Top 5 Skull Hoaxes

5. Trepanning

Trepanning was a practice done since at least eight thousand years ago. It involved drilling a hole in the skull as a treatment for many head-related disorders, such as headaches, seizures, and mental disabilities. Many skulls with trepanned holes have been found. Trepanning did not always result in death, as many of these skulls show some degree of healing which would have occurred over several weeks or months after the procedure. Even so, there would have been many deaths due to infection. Today trepanning is still used as pseudoscience by various people purporting that it releases evil spirits or energy, that it improves health, cures depression, and various other unsubstantiated claims.

4. Giant skull

The military is said to have secured a large area and forbidden anyone entry except government personnel. The site was kept in complete secrecy until a helicopter secured photographs as it flew overhead. The photos show workers uncovering a skull of phenomenal size, and gradually revealing the rest of the giant skeleton. The skeleton became famous in email forwards that gave some variation of the above story, but in fact, the photographs were created through manipulation by combining various real but unrelated pictures. Other giant skulls have been put forward, but all have been either falsified, mysteriously misplaced, refused examination, or have actually been Neanderthal skulls, which are slightly larger than human skulls.

3. Elongated Skulls

A huge number of skulls with long or deformed craniums have been found around the world, with some groups advertising them as authentic alien skulls. Infant skulls are relatively soft and pliable, and there have been many peoples who would traditionally deform them by tightly binding the heads of their babies for several months, similar to the Marken people. Skulls deformed in this way predate written history, and every skull examined with DNA tests has been shown to either be that of a modern human or a Neanderthal. More recently, various Germanic, American, and native Australian people have practiced skull deformation, and is still done in a small number of places today. It is thought to be done for aesthetic reasons or to show social status, and if done correctly, does not cause brain damage.

2. Horned Skulls

There are many claims of horned human skulls being found; however, very few have ever been physically presented for independent inspection. Although peculiar human skin tumors can appear to be horns, they are not part of the skeleton and are more similar to fingernails than true horns. The horned skull stories probably began when a large number were reported to have been found in Pennsylvania that suspiciously vanished before they could be studied by experts. Some stories even claim that they had two rows of teeth or demonic powers. Although some versions insist that experts have verified horned skulls to be genuine, the cited experts either do not exist or deny the verifications they are claimed to have made. Similar to horned skulls are crested skulls, which are quite real and belonged to paranthropus, a genus of hominids with huge jaws for chewing seeds and roots. Their powerful jaw muscles were attached to the skull crest, much like in modern male gorillas.

1. Crystal Skulls

According to legend, these skulls have been circulating among collectors and museums since the late nineteenth century. They were crafted over 3000 years ago by the Mayans or Aztecs with the help of aliens, and were the center of strange mysticisms. Touching one would heal you and give great power. There were 13 in total, although we still have not recovered them all. If you bring all 13 together you would have the power of a god. Unfortunately, all of the skulls examined thus far were made in Europe, have been dated to be less than two centuries old, most being far younger, and there are no Mayan or Aztec legends pertaining to them except those which were written based on what had been said after the skulls were found rather than on actual archaeological evidence. Although beautifully made, these skulls and their associated legends are nothing more than an elaborate hoax. It is still a mystery whether they were all made by one person, if one was made first and inspired others, or if they were originally intended to be passed off as real at all.

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