Many believe that the skull was placed there for the young girl to find but if Mitchell-Hedges
did indeed put the skull in the temple for Anna to find in 1927 and just never let on about until
1943, then where did he actually get it from prior to 1927?
There are several other theories on how Mitchell-Hedges came to be in possession of the skull
and a number of books have been written on the subject. One theory suggests that the skull is
actually a 12,000 year old artifact that has been handed down from an Ancient civilization
through the Knights Templar and eventually coming into the custodianship of the Inner Circle of
the Masons Lodge. Mitchell-Hedges was, in fact, an Inner Circle Mason and may have
“acquired” it through the lodge or possibly from a Lodge gambling debt. Another theory is that it
may have been looted from a pyramid on one of his Mexican expeditions, which is why he may
not have wanted to reveal how he came by it. Another more fascinating theory holds that the
Knights Templar had been in possession of it for centuries but had previously moved the skull to
Lubaatun many years before to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Vatican and that
Mitchell-Hedges had been purposely sent to the site by the Freemasons to retrieve the artifact.
Fig.46bIn a somewhat less romantic series of events however, it is believed that in reality Mitchell-
Hedges purchased the skull in 1943 at an auction at Sotheby’s Auction House in London. This
has now been reasonably verified by documents found at the British Museum which had in fact
bid against Mitchell-Hedges for the crystal artifact at the same sale. The Sotheby’s records show
that the artifact was actually purchased by Mitchell-Hedges from one Sidney Burney but the
Museum could only go as high as 340 pounds. Burney then sold the skull to Mitchell-Hedges for
400 British pounds. So now the question now becomes: Who was Sidney Burney and how on
earth did the skull come to be in his possession?
Unfortunately no other records remain of anyone called Sidney Burney. The enigmatic skull
remains in the possession of Anna Mitchell-Hedges who, even after all these years, continues to
maintain that she discovered the skull, even though the Sotheby’s auction has been verified and
there is considerable reason to question that she was ever present at the Lubaatun expedition at
all. If there is any truth in the tale at all and she was present on the expedition, then there is little