Legend of the Crystal Skull

**Legend of the Crystal Skull** is the 7th episode in Season 6 of Expedition Unknown.

## Plot Synopsis

Josh Gates takes on Central America's jungles to investigate the legendary crystal skull, discovered by a renowned adventurer who was the inspiration for the movie character, Indiana Jones.

## Historical Context

"It turns out adventure has another name, Mitchell-Hedges. In the early 20th century, Frederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges macheted his way through the jungles of Central America. If his weathered autobiography is to be believed, he evaded cannibal tribes, battled giant sea creatures, and uncovered a lost city in the jungles of Belize. But one artefact from his travels has inspired more debate than any other, the contested 1924 discovery of the Crystal Skull of Doom. To believers, the skull is a supernatural Maya artefact capable of miraculous healing but also to kill those who meddle with its powers. To many others, it was a self-promoting hoax the boldest of Hedges' tall tales ... can we settle the case of the crystal skull once and for all?"

~ Josh Gates

## Summary

Josh goes to the Lubaantun site in Belize and meets Bill Homann, owner of the Crystal Skull and a researcher. Bill shows Josh, Mitchell-Hedges' original briefcase which includes photographs from his journeys in the 20s and 30s to the Central American rainforest and the Bay Islands. Bill tells him about a crystal deity that Anna Mitchell-Hedges, Mitchell-Hedges' adopted daughter and a friend of Bill's, found and buried with her father out on one of the Bay Islands.

Bill and Josh head to the Copán site in Honduras and they meet Dr Jorge Ramos, an archaeologist, who tells them that there may have been ancient civilisations that could've made the skull but there is no definitive proof that they did yet. Bill and Josh fly via a military plane to Roatán, a Bay Island, and they take a boat to an island nearby. They explore and search for limestone caves which are shown in a photo that was taken where they found the deity.

They find the right cave and scan the outside but all they find is a nail. They rappel into an entrance of the cave system and inside they find a large piece of old pottery. They don't find the crystal deity but the two do meet again back in Los Angeles at the Natural History Museum to do a definitive test on the crystal skull with Dr Aaron Celestian, a mineralogist and geochemist. The final analysis is that the skull was most likely made in modern times with the help of a polishing tool but Bill disagrees.

## Final Words

"He [Hedges] bravely travelled deep into the jungles of Honduras, exposing vast Maya ruins and sailed into the uncharted Bay Islands, uncovering exquisite pottery and relics that alerted the world to a barely known culture that predated the Maya. In our own journey, we, too, uncovered evidence that this ancient culture is still largely forgotten with a treasure trove of history waiting to be shared with the modern world. But Hedges became obsessed that this civilisation was advanced beyond reason, and the skull has become the embodiment of that idea. Like that old poster in my bedroom read, "If adventure has a name it must be Indiana Jones," or F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, a man of daring adventure and, yes, tall tales. As for the skull of doom, Bill says one look into its eyes will reveal its true power. Care to give it a try?"

~ Josh Gates

## Notes & Trivia

* *This is where you can put notes and trivia, anything that is interesting or strange can be included here*

## Quotes

* "Even serving as inspiration for the fourth Indiana Jones film, the one we don't talk about."
* "Luckily, I was raised in the circus."

## References

1. ↑ https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGNmNTI0NDMtYjhkYi00ZmI1LTkyNzYtY2NhNWU2YjI3MTM5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI0MDY5NzI@.\_V1\_.jpg