Skull and Bones

Secret society at Yale University, US

This article is about the secret society at Yale. For other uses, see Skull and crossbones (disambiguation).

Skull and Bones

Founded| 1832; 193 years ago (1832)
Yale University
Type| Senior society
Affiliation| Independent
Status| Active
Scope| Local
Chapters| 1
Members| 2,800+ lifetime
Nickname| Bones
The Order
Order 322
The Brotherhood of Death
Headquarters| 64 High Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06511
United States

Skull and Bones (also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death) is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior-class society at the university, Skull and Bones has become a cultural institution known for its powerful alumni and conspiracy theories.

Skull and Bones is considered one of the "Big Three" societies at Yale University, the other being Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head.[1] The society is known informally as "Bones" and members are known as "Bonesmen", "Members of The Order" or "Initiated to The Order".[2]

## History

[edit]

### 19th century

[edit]

Skull and Bones was founded in 1832 after a dispute among Yale debating societies Linonia, Brothers in Unity, and the Calliopean Society over that season's Phi Beta Kappa awards.[3] William Huntington Russell and Alphonso Taft co-founded "The Order of the Skull and Bones".[3][4] The first senior members included Russell, Taft, and thirteen other members.[5] Alternative names for Skull and Bones are The Order, Order 322 and The Brotherhood of Death.[6]

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."[7][8]

In a 1974 book, Brooks Mather Kelley attributed the interest in Yale senior societies to the fact that underclassmen members of then freshman, sophomore, and junior class societies returned to campus the following years and could share information about society rituals, while graduating seniors were, with their knowledge of such, at least a step removed from campus life.[9]

Since its founding, Skull and Bones annually selects 15 junior class members to join the society.[10] Skull and Bones selects new members among students every spring as part of Yale University's "Tap Day", and has done so since 1879. It taps those it views as campus leaders and other notable figures for its membership.

### 20th century

[edit]

In the 1960s, secret societies adapted in response to criticism for elitism and discrimination. Skull and Bones admitted its first black member in 1965, and the president of Yale's gay student organization in 1975.[11]

Yale became coeducational in 1969, prompting some other secret societies such as St. Anthony Hall to transition to co-ed membership, yet Skull and Bones remained fully male until 1992. The Bones class of 1971's attempt to tap women for membership was opposed by Bones alumni, who dubbed them the "bad club" and quashed their attempt. "The issue", as it came to be called by Bonesmen, was debated for decades.[12]

The class of 1991 tapped seven female members for membership in the next year's class, causing conflict with the alumni association.[13] The trust changed the locks on the Tomb and the Bonesmen instead met in the Manuscript Society building.[13] A mail-in vote by members decided 368–320 to permit women in the society, but a group of alumni led by William F. Buckley obtained a temporary restraining order to block the move, arguing that a formal change in bylaws was needed.[13][14] Other alumni, such as John Kerry and R. Inslee Clark, Jr., spoke out in favor of admitting women. The dispute was highlighted on an editorial page of The New York Times.[13][15] A second alumni vote, in October 1991, agreed to accept the Class of 1992, and the lawsuit was dropped.[13][16][17]

### 21st century

[edit]

In recent years, Skull and Bones, like other elite Yale institutions, "utterly transformed", according to The Atlantic. The society tapped its first entirely non-white class in 2020. Few descendants of alumni get in, and progressive activism is an asset. The class of 2021 admitted no conservatives.[11]

## Symbols and traditions

[edit]

The society's badge is gold and consists of a skull that is supported by crossed bones, with the number 322 on the lower jaw.[10] Its members worshipped Eulogia, a fictional goddess of eloquence.[18]

The number "322" appears in Skull and Bones' insignia and is widely reported to be significant as the year of Greek orator Demosthenes' death.[16][19][5] A letter between early society members in Yale's archives[20] suggests that 322 is a reference to the year 322 BC and that members measure dates from this year instead of using anno domini. In 322 BC, the Lamian War ended with the death of Demosthenes, and Athenians were made to dissolve their government and establish a plutocratic system in its stead, whereby only those possessing 2,000 drachmas or more could remain citizens. Documents in the Tomb have purportedly been found dated to "Anno-Demostheni."[21]

One legend is that the number represents "founded in '32, 2nd corps", referring to a first Corps in an unknown German university.[22][23] Another possible reference of 322 is the Freemasonic Lodge of Virtue and Silence no. 322, in Suffolk, UK, signaling a fraternal but unspoken sponsorship between the two "secret society" organizations, regarding which silence is considered virtuous. Lodge 322 was founded in 1811,[24] 21 years before the creation of the Skull and Bones association in 1832.

### Crooking

[edit]

See also: Geronimo § Alleged theft of Geronimo's skull

Skull and Bones has a reputation for stealing keepsakes from other Yale societies or campus buildings; society members reportedly call the practice "crooking" and strive to outdo each other's "crooks".[25][26] The society has been accused of possessing the stolen skulls of Martin Van Buren, Geronimo, and Pancho Villa.[27][28][17][26] In January 2010, Christie's canceled a planned auction for a human skull with links to Skull and Bones.[29][30]

The tomb before the addition of a second wing A 2009 view of the tomb from across High Street

## Facilities

[edit]

### Tomb

[edit]

The Skull and Bones Hall, located at 64 High St. in New Haven, Connecticut, is otherwise known as the "Tomb". The building was built in three phases: the first wing was built in 1856, the second wing in 1903, and Davis-designed Neo-Gothic towers were added to the rear garden in 1912. The front and side facades are of Portland brownstone in an Egypto-Doric style. The 1912 tower additions created a small enclosed courtyard in the rear of the building, designed by Evarts Tracy and Edgerton Swartwout of Tracy and Swartwout, New York.[31] Evarts Tracy was an 1890 Bonesman, and his paternal grandmother, Martha Sherman Evarts, and maternal grandmother, Mary Evarts, were the sisters of William Maxwell Evarts, an 1837 Bonesman.

The architect was possibly Alexander Jackson Davis or Henry Austin. Architectural historian Patrick Pinnell includes an in-depth discussion of the dispute over the identity of the original architect in his 1999 Yale campus history. Pinnell speculates that the re-use of the Davis towers in 1911 suggests Davis's role in the original building and, conversely, Austin was responsible for the architecturally similar brownstone Egyptian Revival Grove Street Cemetery gates, built-in 1845. Pinnell also discusses the Tomb's esthetic place about its neighbors, including the Yale University Art Gallery.[31] In the late 1990s, New Hampshire landscape architects Saucier and Flynn designed the wrought iron fence that surrounds a portion of the complex.[32]

### Deer Island

[edit]

Main article: Deer Island (Thousand Islands)

The society owns and manages Deer Island, an island retreat on the St. Lawrence River (44°21′33″N 75°54′34″W﻿ / ﻿44.359063°N 75.909345°W﻿ / 44.359063; -75.909345﻿ (Location of New Skull & Bones Society Lodge on Deer Island)). Alexandra Robbins, author of a book on Yale secret societies, wrote:

> The forty-acre retreat is intended to allow Bonesmen 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.

— "George W., Knight of Eulogia"

William Huntington Russell, namesake of the Russell Trust Association

Bonesmen spend a week in the late summer getting to know each other at Deer Island.[11]

## Russell Trust Association

[edit]

The Russell Trust Association is the business name of Skull and Bones Society.[33][34][3] It was incorporated in 1856 by William Huntington Russell as president and Daniel Coit Gilman as treasurer.[34][33][35] The association holds the society's assets, including its endowment and property, and oversees property upkeep.[34][36]

According to its 2016 filing with the IRS, the Russell Trust Association, filing as RTA Incorporated, has assets of $3,906,458, including Deer Island and the Skull and Bones Hall.[37]

As of 2024, the organization had an endowment of $17 million.[11]

## Notable members

[edit]

Main article: List of Skull and Bones members

Yearbook listing of Skull and Bones members for 1920, including Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, who co-founded Time magazine in 1923

Skull and Bones' membership developed a reputation in association with the "power elite".[38] Regarding the qualifications for membership, Lanny Davis wrote in the 1968 Yale yearbook:

> If the society had a good year, this is what the "ideal" group will consist of: a football captain; a Chairman of the Yale Daily News; a conspicuous radical; a Whiffenpoof; a swimming captain; a notorious drunk with a 94 average; a film-maker; a political columnist; a religious group leader; a Chairman of the Lit; a foreigner; a ladies' man with two motorcycles; an ex-serviceman; a negro, if there are enough to go around; a guy nobody else in the group had heard of, ever ...

— Lanny Davis, quoted by Alexandra Robbins, "George W., Knight of Eulogia"

Like other Yale senior societies, Skull and Bones's membership was almost exclusively limited to white Protestant men for much of its history. While Yale had exclusionary policies directed at particular ethnic and religious groups, the senior societies were even more exclusionary.[39][40] While some Roman Catholics were able to join such groups, Jews were more often not.[40] Some of these excluded groups eventually entered Skull and Bones using sports, through the society's practice of tapping standout athletes. Star football players tapped for Skull and Bones included the first Jewish player (Al Hessberg, class of 1938) and African-American player (Levi Jackson, class of 1950), although Jackson declined the tap, instead electing to join Berzelius.[39]

Judith Ann Schiff, Chief Research Archivist at the Yale University Library, has written: "The names of its members weren't kept secret‍--‌that was an innovation of the 1970s‍--‌but its meetings and practices were."[41] While resourceful researchers could assemble member data from these sources, in 1985, Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt provided Antony C. Sutton with rosters and records that had belonged to her father, a member of the organization. This membership information was kept privately for over fifteen years, as Sutton feared that the photocopied pages could somehow identify the member who leaked it. He wrote a book on the group, America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones. The information was finally reformatted as an appendix in the book Fleshing out Skull and Bones, a compilation edited by Kris Millegan and published in 2003.

Among prominent alumni are former presidents William Howard Taft (a founder's son), George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush.[29] In the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, both the Democratic and Republican nominees were members of Skull and Bones. When asked what it meant that both he and George W. Bush were Bonesmen, former presidential candidate John Kerry said, "Not much, because it's a secret."[42][43]

Members are assigned nicknames. Examples include "Long Devil", the tallest member, "Boaz", a varsity football captain, and "Sherrife", the prince of the future. Many of the chosen names are drawn from literature (e.g., "Hamlet", "Uncle Remus") religion, and myth. The banker Lewis Lapham passed on his nickname, "Sancho Panza", to the political adviser Tex McCrary. Averell Harriman was "Thor", Henry Luce was "Baal", McGeorge Bundy was "Odin", and George H. W. Bush was "Magog".[19]

## Popular culture

[edit]

### Literature and print

[edit]

* Tom Wolfe mentions Skull and Bones in his 1976 book, The Me Decade, writing, "At Yale, the students on the outside wondered for 80 years what went on inside the fabled secret senior societies, such as Skull and Bones. On Thursday nights one would see the secret society members walking silently and single file, in black flannel suits, white shirts, and black knit ties with gold pins on them, toward their great Greek Revival temples on the campus, buildings whose mystery was doubled by the fact that they had no windows."[44]
* Skull and Bones have been satirized from time to time in the Doonesbury comic strips by Garry Trudeau, Yale graduate and Scroll and Key member. There are overt references, especially in 1980 and December 1988, concerning George H. W. Bush, and again when the society first admitted women.[45]
* George W. Bush wrote in his autobiography, "[In my] senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society; so secret, I can't say anything more."[46]
* Leigh Bardugo explores the secret societies of Yale, including Skull and Bones, in her dark fantasy horror novel Ninth House.[47]

### Film

[edit]

* The Skulls (2000) and The Skulls II (2002) films are based on the conspiracy theories surrounding Skull and Bones.[48] A third film, The Skulls III (2004), is based on the first woman to be "tapped" to join the society.
* In The Good Shepherd (2006) the protagonist becomes a member of Skull and Bones while studying at Yale.[49]
* In Baz Luhrmann's 2013 film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway calls Tom Buchanan Boaz. Tom in turn calls Nick Shakespeare. Nick said earlier that he met Tom at Yale. It is thereby implied that they were in Skull and Bones together.[26] In the novel, Yale is not explicitly mentioned (rather, they were at college in New Haven together) and it is only stated that they were in the same senior society.[50]

### Television

[edit]

* In Season 1, Episode 33 of the 1966 Batman TV series, "Fine Finny Fiends" there is a gathering at Wayne Manor during which one guest points out a portrait of Bruce Wayne's great-grandfather wearing a Yale sweater. He asks if it is true that Bruce's ancestor was tapped for Skull and Bones, to which Aunt Harriet replies that he was not tapped for it, but "he founded Skull and Bones!"[51][26]
* In The Simpsons season 8 episode "The Canine Mutiny" (1997), after doing a secret handshake with a dog, Mr. Burns says: "I believe this dog was in Skull and Bones".
* In Family Guy episode, "No Chris Left Behind", (2007) when Chris Griffin is being bullied by the richer students at Morningwood Academy, Lois Griffin asks her father, Carter Pewterschmidt, to help Chris. So Carter invites Chris to join Skull and Bones with the other students, who begin to accept him. As part of his initiation, Carter and Chris adopt an orphan and lock him out of the car, which is filled with toys and a puppy, and then drive away when he is unable to get in. At the initiation ceremony, Carter tells Chris that he must spend "Seven minutes in heaven" with their most senior member, Herbert. Chris feels uncomfortable about joining and convinces Carter to help him get back into his old school.
* On Meet The Press, Tim Russert asked both President George W. Bush and John Kerry about their memberships to Skull and Bones, to which the president replied, "It's so secret we can't talk about it." Kerry replied, "You trying to get rid of me here?"[52][53]
* In The Simpsons season 28 episode "The Caper Chase" (2017), Mr. Burns visits the Skull and Bones society to meet with Bourbon Verlander about for-profit universities.
* In Gossip Girl season 2 episode "New Heaven Can Wait" (2008), Chuck Bass is kidnapped by Skull and Bones members while visiting Yale. They make him pass a series of tests to assess his loyalty as they think Chuck is the ideal Skull and Bones candidate. Chuck eventually declines the offer and tricks them into performing illegal acts while filming them to have blackmail leverage in case he ever needs something from them in the future.
* In The Whitest Kids U' Know Season 1 Episode 3 (2007) a skit called “Trevor Talks to Kids” mentions the Skull and Bones, specifically about President George W. Bush’s initiation ceremony involving a coffin. Trevor goes on to tell his audience that Bush Sr. Requested to be there for his son’s initiation.
* The 1970 television movie The Brotherhood of the Bell, starring Glenn Ford, is a paranoid conspiracy thriller centered around the eponymous organization that strongly resembles Skull & Bones.[54]

## Conspiracy theories

[edit]

Skull and Bones is featured in books and movies which claim the society plays a role in a global conspiracy for world control.[18] There have been rumors that Skull and Bones is a branch of the Illuminati or that Skull and Bones controls the CIA.[55][56]

## See also

[edit]

* Collegiate secret societies in North America

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Jacobs, Peter (October 8, 2015). "Yale is revamping its secret society system so students don't feel left out". Business Insider. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
2. ^ 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\. OCLC 2570157.
3. ^ a b c "Change In Skull And Bones; Famous Yale Society Doubles Size of Its House – Addition a Duplicate of Old Building" (PDF). The New York Times. September 13, 1903. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
4. ^ Niarchos, Nicolas; Zapana, Victor (December 5, 2008). "Yale's secret social fabric". Yale Daily News. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
5. ^ a b Richards, David (May 2015). "The Origins of the Tomb". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
6. ^ Blakely, Rhys (March 2, 2013). "John Kerry and the 'Brotherhood of Death' Yale secret society". The Times. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
7. ^ Schiff, Judith Ann. "How the Secret Societies Got That Way". Yale Alumni Magazine (September/October 2004). Archived from the original on April 4, 2005. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
8. ^ Bagg, Lyman Hotchkiss (1871). Four Years at Yale. New Haven, C.C. Chatfield & Co. OCLC 2007757.
9. ^ Yale: A History, Brooks Mather Kelley, (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, Ltd.), 1974.
10. ^ a b Baird, Wm. Raimond, ed. (1883). American College Fraternities (2nd ed.). New York: Frank Williams. p. 196\. hdl:2027/hvd.hn4g6y - via Hathi Trust.
11. ^ a b c d Horowitch, Rose (January 11, 2024). "Skull and Bones and Equity and Inclusion". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
12. ^ Robbins, pp. 152–159
13. ^ a b c d e Andrew Cedotal, Rattling those dry bones, Yale Daily News, April 18, 2006.
14. ^ "Yale Alumni Block Women in Secret Club". New York Times. September 6, 1991. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
15. ^ Semple, Robert B. Jr. (April 18, 1991). "High Noon on High Street". New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
16. ^ a b Hevesi, Dennis (October 26, 1991). "Shh! Yale's Skull and Bones Admits Women". New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
17. ^ a b Leuing, Rebecca (October 2, 2003). "Skull And Bones". CBS News. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
18. ^ a b Stephey, M. J. (February 23, 2009). "A Brief History of the Skull & Bones Society". Time. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009.
19. ^ a b Robbins, Alexandra (May 2000). "George W., Knight of Eulogia". The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
20. ^ "Letter from a member of Skull and Bones Society to another member". Yale Manuscripts & Archives Digital Images Database. Yale University Library. March 23, 1860. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
21. ^ 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\. OCLC 2570157.
22. ^ Robbins, Alexandra. Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Back Bay Books, 2003.
23. ^ "German postcard included in a Skull and Bones photograph album originally owned by Chester Wolcott Lyman, BA 1882" [Photograph albums of the Skull and Bones Society]. Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives. 1882.
24. ^ "Provincial Grand Lodge of Suffolk - Lodge of Virtue and Silence 332". www.suffolkpgl.org.uk. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
25. ^ Lassila, Kathrin Day; Branch, Mark Alden (2006). "Whose skull and bones?" (PDF). Yale Alumni Magazine: 20–22.
26. ^ a b c d Landrigan, Leslie (September 17, 2018). "Skull and Bones, or 7 Fast Facts About Yale's Secret Society". New England Historical Society. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
27. ^ Greenburg, Zach O. (January 23, 2004). "Bones may have Pancho Villa skull". The Yale Herald. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
28. ^ Citro, Joseph A. (2005). Weird New England (illustrated ed.). Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. pp. 270–71. ISBN 1-4027-3330-5.
29. ^ a b "Skull linked to secret Yale society to be sold". NBC News. January 5, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
30. ^ "Christie's drops human skull from auction". January 22, 2010. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010.
31. ^ a b Yale University 1999 Princeton Architectural Press, ISBN 1-56898-167-8 Google Books
32. ^ "Scull and Bones". Saucierflynn.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2007.
33. ^ a b Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, The Ivy League, and The Hidden Paths To Power Alexandra Robbins, published in 2002 by Little, Brown and Company ISBN 0-316-72091-7, p. 56
34. ^ a b c "Collection: Russell Trust Association Records". Archives at Yale University. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
35. ^ "Skull and Bones". Britannica. August 22, 2023. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
36. ^ Reynolds, Bruce L. (July 2015). "More secrets of the Tomb". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
37. ^ RTS Incorporated IRS Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, 2016. February 1, 2018. via GuideStar.
38. ^ Leung, Rebecca (June 13, 2004). "Skull And Bones: Secret Yale Society Includes America's Power Elite". CBS News. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
39. ^ a b Oren, Dan A. (1985). Joining the Club: A History of Jews and Yale. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 0-300-03330-3.
40. ^ a b Karabel, Jerome (2005). The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 53–36.
41. ^ Yalealumnimagazine.com Archived April 4, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
42. ^ Oldenburg, Don (April 4, 2004). "Bush, Kerry Share Tippy-Top Secret". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 12, 2018. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
43. ^ Meet the PressYouTube
44. ^ Wolfe, Tom (August 23, 1976). "The "Me" Decade and the Third Great Awakening". New York Magazine.
45. ^ Soper, Kerry (2008). Garry Trudeau: Doonesbury and the Aesthetics of Satire. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 25, 42. ISBN 978-1-934110-89-8.
46. ^ Bush, George W. (1999). A Charge to Keep. William Morrow and Co. p. 47\. ISBN 0-688-17441-8.
47. ^ "Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)".
48. ^ Ebert, Roger. (July 10, 2013) The Skulls Movie Review & Film Summary (2000) | Roger Ebert. Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-15.
49. ^ Beaupre, Mitchell (December 22, 2021). "This Is America: How The Good Shepherd Examined the Rot at the Core of a Country". Paste Magazine. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
50. ^ "The Great Gatsby". Publicbookshelf.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014.
51. ^ Kidd, Chip (March 2011). "Holy Eli, Batman!". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
52. ^ NBC News (February 13, 2004). "Transcript for Feb. 8th". msnbc.com. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
53. ^ NBC News (April 18, 2004). "Transcript for April 18". msnbc.com. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
54. ^ Hadley, Mitchell (February 15, 2023). "The Descent into Hell: The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970)". It's About TV!. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
55. ^ Landrigan, Leslie (September 17, 2018). "Skull and Bones, or 7 Fast Facts About Yale's Secret Society". New England Historical Society. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
56. ^ Dempsey, Rachel (January 18, 2007). "Real Elis inspired fictional 'shepherd'". Yale Daily News. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2012.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Hodapp, Christopher, and Alice Von Kannon (2008). Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies For Dummies. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. ISBN 978-0470184080.
* Jarrett, William H. (2011). "Yale, Skull and Bones, and the Beginnings of Johns Hopkins". Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. 24 (1). Baylor University Medical Center: 27–34\. doi:10.1080/08998280.2011.11928679. PMC 3012287. PMID 21307974.
* Klimczuk, Stephen, and Gerald Warner (2009). Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries: Uncovering Mysterious Sites, Symbols, and Societies. New York and London: Sterling Publishing. ISBN 978-1402762079. pp. 212–232 ("University Secret Societies and Dueling Corps").
* Robbins, Alexandra (2003). Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Back Bay Books. ISBN 0316735612.
* Rosenbaum, Ron (September 1977). "The Last Secrets of Skull and Bones". Esquire.
* Sutton, Antony C. (2003). America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones. Walterville, Oregon: TrineDay, 2003. ISBN 0972020705.
* Sutton, Antony C., et al. (2003). Fleshing Out Skull & Bones Investigations Into America's Most Powerful Secret Society. TrineDay. ISBN 0972020721 (hardcover). ISBN 0975290606 (softcover).

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Skull and Bones.

* Yale University archives of Skull and Bones
* "Skull and Bones" at Encyclopædia Britannica
* "A look inside Yale’s secret societies – and why they may no longer matter", The Washington Post, September 28, 2017

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* Itavia Flight 870 (1980)
* South African Airways Flight 295 (1987)
* Khamar-Daban (1993)
* MS Estonia (1994)
* TWA Flight 800 (1996)
* EgyptAir Flight 990 (1999)
* Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (2014)

Other cases|

* Joan of Arc (1431)
* Yemenite children (1948–54)
* Elvis Presley (1977)
* Jonestown (1978)

Body double hoax|

* Paul McCartney
* Avril Lavigne
* Vladimir Putin
* Melania Trump

Energy, environment

* Agenda 21
* California drought manipulation
* Climate change denial
* false theories
* Free energy suppression
* HAARP
* Red mercury

False flag allegations

* USS Maine (1898)
* RMS Lusitania (1915)
* Reichstag fire (1933)
* Pearl Harbor (1941)
* USS Liberty (1967)
* Lufthansa Flight 615 (1972)
* Widerøe Flight 933 (1982)
* KAL Flight 007 (1983)
* Mozambican presidential jet (1986)
* Pan Am Flight 103 (1988)
* Oklahoma City bombing (1995)
* 9/11 attacks (2001)
* advance knowledge
* WTC collapse
* Madrid train bombing (2004)
* London bombings (2005)
* Smolensk air disaster (2010)
* Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (2014)
* Denial of the 7 October attacks (2023)

Gender and sexuality

* Alpha/beta males
* Anti-LGBTQ
* Anti-gender movement
* Chemicals
* Drag panic
* Gay agenda
* Gay Nazis myth
* HIV/AIDS stigma
* United States
* Homintern
* Lavender Scare
* Recruitment
* Grooming
* Litter box hoax
* Transvestigation
* Finger pinching
* Gamergate
* Ideology in incel communities
* Larries / Gaylors
* Satanic panic
* Soy and masculinity

Health

* 5G misinformation
* Anti-vaccination
* Autism
* MMR
* Thiomersal
* In chiropractic
* Misinformation
* Aspartame
* Big Pharma
* Chemtrails
* COVID-19
* Ivermectin
* Lab leak
* Vaccines
* Turbo cancer
* In Canada / Philippines / United States
* Ebola
* Electronic harassment
* Germ theory denialism
* GMOs
* HIV/AIDS denialism
* Origins theories
* Oral polio AIDS hypothesis
* Lepers' plot
* Medbeds
* SARS (2003)
* Water fluoridation
* Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning

Race, religion and/or ethnicity

* Bhagwa Love Trap
* CERN ritual hoax
* COVID-19 and xenophobia
* Freemasons
* French Revolution
* Gas chambers for Poles in Warsaw (1940s)
* German POWs post-WWII
* Priory of Sion
* Product labeling
* Halal
* Kosher
* Tartarian Empire
* War against Islam
* White genocide

| Antisemitic|

* Andinia Plan
* Blood libel
* Cohen Plan
* Doctors' plot
* During the Black Death
* Epsilon Team
* George Soros
* Holocaust denial
* Trivialization
* International Jewish conspiracy
* Committee of 300
* Cultural Bolshevism / Jewish Bolshevism
* Żydokomuna
* Judeo-Masonic plot
* The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
* World War II
* Z.O.G.
* Judeopolonia
* Killing of Jesus
* Kalergi Plan
* New World Order
* Rothschilds
* Stab-in-the-back myth

|

Christian / Anti-Christian|

* Anti-Catholic
* Jesuits
* Popish Plot
* Vatican
* Bible
* Giuseppe Siri

Islamophobic|

* Counter-jihad
* Bihar human sacrifice
* Eurabia
* Great Replacement
* Love jihad
* Proposed "Islamo-leftism" inquiry
* Trojan Horse scandal

Genocide denial /
Denial of mass killings|

* Armenian
* Assyrian
* Bangladesh
* Bosnian
* Cambodian
* The Holocaust
* Holodomor
* Nanjing
* Rwandan
* Serbs during WWII

Regional

| Asia|

* India
* Cow vigilante violence
* Pakistan
* Jinnahpur
* Philippines
* Tallano gold
* South Korea
* Finger-pinching
* Thailand
* Finland Plot

|

Americas
(outside the United States)|

* Argentina
* Andinia Plan
* Canada
* Avro Arrow cancellation
* Leuchter report
* Peru
* Casa Matusita
* Venezuela
* Daktari Ranch affair
* Golpe Azul

Middle East / North Africa|

* In the Arab world
* 10 agorot
* Cairo fire
* Kissinger Plan in Lebanon
* Israel-related animal theories
* Iran
* Western-backed Iranian Revolution
* Israel
* Pallywood

Russia|

* Alaska payment
* Dulles' Plan
* Golden billion
* Petrograd Military Organization
* Rasputin
* Ukraine bioweapons

Turkey|

* 2016 coup attempt
* Ergenekon
* Operation Sledgehammer
* Gezi Park protests
* Sèvres syndrome
* Üst akıl

Other European|

* Euromyth
* Georgia
* Global War Party
* Ireland
* German Plot
* Lithuania
* Statesmen
* Roman Republic
* First Catilinarian conspiracy
* Spain
* Mano Negra affair
* Sweden
* Lilla Saltsjöbadsavtalet
* UK
* Clockwork Orange plot
* Elm Guest House
* Harold Wilson
* Voting pencil

United States|

* Barack Obama
* Citizenship
* Religion
* Parentage
* "Obamagate" / Spygate
* Biden–Ukraine
* Black helicopters
* CIA and JFK
* CIA assistance to bin Laden
* Clinton body count
* Cultural Marxism
* Election denial movement
* FBI secret society
* FEMA camps
* Georgia Guidestones
* Jade Helm 15
* Montauk Project
* Philadelphia Experiment
* Pizzagate
* The Plan
* Project Azorian
* QAnon
* Pastel
* Incidents
* Saddam–al-Qaeda
* Sandy Hook (2012)
* Springfield pet-eating hoax
* Trump–Ukraine
* "Vast right-wing conspiracy"
* Vietnam War
* POW/MIA issue / Stab-in-the-back myth

| 2020 election|

* Italygate
* "Pence Card"
* Maricopa County ballot audit
* Stop the Steal

|

Other

* Dead Internet theory
* NESARA/GESARA
* New Coke
* Phantom time / New chronology
* Shadow government claims
* Bilderberg
* Illuminati
* synarchism
* Shakespearean authorship

| Pseudolaw|

* Admiralty law
* Freeman on the land movement
* Redemption movement
* Sovereign citizens
* Strawman theory
* Tax protesters

|

Satirical|

* Acre
* Bielefeld
* Birds Aren't Real
* Li's field
* Ted Cruz–Zodiac Killer meme

See also

* Argument from ignorance
* Conspiracy Encyclopedia
* Conspiracy fiction
* Conspirituality
* Dogma
* pseudoskepticism
* Falsifiability
* Fringe science
* Historical negationism
* Online youth radicalization
* Paranormal
* Prejudice
* Hate speech
* Radicalization
* Science by press conference
* Superstition

* v
* t
* e

Yale University

Located in: New Haven, Connecticut

People|

| Leadership|

* President Maurie McInnis (predecessors)
* Provost Scott Strobel
* Yale Corporation

|

* Dean of Yale Law School
* Faculty
* Sterling Professors
* People list
* Elihu Yale

Schools|

* Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Undergraduate|

* College

Graduate|

* Graduate Arts and Sciences

Professional|

* Architecture
* Art
* Divinity
* Andover Newton
* Berkeley
* Drama
* Engineering
* Environment
* Global Affairs
* Law
* Management
* Medicine
* Music
* Nursing
* Public Health

Defunct|

* Sheffield Scientific School

Campus|

* Connecticut Hall
* Evans Hall
* Harkness Tower
* Hewitt Quadrangle
* Hillhouse Avenue
* Horchow Hall
* Memorial Quadrangle
* Old Campus
* Rudolph Hall
* Science Hill
* Steinbach Hall
* Sterling Law Building
* Yale-Myers Forest

Residential|

* Benjamin Franklin
* Berkeley
* Branford
* Davenport
* Timothy Dwight
* Jonathan Edwards
* Grace Hopper (formerly Calhoun)
* Morse
* Pauli Murray
* Pierson
* Saybrook
* Silliman
* Ezra Stiles
* Trumbull

Library and
museums|

* Library
* Bass
* Rare Book & Manuscript
* Medical
* Law
* Sterling Memorial
* Walpole Library
* Museum of Natural History
* Art Gallery
* Center for British Art
* Collection of Musical Instruments

Research|

* Child Study Center
* Cowles Foundation
* Haskins Laboratories
* Human Relations Area Files
* MacMillan Center
* Rudd Center
* Yale Cancer Center
* Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism

Athletics|

| Teams|

* Baseball
* Men's basketball
* Women's basketball
* Football
* Men's ice hockey
* Women's ice hockey
* Men's lacrosse
* Rugby
* Sailing
* Men's soccer
* Women's soccer
* Men's squash
* Swimming and diving

|

Venues|

* Yale Bowl (football)
* Bush Field
* Ingalls Rink (hockey)
* Gilder Boathouse
* Golf Course
* Payne Whitney Gymnasium
* Reese Stadium

Culture|

* Handsome Dan
* Harvard-Yale football rivalry
* Harvard-Yale rowing rivalry

Artistic|

| A cappella|

* The Alley Cats
* The Spizzwinks
* The Whiffenpoofs
* The Society of Orpheus and Bacchus

|

* Dramatic Association
* Precision Marching Band
* Symphony Orchestra

Traditions|

* Coat of arms
* Yale Blue
* Bright College Years

Publications|

* Alumni Magazine
* Yale Daily News
* The Yale Herald
* Yale Law Journal
* Yale Literary Magazine
* The Yale Record
* Rumpus

Student Life|

* Bladderball
* Manuscript Society
* Skull and Bones
* Political Union

Programs|

* Gruber Foundation
* Silliman Lectures
* Sustainable Food Program
* World Fellows
* Yale-NUS College
* Terry Lectures
* Open Yale Courses

* Category
* Commons
* Wikinews

* v
* t
* e

The Skulls

Films|

* The Skulls
* The Skulls II
* The Skulls III

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* France
* BnF data

Other|

* IdRef
* Yale LUX

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