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The Mystery of the Horned Skulls

By Robert VannRox

There is some controversy concerning this item.  Many people want to declare it a forgery or in some way disprove it’s existence.  Of all the posters on the internet, that I have managed to find, I am perhaps the only one who ever saw the skull close up and in person.  So perhaps that will lend some validity to my statements…

It is a real skull.

It is not an internet hoax.  It is not a misidentified headdress located on a skull.  It is not a normal skull with plaster or fake horns added as part of a funerary rite.  It is a real skull, far larger than a normal human’s skull with actual horn material biologically integrated and adhered to upon the skull surface.

It was one of a number of nearly identical skulls found within an Indian Mound.  For those of you who are not aware of it, throughout the great lakes region and down as far south as Mississippi was a civilization of Indians whom constructed large mounds of earth.  These people were known as the “Mound Builders”.  Pennsylvania and Ohio are home to hundreds of these objects.

In 1972 or 1973, I don’t remember which year, I was travelling with my father while he was in industrial sales.  He would drive all over Pennsylvania and visit the companies, and while on the way we would stop by and visit historical sites.  We visited many of the canals of the region as well as many of the Indian Mounds.

The town of Sayre, Pennsylvania is located in the center of Pennsylvania near the New York border.  It is in Bradford county, which is very rural.  I would say that the biggest industries are diary, farming and logging.  The only houses are mobile homes, farms and of course the town of Sayre. Today it is an easy drive from where I live via highway 17.  It’s a cool and easy comfortable drive through a very scenic part of the country.

On July 13, 1916, a complex of Indian Mounds were excavated by trained archeologists.  These mounds were part of the Athens - Sayre group of mounds in Northern Pennsylvania.  And at that time, the estimated age of the mounds were some 700 years ago.  More like 800 years ago now…

The excavation involved a large number of people, but it was scientifically monitored and documented by trained and skilled experts in their respective fields. These individuals were later identified in a July 14, 1916 article published in the New York Times newspaper.  The leadership of the dig was controlled by Dr. G.P.Donehoo PH.d. who held the prestigious post of Pennsylvania State Historian for the state of Pennsylvania.

With him were two professors from notable museums.  The first was Professor A.B.Skinner PH.d. from the American Indian Museum in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and a Professor W.K.Morehead PH.d. from the Phillips Andover Academy, a school located in Andover Massachusetts approximately 25 miles north of Boston. Accompanying all these individuals was a unidentified Presbyterian Church official representing the churches in the area.

These individuals were involved in the establishment and research with an in-depth study of the Indian mound builders of that particular region.  The skulls, and more accurately, the entire skeletons, were found in a formal buried state within an Indian mound at the Tioga Point of the Susquehanna river.  This location is on the upper portion of “Queen Esther’s Flats” which at that time was known as the “Murray Farm.  It was located just outside of the Sayre town limits.

Within the mound was found the burial graves of 68 men.  (Sixty eight).  The average height of these men were 7 feet tall (seven).  However, many of the skeletons were indeed much larger than this.  Further evidence of this most enormous size was indicated by the presence of large celts or axes hewed from stone and buried in the graves with the men.

On some of the men, how many is not known, at a location of two (2) inches above the perfectly formed forehead were protuberances of bone.  The members of the expedition stated to the new York Times that it was the first discovery of it’s kind on record and was a valuable contribution to the history of the early races in that region.

The excavation was documented, and the remains reburied.  Some of the items were removed for posterity of which some went to the American Indian Museum, some went to the Phillips Andover Academy, and some went into the personal collections of Doctor Skinner and Doctor Morehead.    While I haven’t been able to track down the current locations of where these items may be, I have good reason to believe that some might have ended up at the Mount Pisgah State park, and other local Indian relic collections.  This is because it was at the Mount Pisgah State park where I saw the Skulls.  There were three on display.  Two together, and another one displayed along with axes and other Indian regalia.  The skulls had the remains of dried plants or flowers in a crown like affair on the heads.  I could not make out what the plants were as they were brown and shriveled.

We do know that some of the items went to the American Investigating Museum in Philadelphia, of which Professor A.B.Skinner PH.d. was a part of, for further study.  When later attempts to determine the whereabouts  of the objects were, they could not be located.  I suspect that they were simply misplaced.  But, The Museum later claimed that the remains had been stolen, and they were never recovered.

Surnateum, The Museum of Supernatural History, however, claims to have analyzed the skull. Their analysis demonstrated that the horns were genuinely part of the skull. The analysis concluded: An in-depth examination and X-rays leave no room for doubt: the skull is not a forgery.

There is nothing unusual with giants, nor with people who have horns.  These are genetic mutations that occur from time to time.  The overall appearance was one of which could easily be likened to the mythological Satyr or the goat footed Pan.  But this is only perhaps, a mere enthusiastic speculation on my part.   It is exciting to speculate on the cause of and the history of the mound, but what I do intend on showing is that there is much disinformation on the internet about this subject, and I, for one, want to make it clear that these items are real, and one should do their research before they make the most outlandish posts…

Comments are welcome?