Enter the realm of the crystal skull

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2008 | by Maria Puente

Here's something to know about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: There really are such things as crystal skulls. Even the Smithsonian has one.

You might hear a lot of hoo-ha, especially online, about the carved quartz objects, a dozen of which exist in private collections and museums around the world: They're from Atlantis! They have magical power!

They are indeed mysterious, which is why they're so attractive to humans, says Jane MacLaren Walsh, a Smithsonian anthropologist and expert on pre-Columbian antiquities who has spent decades studying (and debunking) crystal skulls.

"We are fascinated by ourselves and by our own mortality -- and here's this symbol of both," she says.

But now New Age and occult websites have...