Skull and Bones

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Skull and Bones was the first secret society established at Yale University, in 1832. By the late 1800s, the most prestigious of these societies were Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, and Wolf's Head. Fifteen members are chosen during their junior year.

Skull and Bones has many well-known members including George Herbert Walker Bush and his son George W. Bush, Presidents of the United States. The wealth and success of its members enabled the establishment of the Russell Trust Association, which holds the society's real estate.

Skull and Bones was founded in 1832. Being a secret society, it forbids its members from revealing affiliation, although it permits them to wear "Skull and Bone" pins in public, and though these names are readily available from other sources. Rituals of Skull and Bones take place in the organization's campus building which is called the Tomb. No particular religious affiliation is required for membership.

Other Yale secret societies include Scroll and Key, Wolf's Head, Book and Snake, and Berzelius. Given the power and prominence of the members, and relative obscurity of the societies, the societies are frequently included in conspiracy theories. Such conspiracy theories were the basis of the film The Skulls.

Each year new members are invited to join (tapped) by the existing members, though not everyone asked accepts.

Members have gone on to highly successful careers in education, banking, law, industry, and government. It has been suggested that a disproportionate number have gone on to important positions in the intelligence community, particularly in organizations like the CIA.

Table of contents

1 Speculation regarding Skull and Bones 2 External links 3 Further Reading

Speculation regarding Skull and Bones

• They are said to be vaguely related to a Germanic organistion unearthed by William H. Russell on his journeys in Europe. The exact nature of that organization is unknown, as is the importance of any connection that may exist. Some claim Skull and Bones is a subdivision of a larger society known as the Black Lodge, which is diametrically opposed to the Great White Lodge, which includes the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Ordo Templi Orientis. A Skull and Bones symbol was used by the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany, for which it was designed by the Austrian Neopaganist Karl Maria Wiligut.
• The secrecy of the Skull and Bones rituals and descriptions thereof have led some to liken them to Satanic practices. The only purported video of a society ritual, taken by journalist Ron Rosenbaum, documents hooded, masked figures participating in what looks like an initiation rite.
• Some members have attended rituals at Bohemian Grove in Northern California. These rituals, in which sacrifices are said to be burned to a giant Stone Owl, may have morbid overtones.
• Skull and Bones is frequently compared to (and sometimes linked to) a similar organization at William & Mary, The Bishop James Madison Society.
• Some have claimed that the skull of Geronimo is kept in the Tomb.

• Video of a Skull and Bones ritual taken by Ron Rosenbaum
• A list of members is posted here: http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/bones.htm
• May 2000 Atlantic Monthly article by Alexandra Robbins, George W., Knight of Eulogia
• Video of Bohemian Grove Ritual, as well as photographs of Skull and Bones members involved in ritual. Video taken by Alex Jones