Curse of the crystal skulls: The real life story of the new Indiana Jones film

I saw one of the Skulls when I visited The Museum of Mankind near Piccadilly in the late 1970's. I truly remarkable object. -Yuri

The Museum of Mankind is now part of The British Museum:- http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/news_and_press_releases/statements/the_crystal_skull.aspx

The lamplight glimmered softly, turning an ordinary suburban sitting room into a place of eerie mystery.

Before us, in the semi-darkness, sat Carole Wilson, a renowned psychic whose strange powers had previously been used by police officers trying to solve murder cases and find the missing.

But now they were being deployed in an attempt to unlock the secret of one of the most extraordinary objects we had ever beheld - a life-size human skull fashioned from breathtakingly pure crystal.

As it was placed on a small turntable so that Carole could touch and manipulate it from all angles, specks of light danced and flickered on its surface.

Then Carole closed her eyes and emitted an unearthly high-pitched hum before speaking in an otherworldly, staccato voice, nothing like her own.

"You seek to know the origins of this receptacle," said the echoing voice. "I tell you that it was made many thousands of years ago. It was not made using what you call the physical. It was moulded into its present form by thought."

So began the latest astonishing twist in our quest to find the truth about the 13 crystal skulls said to have come into the possession of the Mayan people, one of the ancient world's most sophisticated and mysterious races before their civilisation crumbled more than 1,000 years ago.

They were supposedly lost for many centuries in the jungles and oceans of Central America but legend has it that they contain ancient wisdom vital for the survival of mankind, an idea that has clearly captured the imagination of Steven Spielberg whose new blockbuster, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, is out next week.

The voice went on to predict "a disaster of great consequence", for the Earth.

It spoke of the shifting of the planet's magnetic field, rising seas and vanishing land mass. And there was something about the prophecies that made them seem terrifyingly real.

As to when that will happen, ancient writings handed down by Mayan priests - whose knowledge of calendars and astronomy is a source of wonder to modern historians - suggest a specific time and date for our downfall: midnight on December 21, 2012.

Full story:-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=566875&in_page_id=1773

The Mystery Of The Crystal Skulls by Chris Morton and Ceri Louise Thomas is published by Thorsons at £8.99