid.

Anna, the adventurer's
Little girl,

Which she was, snuck
To the top of this pyramid,

And all of a sudden the sun
Move behind this cloud

And came straight down
Into the rocks.

And inside the pyramid
Was a big light,

And she ran down
To tell her father.

He got all the men up,
And took them like six weeks

To make a small hole
In the top of the pyramid.

And anna was chosen,
Being the small person.

They tied a rope around her and
Lowered her into this pyramid

That's completely dark, hadn't
Been open for a thousand years.

And she's going down,
Down into it.

And she feels around
And finds something.

And when they bring her back up
And the sun hits the skull,

The mayans started crying
And kissing the ground.

It's like their god
Has returned.

Narrator: since anna's death,

Bill has carefully
Treasured the crystal skull

That her father initially
Called the "Skull of doom."

It was due to its apparent
Powers of healing, however,

That bill and anna
Renamed it the "Skull of love."

Anna's claims that she
Attributed to the skull

Are really quite incredible.

For a start, she said
It could cure cancer.

For the last, like, seven years
Of her life,

She trained me on what to do
With the skull,

How to take care of the skull,
And what she expected.

She didn't want it to go
To a museum because in a museum

It'd be in a 1-inch thick glass,

And she felt that the skull
Needed to be around people.

And it has an important job
To do right now.

It works not only
On your physical body,

But it also works
On your mental,

Your psyche,
And your spiritual body

Because it works
On your heart chakra.

You have to see it
To really understand it.

Narrator:
Does the skull of love

Kept securely padlocked
In bill's house,

Really have such remarkable
Powers and can he prove it?

Scientific evidence may be able
To provide some insight.

*

Narrator: for over a century,

Many legends have formed around
A handful of crystal skulls

Said to have
Originally been used

By mesoamerican civilizations

Such as the maya
For dark and esoteric rituals.

It's claimed that the crystal
Skulls' ancient powers

Can be harnessed
For healing even today.

The most famous of these
Apparently therapeutic skulls

Is the so-called
"Skull of love,"

Which anna mitchell-hedges said

She found inside
An ancient mayan pyramid.

After the death of her father
Anna mitchell-hedges becomes

A bit of a cult figure

Because she takes the
Mitchell-hedges crystal skull

On tour around the world.

Anna went on to marry
Bill homann,

And after anna's death,
Bill has continued the tradition

Of the mitchell-hedges
Crystal skull going on tour.

People perform meditations
With it

And it continues to be
Even more of a new-age icon

Than it ever was in anna's time.

Narrator:
Today, when it isn't out
On tour for healing sessions,

The skull of love
Is kept securely padlocked

In bill homann's house.

Bill claims that quartz-rock
Crystal,

From which all crystal skulls
Are carved,

Has remarkable
Scientific properties.

Quartz, he says, can store

And transmit ancient wisdom
And energy,

Helping to explain the crystal
Skull's healing powers.

As far as healing, you know,
I don't want to say,

"Oh, you come here,
You're gonna get healed."

That doesn't work that way.
The skull has

Its own program,
Its own agenda.

There's 20 people in the room,

The skull will affect each one
In a different way.

So it's not like
One thing fits all,

But it's very, very individual.

Sometimes when people have
A problem in the physical world,

It's caused by something
Maybe psychically

Or maybe even spiritually.

So, where the healing goes
Is where it needs to go.

And it's very, very unusual
How it changes people

Because it shows
Your inner self who you are

And what your capabilities are.

I tell people, "Once you see it,
You'll never, ever forget it,"

And that's seems to be the case.

Narrator: the assertion that
The skull of love

Has the power to heal
Is a remarkable claim.

How could it be possible?

Bill believes
The scientific properties

Of quartz
Provide the explanation.

Its piezoelectric quartz
Is the same kind of quartz

That they make
Computer chips out of.

And so this is like
A supercomputer.

And if we had the knowledge
To understand

How it was programmed,

I would think we would be able
To use it

For a lot of good things
For mankind right now.

Narrator: bill believes
The ancient wisdom

Programmed into the skull of
Love over 1,000 years ago

Has been stored
Within the skull ever since

As a result of the crystal's
Piezoelectrical properties.

Gough: there's no doubt
That crystals

Appear to have qualities
Unique to them.

They're special,

But that doesn't mean
That a crystal skull

Has magical powers.

Narrator:
Material scientist and artist

Ashwini bharathula
Is an expert on

The crystal's genuine
Piezoelectrical characteristics.

Bharathula: so what happens with
Piezoelectric materials

Is that if you take
These crystals like quartz,

For example, and you make
A slice out of this crystal

And kind of press down upon it
Or squeeze on it,

It generates positive
And negative charges

On the opposite sides
Of the crystal.

So now you have something
Like a tiny battery

Or a power source.

The cuts that you make
In these crystals

Have to be extremely precise
And done in a certain way.

The higher the force you apply,
The greater the voltage.

Narrator:
The reverse also applies.

If an alternating current
Is applied to quartz,

It will compress
And expand alternately.

In other words, oscillate.

In fact, the energy produced
By crystal oscillators today

Helps quartz watches and
Computers to keep accurate time.

Extrapolating from these
Scientific facts,

Believers in the healing powers
Of crystal skulls

Say that like a computer,

Quartz can store
Ancient knowledge

As data coded
Into the form of energy.

Believers also claim
That quartz can absorb, store,

Release, and amplify

Both healing energy
And malevolent powers.

*

Bharathula:
Many people do believe
That these crystals

Have healing properties

And that different
Varieties of quartz

Will bring benefits to different
Parts of your body, if you will.

Personally, I'm skeptical
About these claims

Because of the basic disconnect
That exists between

The claims and the scientific
Basis for them.

Narrator:
But believers in the power
Of crystal skulls

Emphasize that even if crystals'

Therapeutic properties can't be
Scientifically explained,

They have been accepted
For thousands of years.

In many ancient cultures,
People wore crystal amulets

To ward off illness
And negative energy,

And the practice
Remains popular today.

People believe that by owning
A certain type

Of rock or crystal

That it would maybe
Cure a disease

Or it would give them
Good fortune.

And this has been revived
In recent

Decades with kind of esoteric
And new-age beliefs,

And it's now a vast industry.

And if you're convinced
That a small crystal

Can have a certain curative
Healing power,

Then imagine a skull,
A quartz skull.

I mean, just the power
Of that imagery allies

To its physical properties
Goes a long way to explain

Why people ascribe a huge amount
Of significance

To these objects.

Narrator: is there any real life
Evidence of the crystal skull's

Claimed therapeutic effects?

According to traditional
Mayan wisdom,

Skulls do possess remarkable
And transformative powers.

*

Narrator:
Treasured in museums

And private collections
Across the world,

A handful of apparently
Ancient crystal skulls

Are said to possess
Supernatural powers,

Both malevolent and healing,

Partly as a result of the
Claimed scientific properties

Of quartz.

Picknett:
There are extraordinary
Special properties to crystals,

And it's given rise
To all sorts of ideas,

Semi-mystical ideas, that if you
Get up close and personal

With one of these skulls,
You can absorb

Some of its amazing vibrations
For good or ill.

Narrator:
Although ancient crystal skulls

Are thought to possess
The greatest powers,

Even modern crystal skulls

Are believed to have
A therapeutic effect.

Today, popular spiritual healer
Star johnsen moser

Is leading a healing ceremony

Using crystal skulls
On mexico's yucatan peninsula.

Johnsen-moser: in the course
Of the ceremony,

All of these crystals
On the altar

Will be amplifying
The healing energy --

The holy spirit, the universe,
The life force,

Whatever you want to call it.

And if we can open
Ourselves enough,

We can allow the entire energy
Of the universe

To flow through us.

But we have to get
Out of the way.

Narrator:
Star has chosen this location
For the healing ceremony

Because 1,000 years ago,

This region was a cultural
Stronghold of the ancient maya,

Who are said to have
Originally harnessed

The powers of crystal skulls.

So israel is going to offer
This water into the ocean

And call forth the ancestors
In the mayan language

If anybody feels like
Taking a crystal skull.

And putting it in the water
Can do it, just don't let it go.

Narrator: although the
Therapeutic significance

Of crystal is disputed,

Local mayan shaman israel
Explains that crystal skulls

Help spiritually revitalize
People because skulls,

By their very nature,

Encourage people
To focus on life.

Mcmahon:
There's undoubtedly something
About the image of the skull

That's hugely powerful.

I mean, we've all got
A skull,

It's sitting somewhere
Underneath my -- my skin here,

But the sight of a skull
Raises questions about death.

Whether or not
There's an afterlife,

There's something
About looking into a skull

That really moves
And unnerves us.

Narrator: whether or not
The crystal skulls

Actually have any real influence

On the participants
In the ceremony,

It seems clear that people
Do feel better afterwards.

The ceremony
Was absolutely fabulous.

It was really very moving,
And I think little by little,

If we spread this
Kind of energy,

We will create a better planet.

What kind of people
Do we want to be?

There is an immense appeal
To believing that crystal skulls

Have a magical quality.

It's imbued with power
By people's belief.

It's a kind of
Self-fulfilling prophecy.

Narrator:
Perhaps the power of crystal
Skulls is just a placebo effect.

The scientific principle,
Which suggests

That if you believe something
Can heal you, then it will.

Although believers feel
All crystal skulls,

Even modern ones,
Can have a healing effect,

The supposedly ancient
Mesoamerican crystal skulls

Are said to have
Much greater powers.

But are these legendary crystal
Skulls actually ancient

Or are they nothing
More than modern fakes?

In recent years,
Scientific investigation

Of the crystal skulls
Has provided clues.

*

Since the late 19th century,

A handful of mysterious
Crystal skulls

Have been treasured
By private collectors

And some of the world's
Greatest museums,

Such as the smithsonian
And the british museum.

Long accepted as ancient
Mesoamerican masterpieces,

The crystal skulls are believed
To possess extraordinary powers.

But does scientific evidence
Suggest that they are,

In fact,
Just modern day fakes?

Nobody wants to be
A spoilsport and say,

You know, these skulls
Are not as old as it's claimed,

But of course, it's hugely
Important to the museums --

To the british museum

Because they can't put skulls
On display,

Claiming they're thousands
Of years old

When they're nothing
Of the sort.

Narrator: in recent decades,
Scientific techniques

Have been developed to date
The crystal skulls.

But initially,
In the late 19th century,

When the british museum
Purchased their skull,

The crystal skulls
Were authenticated

Mainly on the basis of their
Very convincing similarity

To other
Mesoamerican sculptures.

Anybody who's been
To historic sites in mexico

Or central america
Will have seen plenty of skulls.

I mean, they pop up over and
Over again in pre-columbian art.

So the idea of skulls being made

By these peoples
Is not outlandish.

Nevertheless, the problem
With these crystal skulls,

All of them,
Even the ones held by museums,

Is that there just isn't enough
Evidence of real archaeology

Having been behind
Their discovery.

The only accounts
That we have of the discovery

Of a crystal skull
Is the mitchell-hedges skull,

And even that is called
Massively into question.

Narrator:
Until the end of her life,

Anna mitchell-hedges
Stuck by her story

Of the skull's discovery.

She claimed that
During the 1920s

When her father was exploring

The lost ancient mayan city of
Lubaantun in what is now belize,

She found what he called
The "Skull of doom."

But anna's story was never
Corroborated by anyone else

Who was at lubaantun
At the time.

Gough:
None of the archaeologists
Working at the mayan temple site

Make any record of a discovery
Of a crystal skull.

And of course, you would, right?

So there's all kinds
Of uncertainty,

And rightfully so,
That's been levied against,

"Where did this
Alleged mayan crystal

Skull actually come from?"

Narrator: the british museum
Crystal skull, meanwhile,

Was purchased in the late 19th
Century via an antiques dealer.

But from which
Ancient archeological site

It was excavated,
If any, is unclear.

It would be possible to
Radiocarbon date

A crystal skull by examining
Organic material

In the layer of earth
It was dug up from.

But without this option,

Skeptics have had to rely
On less certain

Recently developed methods

To test the age
Of the crystal skulls.

Mcmahon: the british museum
And the mitchell-hedges skulls

Have been subjected to tests
Using new technology.

And this has involved
The application

Of dental putty onto the skulls

And then an analysis
Of the incision marks.

Gough:
You can actually approximate
The date of the crystal skulls

By examining the tool marks
On the crystal.

And when you do that,
In each case,

We find markings
Of a rotary device

That would only have been in
Existence in the 19th century.

So unless the mayans had
Motorized rotary tools

That we're not aware of,

They have to be
Modern creations.

Narrator:
The scientific judgment
That motorized tools were used

To carve the crystal skulls
And that they are

Therefore modern
Is accepted by most observers,

But not by the caretaker
Of the mitchell-hedges skull --

Bill homann.

Homann:
They keep wanting to say that
It was made with modern tools,

But I did the same test
Using the same technique

With this dental putty,

And I took it off
And I worked with a scientist

From one of the universities,
And we did testing on it

And we found that it's perfectly
Clear and no marks at any kind.

So the skull does not have
Any tool marks

Anywhere on the skull.

Narrator: even if it's proven
Beyond a shadow of a doubt

That motorized tools were used
To carve the crystal skull,

Bill believes
This still doesn't confirm

That it's modern.

Mcmahon: the crystal skulls are
Of such incredible perfection,

And they've been crafted
In such an exact way

That some claim
That extraterrestrials

Could have been involved
In the making of these skulls.

Who made it?
How it was made?

I don't know.

It's the most
Mysterious artifact.

But I'm sure that there is some
Type of extraterrestrial group

That communicates with the skull
Or through the skull.

They say it has the knowledge
Of the universe

Programmed inside of it.

The mayans say that it's
A communicator with the gods,

Is what they call it.

Narrator: it's certainly
A remarkable claim that aliens

May have created
The skull of love

And the other
Ancient crystal skulls,

But believers say that
This extraordinary claim

Is in fact supported by the
Content of ancient mayan text.

*

For over a century,
Many legends have formed

Around a handful of mysterious
Crystal skulls

Said to have been used
By mesoamerican civilizations

Such as the maya
For esoteric rituals.

Scientific evidence
Has indicated

That advanced motorized tools
Were likely used to carve them.

People who believe
The crystal skulls

Have unearthly powers claim

That the ancients received
Other worldly guidance.

Gough: a solid piece of crystal
Was a really difficult thing

To carve with the instruments
And technology

Available
At the time of the mayans.

So of course, the belief is
They must have had some help.

Narrator:
Those who believe
That alien intelligence

Shaped the crystal skulls
Point to what they claim

Is corroborating evidence found
In a remarkable document

Known as the "Dresden codex."

The "Dresden codex"
Is a really important

Piece of the mayan legend.

It's the oldest surviving piece
Of pre-columbian literature.

And what's significant about it
Is that it refers

To a really elite level of
Knowledge that the mayans had,

In terms of astronomy,
Detailed descriptions

About the transit of venus
And eclipse table predictions,

You know,
Really intricate stuff.

People believe there's no way
The mayans

Could have known that,

Thus, they must have been
Guided by extraterrestrials.

Narrator:
According to bill homann,

Mayan legend suggests
Something more specific

About the mitchell-hedges skull,

The so-called "Skull of love"

May not only have
A connection with aliens,

It may have been created in the
Lost sunken kingdom of atlantis.

The maya believe that it was
Brought to their their homeland

By a people whose land had gone
Under the sea

Many, many years ago.

There was a main area
Of atlantis

And that, I believe, was
Probably around the bahamas,

And this skull probably
Has something to do

With the bermuda triangle
And the energy down there --

The strange energy
That they're finding.

From what I understand,
The skull was created

For an atlantean high priest
That was loved very much.

And they took his physical skull

And they use that as a mold
To build the crystal skull.

So you see in a skull,
There's all the bumps.

That a regular skull has.

If you look in the eyes
Of the skull,

It, like, takes you
Into a world,

Some other kind of world,

So it's pretty amazing
That way.

Narrator:
Believers in the crystal
Skulls' supernatural powers

Can find themselves apparently
Being transported by the skulls

Into mysterious
Altered states.

One such occurrence
Was experienced

By spiritual healer
Star johnsen moser

When she was invited
For a personal session

With the skull of love

In order to learn
From the ancient wisdom

Supposedly programmed into it.

When I was actually
With the skull

And was downloading
Frequencies from it,

I went into an altered state,
And I was lifted.

I was being lifted
Through the dimensions,

And I found myself
In this incredible solar temple.

And as I was speaking
The language,

Flowers were coming out
Of my mouth

And people were there
Receiving the flowers

And being blessed
By the sacred language.

So that was my experience
With the mitchell-hedges skull.

Every skull is different.

And what I believe about those
So-called ancient skulls,

They have more experience

Because they're like
Holographic computers.

They store information.

They're like living libraries
To the planet.

There is some debate
As to whether

The mitchell-hedges skull
Is ancient or not,

But definitely some higher
Level of consciousness

Went into that skull and
Transmitted that information,

You know.

They're receivers,

So it doesn't really matter to
Me if they're ancient or what.

I've learned
Through this work

To have a different
Concept of time

Because time is an illusion.

It's all happening
Simultaneously.

Narrator:
Skeptics believe that time and
Dates are important, however.

Anna mitchell-hedges,
For example,

Claimed that
She'd found the relic

Her father called
The "Skull of doom"

At the lost ancient mayan
City of lubaantun in the 1920s.

But skeptical investigator joe
Nickell has discovered evidence

Which he believes indicates
That this story cannot be true.

The mitchell-hedges skull

Has nothing to do
With the mayans.

It's at the center
Of an incredible hoax.

Narrator: what is the supposedly
Conclusive evidence

Suggesting that
The mitchell-hedges skull

Is not what it's claimed to be?

And if this and the other
Famous crystal skulls

Are really fakes created
In the modern era,

Who made them,
How, and why?

*

Narrator: 150 years ago,
The great cultural achievements

Of the mesoamerican
Civilizations,

Such as the maya,
Were little known,

But from the mid-19th century
Onwards,

Many spectacular lost cities
Began to be discovered.

Soon, a handful
Of mysterious crystal skulls

Appeared on the art market

And were bought by some of
The world's greatest museums.

Mcmahon: at the end
Of the 19th century,

There's massive interest
In europe

In all things
Pre-colombian,

And the british museum
Got onto the bandwagon

And bought this skull
At that time,

Believed to be thousands
Of years old.

Narrator:
With no scientific techniques
At the time

To accurately date it,
Nor proof of where it was found,

The british museum skull was
Originally authenticated mainly

Because it exhibited traits

Matching an ancient mesoamerican
Obsession with skulls.

Another famous crystal skull
Came to light in the 1950s

When adventurer
Frederick mitchell-hedges

Wrote about the skull of doom
In his autobiography.

His daughter, anna,

Said she'd found the skull
In the 1920s,

Hidden in an ancient mayan
Pyramid at lubaantun

In what's now belize.

Sadly, it would appear
As though

The story of the crystal skull

Is not what
We were led to believe.

Documentation confirms
That frederick mitchell-hedges

Purchased the crystal skull
In 1943

At a sotheby's auction.

Narrator: it was skeptical
Investigator joe nickell

Who did the detective work
To find out the truth

About the origins
Of the skull of doom,

Later renamed
The skull of love.

It turned out that
Mitchell-hedges

Had bought this skull
From an art dealer

Named sydney burney.

Narrator:
But when contacted by nickell
About his findings,

Mitchell-hedges' daughter
Anna stood by her story

Of the crystal skull's
Discovery.

She told him that
After she found the skull

In the 1920s inside the mayan
Pyramid at lubaantun,

Her father gave it to bernie
As a security for a loan.

And then later bought
It back at sotheby's.

We asked her if she had
Any kind of documentary proof,

No, no, it had all been
Destroyed in a hurricane.

Narrator:
Whatever the truth is,

Skeptics point
To the scientific tests

Indicating that both
The mitchell-hedges

And british museum skulls

Were carved
Using motorized tools,

Which ancient mesoamerican
Civilizations didn't possess.

There is also further
Scientific evidence

Published in 2008.

Using raman spectroscopy,

The british museum skull's
Chemical properties were tested.

When the quartz
From which the skull was carved

Originally crystallized
Millions of years ago,

Tiny amounts of minerals
Became trapped inside,

Providing a telltale fingerprint

Of the original
Geological source.

The chemical properties
Of the quartz

From which the skull
Is made suggests

That the raw material came from
Either brazil or madagascar.

And frankly,
Neither of those two places

Were anywhere near
The mayan empire,

And it's unlikely that
The mayans had anywhere

Like that kind of reach.

Narrator:
So if the rock used to make
The british museum skull

Was mined in brazil
Or madagascar,

Where was the skull carved?

A possible clue is that
In the 19th century,

A large amount
Of brazilian quartz

Was shipped to the german town
Of idar-oberstein,

One of europe's leading
Centers of crystal carving.

Patrick dreher, whose family
Has been carving crystal

In idar-oberstein
For centuries,

Believes it's likely
That the british museum skull

Was carved there.

And that other supposedly

Ancient mesoamerican crystal
Skulls were, too.

Narrator: if the crystal skulls
Were carved in idar-oberstein

In the 19th century,
Who paid for them to be made?

The british museum skull
Was originally bought

From a colorful
French antiquities

Dealer named eugène boban,

And patrick believes boban
May have commissioned

Many of the skulls
To be made in idar-oberstein.

Nickell: eugène boban sold
Some crystal skulls.

He sold them for profit

And ends up having helped
Create an enduring mystery.

Narrator: the british museum
Now accepts

That their crystal skull
Isn't genuinely ancient

And may well have been carved
For eugène boban

In idar-oberstein
In the 19th century.

But believers in the
Crystal skull's

Extraordinary other worldly
Powers

Remain unconvinced
By skeptics' doubts.

Moser: you know, everybody
Has their own truth,

And I don't believe
That the truth is absolute.

I believe that we each have
Our own truth.

The fact is that it works
On people's hearts

And opens them up and gives them
A feeling of hope.

I think it's really
A good thing.

And that's why I work
And bring it around

So people can experience this.

Whether we believe the legends
Of the crystal skulls or not,

We're fascinated by the fact
That it just might be true.

However, now we understand
That the truth may not be

As romantic or as adventurous
As we were led to believe.

Narrator: even though scientific
Evidence suggests

The crystal skulls
Are modern fakes,

Believers remain convinced

That the skulls have ancient
Supernatural powers.

It seems inevitable that
People will continue to believe

What they want to believe.

Some people really
Do feel affected

By their reputed powers.

So whatever the truth is,

The legendary crystal skulls
Will surely long be treasured.

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