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Skull and Bones is a secret society based at Yale University (but not on Yale land), in New Haven, Connecticut. The society's alumni organization, which owns the society's real property and oversees the organization's activity, is the Russell Trust Association, and is named after General William Huntington Russell, founding member of the Bones' organization along with fellow classmate Alphonso Taft. In conversation, the group is known as "Bones", and members have been known as "Bonesmen".

In the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, both the Democratic and Republican nominees were members. George W. Bush writes in his autobiography, " senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society; so secret, I can't say anything more." When asked what it meant that he and Bush were both Bonesmen, former Presidential candidate John Kerry said, "Not much because it's a secret."

History

"Sometime in the early 1830s, a Yale student named William H. Russell —the future valedictorian of the class of 1833- traveled to Germany to study for a year. Russell came from an inordinately wealthy family that ran one of America’s most despicable business organizations of the nineteenth century: Russell and Company, an opium empire. Russell would later become a member of the Connecticut state legislature, a general in the Connecticut National Guard, and the founder of the Collegiate and Commercial Institute in New Haven. While in Germany, Russell befriended the leader of an insidious German secret society that hailed the death’s head as its logo. Russell soon became caught up in this group, itself a sinister outgrowth of the notorious eighteenth-century society the Illuminati."

Skull and Bones was said, in 1903, to be formed in 1832 as a result of a dispute among Yale's debating societies, Linonia, Brothers in Unity, and Calliope over the Phi Beta Kappa awards.

It was once referred to as The Brotherhood of Death, but a more common alternative name was Eulogia. The only "chapter" of Skull and Bones created outside Yale was a chapter at Wesleyan University in 1870. That chapter, the Beta of Skull & Bones, became independent in 1872 in a dispute over control over creating additional chapters; the Beta Chapter reconstituted itself as Theta Nu Epsilon.

The emblem of Skull and Bones is a skull with crossed bones, over the number "322". Some have speculated that 322 stands for "founded in '32, 2nd corps", referring to a first Corps in an unknown German university. Others suggest that 322 refers to the era of Demosthenes and that documents in the society hall have purportedly been found dated to "Anno-Demostheni".

There are others who link "322" to the Illuminati, Freemasons, and "666", the mark of the Beast, as described in the Book of Revelation in the Bible.

Members meet in the "tomb" on Thursday and Sunday evenings of each week over the course of their senior year. As with other Yale societies, the sharing of a personal history is the keystone of the senior year together in the "tomb".

Members are assigned nicknames. “Long Devil" is assigned to the tallest member; "Boaz" goes to any member who is a varsity football captain. Many of the chosen names are drawn from literature ("Hamlet," "Uncle Remus"), from religion and from myth. The banker Lewis Lapham passed on his name, "Sancho Panza," to the political adviser Tex McCrary. Averell Harriman was "Thor," Henry Luce was "Baal," McGeorge Bundy was "Odin.” George H.W. Bush was "Magog," a name reserved for a member considered to have the most sexual experience. George W. Bush, unable to decide, was temporarily called "Temporary," and the name was never changed.

Skull and Bones also owns a campground island in the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York named Deer Island. "The 40-acre (160,000 m) retreat is intended to give Bonesmen an opportunity to 'get together and rekindle old friendships.' A century ago the island sported tennis courts and its softball fields were surrounded by rhubarb plants and gooseberry bushes. Catboats waited on the lake. Stewards catered elegant meals. Although each new Skull and Bones member still visits Deer Island, the place leaves something to be desired. 'Now it is just a bunch of burned-out stone buildings,' a patriarch sighs. 'It's basically ruins.' Another Bonesman says that to call the island 'rustic' would be to glorify it. 'It's a dump, but it's beautiful.'"

Lore

The first extended description of Skull and Bones, published in 1871 by Lyman Bagg in his book Four Years at Yale, noted that "the mystery now attending its existence forms the one great enigma which college gossip never tires of discussing." Brooks Mather Kelley attributed the secrecy of Yale senior societies to the fact that underclassmen members of freshman, sophomore, and junior class societies remained on campus following their membership, while seniors naturally left.

The secrecy surrounding Skull and Bones has been a fertile ground for speculation, and all sorts of conspiracy theories include Skull and Bones. One particular event was originally considered a conspiracy theory but was found to be a matter of American History when documents in several US. government archives' locations were de-classified and discovered by several media outlets. That was the internet theory which claimed that companies owned and operated by Skull and Bones members had financed and supplied Hitler's rise to power and war effort before and after America's engagement in WW2. In October,1942, the US government applied America's Trading with the Enemy Act to seize the Union Banking Corporation and three shipping companies owned and operated by Skull and Bones members; Prescott Bush, Averell Harriman, E. Roland Harriman and Knight Wolley. Information about the seizure was "classified" until 2002 and then was widely reported by several international news outlets. Subsequent to the seizures and secretization of same, Averell Harriman was elected Governor of New York and Prescott Bush was elected to the U.S. Senate. The society is alleged to have illicit connections to the CIA, Illuminati, Bilderbergers, and/or Freemasons. These theories were the basis of the fictional 2000 film The Skulls which concerns a highly elaborate secret society with clear parallels to Skull and Bones. Bones was also included, as well as the a cappella group the Whiffenpoofs, in the 2006 film The Good Shepherd, about the Central Intelligence Agency. Skull and Bones has also featured from time to time in the Doonesbury comic strips by Garry Trudeau; especially in 1980 and December 1988, with reference to George H.W. Bush, and again at the time that the society went co-ed.

"Geronimo lawsuit"

In 2009, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark filed a lawsuit, on behalf of Geronimo's descendants, against, among others, Barack Obama, Robert Gates, and Skull and Bones which claims that skeletal remains of Geronimo were robbed from Geronimo's grave by members of the group in 1918 and have been kept by Skull and Bones since. The New York Times article states "Ramsey Clark, a former United States attorney general who is representing Geronimo’s family, acknowledged he had no hard proof that the story was true." The article also states the story is a longstanding Skull and Bones tradition with a piece of evidence: a letter written from one member to another in 1918 claiming the theft of the skull. Alexandra Robbins, the author of “Secrets of the Tomb” (Little Brown 2002), a book about the society, said this is one of the more plausible items said to be in the organization's Tomb. They are also credited for stealing Pancho Villa's skull, which was indeed stolen by unknown individuals shortly after his death.

Cecil Adams writes "Trouble is, the description bears no relationship to the actual burial place, which wasn't a mausoleum with a door, as the account suggests, but rather a conventional grave in the ground. An S&B representative has described the "crook" account as a hoax, and no less than celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley, in The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty (2004), writes that the whole thing was a tall tale cooked up by Prescott Bush and friends that made its way into S&B lore. Most accounts agree that stories of Geronimo's bones having been moved were circulating before 1918--put in play, perhaps, by the local Apache in hopes of discouraging thieves. (Today the grave is covered by a concrete slab and marked with a pyramid of stones, but these were added after 1918.) A Fort Sill spokesman tells me, "There is no evidence to indicate the bones are anywhere but in the grave site."

Symbolism

The Skull and Bones society has as its emblem the skull and crossbones. Perhaps best known as the Jolly Roger, this symbol is an international symbol for piracy. This symbol was chosen by Heinrich Himmler as the "Deaths Head symbol" to symbolize a return to prosperity for the members of the elite killing society of the SS. The skull and bones is also the international symbol for poison. The symbolism for this society is especially significant as Skull and Bones members will not talk openly about the organization. It is the only "face" of the organization that they will present to the public.

Motto

"Bari Quippe Boni"

Nature makes only a few who are good.

Skull & Bones Hall and its architecture

The Skull & Bones Hall is otherwise known as "Tomb". The architectural attribution of the original hall is in dispute. The architect was possibly Alexander Jackson Davis (1803–1892) or Henry Austin (1804–1891). Architectural historian Patrick Pinnell includes an in-depth discussion of the dispute over the identity of the original architect in his 1999 history of Yale's campus.

The building was built in three phases: in 1856 the first wing was built, in 1903 the second wing, and in 1911, Davis-designed Neo-Gothic towers from a previous building were added at the rear garden. The front and side facades are of Portland brownstone and in an Egypto-Doric style.

The 1911 additions of towers, (relocated from another Yale building), in the rear created a small enclosed courtyard in the rear of the building, designed by Evarts Tracy and Edgerton Swartwout, Tracy and Swartwout, New York. Evarts was not a Bonesman, but his paternal grandmother Martha Sherman Evarts and maternal grandmother Mary Evarts were the sisters of William Maxwell Evarts (S&B 1837). Pinnell speculates whether the re-use of the Davis towers in 1911 was evidence suggesting that Davis did the original building; conversely, Austin was responsible for the architecturally similar brownstone Egyptian Revival gates, built 1845, of the Grove Street Cemetery, to the north of campus. Also discussed by Pinnell is the "tomb's" aesthetic place in relation to its neighbors, including the Yale University Art Gallery. Additional data can be seen here. New Hampshire landscape architects Saucier & Flynn designed the wrought-iron fence that currently surrounds a portion of the complex in the late 1990s. 41°18′31″N 72°55′48″W / 41.30857°N 72.930092°W / 41.30857; -72.930092 (Skull and Bones Hall)

Bonesmen

Judy Schiff, Chief Archivist at the Yale University Library, has written: "The names of (S&B's) members weren't kept secret, that was an innovation of the 1970s, but its meetings and practices were. The secrecy seems to have attracted fascination and curiosity from the start."

While resourceful researchers could assemble member data from these original sources, in 1985 an anonymous source leaked rosters to a private researcher, Antony C. Sutton, who wrote a book on the group titled America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones. This leaked 1985 data was kept privately for over 15 years, as Sutton feared that the photocopied pages could somehow identify the member who leaked it. The information was finally reformatted as an appendix in the book Fleshing out Skull and Bones, a compilation edited by Kris Millegan, published in 2003.

Popular culture

Movies

• The Skulls
• The Good Shepherd

See also

• Collegiate secret societies in North America
• Secret society
• List of conspiracy theories

References

1. Geronimo's kin sue Skull and Bones over remains
2. The New York Times, "Change In Skull And Bones. Famous Yale Society Doubles Size of Its House - Addition a Duplicate of Old Building", published September 13, 1903
3. Stevens, Albert C. (1907). Cyclopedia of Fraternities: A Compilation of Existing Authentic Information and the Results of Original Investigation as to the Origin, Derivation, Founders, Development, Aims, Emblems, Character, and Personnel of More Than Six Hundred Secret Societies in the United States. E. B. Treat and Company. p. 338.
4. George W. Bush, A Charge to Keep, (1999) ISBN 0-688-17441-8
5. washingtonpost.com: Bush, Kerry Share Tippy-Top Secret
6. Meet the Press
7. Robbins, Alexandra. Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Back Bay Books, 2003.
8. The New York Times, "Change In Skull And Bones. Famous Yale Society Doubles Size of Its House - Addition a Duplicate of Old Building," published September 13, 1903
9. Sutton, Antony C. America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones. 2003.
10. http://thetanuepsilon.com/03HistSoc/History.html
11. Ibid Robbins.
12. Stevens, Albert C. (1907). Cyclopedia of Fraternities: A Compilation of Existing Authentic Information and the Results of Original Investigation as to the Origin, Derivation, Founders, Development, Aims, Emblems, Character, and Personnel of More Than Six Hundred Secret Societies in the United States. E. B. Treat and Company. p. 340.
13. The Atlantic Monthly http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200005/bush-skull-bones, May, 2000.
14. Alexandra Robbins, TheAtlantic.com
15. Yale Alumni Magazine: Old Yale at www.yalealumnimagazine.com
16. Yale: A History, Brooks Mather Kelley, (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, Ltd.), 1974
17. "How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power". The Guardian.
18. "Documents: Bush's Grandfather Directed Bank Tied to Man Who Funded Hitler". Fox News.
19. Geronimo's kin sue Skull and Bones over remains
20. Geronimo’s Heirs Sue Secret Yale Society Over His Skull
21. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2623/is-geronimos-skull-residing-at-yales-skull-and-bones
22. Yale's Lost Landmarks at www.yalealumnimagazine.com
23. "Yale University" 1999 Princeton Architectural Press, ISBN 1568981678
24. "Yale University" 1999 Princeton Architectural Press, p.42, ISBN 1568981678
25. Fence information
26. http://www.scribd.com/doc/9707/Americas-Secret-Establishment-An-Introduction-to-Skull-and-Bones-by-Antony-Sutton
27. Fleshing Out Skull and Bones

Further reading

• Millegan, Kris, ed. Fleshing Out Skull and Bones: Investigations into America's Most Powerful Secret Society. Walterville, OR: Trine Day, 2003. ISBN 0-9720207-2-1
• Sutton, Antony C. America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones. Walterville, OR: Trine Day, 2003. ISBN 0-9720207-0-5
• Begin, Jeremy. Fighting for G.O.D. (Gold, Oil, and Drugs). Walterville, OR: Trine Day, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9777953-3-8
• Tarpley, Webster, et al. George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography. Washington, D.C.: Executive Intelligence Review, 1992. ISBN 0-943235-05-7. Available free on the web: http://www.tarpley.net/bushb.htm
• Robbins, Alexandra. Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Back Bay Books, 2003. ISBN 0-316-73561-2
• "Whose Skull and Bones?," Kathrin Day Lassila '81 and Mark Alden Branch '86, Yale Alumni Magazine, May/June 2006
• "Geronimo's family calls on Bush to help return his skeleton." The Independent, June 1, 2006.
• Skull & Bones Society: A rare look inside Skull and Bones, the Yale secret society and sometime haunt of the presumptive Republican nominee for President, by Alexandra Robbins
• Cody Tedford. Powerful Secrets. Hannover, 2008. ISBN 1-4241-9263-3

External links

• Yale Old Campus, Skull and Bones "Tomb". opens in Google earth
• Skull and Bones property: Deer Island opens in Google earth
• Deer Island photos & information at NewRuins
• How the Secret Societies Got That Way (Yale Alumni Magazine)
• 2001 NEWS Report about Skull and bones ritual on YouTube - ABC News' Dan Harris reports on covertly shot footage that exposes the "Bonesmen" of Skull & Bones as they perform occult rituals at "The tomb" in New Haven. The video - shot with nightvision technology and a microphone - was secretly captured with a hidden camera on the evening of April 14, 2001 by New York Observer reporter Ron Rosenbaum. (This video is hosted by YouTube.com)
• Audio and transcript the April 23, 2001 ABC News segment: Behind the Closed Doors of a Secret Society - ABC News' Dan Harris reports on covertly shot footage that exposes the "Bonesmen" of Skull & Bones as they perform occult rituals at "The tomb" in New Haven. The video - shot with nightvision technology and a microphone - was secretly captured with a hidden camera on the evening of April 14, 2001 by New York Observer reporter Ron Rosenbaum. Link has additional pertinent information, as well.

• Collegiate secret societies
• United States student societies
• 1832 establishments
• Secret societies
• Yale University
• Conspiracy theories