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{{Short description|Secret society at Yale University, US}}
{{otheruses4|the secret society|the pirate flag|Jolly Roger|the international poison symbol|Skull and crossbones|the Cypress Hill album|Skull & Bones (album)}}
{{About|the secret society at Yale|the video game|Skull and Bones (video game)|other uses|Skull and crossbones (disambiguation)}}
]
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2019}}
'''Skull and Bones''' is a ] based at, but not formally affiliated with, ] in ]. The society's ] organization, which owns the society's real property and oversees the organization's activity, is the ], and is named after General ],<ref>'']'', "Change In Skull And Bones. Famous Yale Society Doubles Size of Its House - Addition a Duplicate of Old Building", published September 13, 1903</ref> founding member of the Bones' organization along with fellow classmate ]. In conversation, the group is known as "Bones", and members have been known as "Bonesmen".<ref>{{cite book |author = Stevens, Albert C. |year = 1907 |title = 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 |publisher = E. B. Treat and Company |pages = 338}}</ref>
{{Use American English|date=June 2019}}
{{Infobox Fraternity
| name = Skull and Bones
| crest = Bones logo.jpg
| image_size = 170px
| founded = {{Start date and age|1832}}
| birthplace = ]
| affiliation = Independent
| status = Active
| type = ]
| scope = Local
| chapters = 1
| lifetime = 2,800+
| nickname = Bones<br />The Order<br />Order 322<br />The Brotherhood of Death
| address = 64 High Street
| city = ]
| state = ]
| ZIP code = 06511
| country = United States
| website =
}}


'''Skull and Bones''' (also known as '''The Order''', '''Order 322''' or '''The Brotherhood of Death''') is an undergraduate senior ] at ] in ]. The oldest senior-class society at the university, Skull and Bones has become a cultural institution known for its powerful alumni and conspiracy theories.
Even after Yale became ] in 1969, Skull & Bones remained all-male until the Class of 1991, when that year's class "tapped" seven female members in the Class of 1992.<ref name="cedotal">{{cite web|url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/17505|title=Rattling those dry bones|last=Cedotal|first=Andrew|date=April 18, 2006|work=]|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref> The decision was controversial among alumni members, some of whom obtained a ] and changed locks, before yielding to a close majority vote of the membership.<ref name="cedotal"/>


Skull and Bones is considered one of the "Big Three" societies at Yale University; the other are ] and ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/yale-is-revamping-its-secret-society-system-so-students-dont-feel-left-out-2015-10 |first=Peter|last=Jacobs| title=Yale is revamping its secret society system so students don't feel left out| work=Business Insider |date=2015-10-08| access-date=2020-04-10}}</ref> The society is known informally as "Bones", and members are known as "Bonesmen", "Members of The Order" or "Initiated to The Order".<ref>{{cite book |author=Stevens, Albert C. |year=1907 |title=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 |publisher=E. B. Treat and Company |page=338 |isbn=978-1169348677 |oclc=2570157}}</ref>
Many Skull & Bones alumni have gone on to positions of great power, including both the Democratic and Republican nominees in the 2004 Presidential election.<ref>George W. Bush, ''A Charge to Keep'', (1999) ISBN 0-688-17441-8</ref><ref> </ref>


== History == == History ==
===19th century===
:''"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 ]."''<ref name=Robbins>Robbins, Alexandra. ''Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power.'' Back Bay Books, 2003.</ref>
Skull and Bones was founded in 1832 after a dispute among Yale debating societies ], ], and the ] over that season's ] awards.<ref name="nyt" /> ] and ] co-founded "The Order of the Skull and Bones".<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |date=September 13, 1903 |title=Change In Skull And Bones; Famous Yale Society Doubles Size of Its House&nbsp;– Addition a Duplicate of Old Building |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/09/13/102434474.pdf |access-date=November 5, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Niarchos">{{cite news|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/12/05/yales-secret-social-fabric/ |title=Yale's secret social fabric|author1-last=Niarchos|author1-first=Nicolas|author2-last=Zapana |author2-first=Victor |date=December 5, 2008|work=]|access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> The first senior members included Russell, Taft, and thirteen other members.<ref name="Richards">{{cite magazine |last=Richards |first=David |title=The Origins of the Tomb |magazine=] |date=May 2015 |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4072-the-origins-of-the-tomb |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> Alternative names for Skull and Bones are The Order, Order 322 and The Brotherhood of Death.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blakely |first1=Rhys |title=John Kerry and the 'Brotherhood of Death' Yale secret society |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/john-kerry-and-the-brotherhood-of-death-yale-secret-society-qptddcjw7qk |access-date=June 22, 2019 |work=The Times |date=March 2, 2013 |language=en}}</ref>


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."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_09/old_yale.html |title=How the Secret Societies Got That Way |issue=September/October 2004 |journal=Yale Alumni Magazine |last=Schiff |first=Judith Ann |access-date=November 5, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050404050959/http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_09/old_yale.html |archive-date=April 4, 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bagg |first=Lyman Hotchkiss |year=1871 |title=Four Years at Yale |url=https://archive.org/details/fouryearsatyale00bagguoft |publisher=New Haven, C.C. Chatfield & Co. |isbn=978-1425569372 |oclc=2007757}}</ref>
]Skull and Bones was said, in 1903, to be formed in 1832 as a result of a dispute among Yale's debating societies, ], Brothers in Unity, and Calliope over the ] awards.<ref> ], "Change In Skull And Bones. Famous Yale Society Doubles Size of Its House - Addition a Duplicate of Old Building," published September 13, 1903</ref>
It was once referred to as The Brotherhood of Death,<ref> Sutton, Antony C. ''America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones''. 2003.</ref> but a more common alternative name was ].
The only "chapter" of Skull and Bones created outside Yale was a chapter at ] 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 ].<ref></ref>{{verify credibility}}


In a 1974 book, Brooks Mather Kelley attributed the interest in Yale senior societies to the fact that underclassmen members of then ], ], and ] 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.<ref>''Yale: A History'', Brooks Mather Kelley, (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, Ltd.), 1974.</ref>
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 ] in an unknown German university.<ref name=Robbins/> Others suggest that 322 refers to the era of ] and that documents in the society hall have purportedly been found dated to "Anno-Demostheni".<ref>{{cite book |author = Stevens, Albert C. |year = 1907 |title = 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 |publisher = E. B. Treat and Company |pages = 340}}</ref>


Since its founding, Skull and Bones annually selects 15 members of the junior class to join the society.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hn4g6y?urlappend=%3Bseq=270%3Bownerid=27021597765435927-288 |title=American College Fraternities |publisher=Frank Williams |year=1883 |editor-last=Baird |editor-first=Wm. Raimond |edition=2nd |location=New York |page=196 |hdl=2027/hvd.hn4g6y?urlappend=%3Bseq=270 |language=en |via=Hathi Trust}}</ref> 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 that it views as campus leaders and other notable figures for its membership.
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".


===20th century===
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 ] passed on his name, "Sancho Panza," to the political adviser ]. ] was "Thor," ] was "Baal," ] was "Odin.” ] was "]," a name reserved for a member considered to have the most sexual experience. ], unable to decide, was temporarily called "Temporary," and the name was never changed.<ref name=atlantic-robbins>], .</ref>
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.<ref name="Horowitch">{{cite news |last1=Horowitch |first1=Rose |title=Skull and Bones and Equity and Inclusion |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/yale-skull-and-bones-secret-societies-diversity/677030/ |access-date=12 January 2024 |work=] |date=2024-01-11}}</ref>


Yale became ] in 1969, prompting some other secret societies such as ] 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.<ref>Robbins, pp. 152–159</ref>
Other alumni include Supreme Court Justice ],<ref name="barron">{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6DE1139F936A15754C0A967958260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FOrganizations%2FY%2FYale%20University|title=Male Fortress Falls at Yale: Bonesmen to Admit Women|last=Barron|first=James|date=July 25, 1991|work=]|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref> Senator ],<ref name=hevesi/> and ] economic adviser ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/26705|title=Goolsbee joins Obama econ. team|date=November 26, 2008|work=]|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref>


The class of 1991 tapped seven female members for membership in the next year's class, causing conflict with the alumni association.<ref name="cedotal">Andrew Cedotal, , ''Yale Daily News'', April 18, 2006.</ref> The trust changed the locks on the Tomb and the Bonesmen instead met in the ] building.<ref name="cedotal" /> A mail-in vote by members decided 368–320 to permit women in the society, but a group of alumni led by ] obtained a ] to block the move, arguing that a formal change in bylaws was needed.<ref name="cedotal" /><ref>{{cite news |date=September 6, 1991 |title=Yale Alumni Block Women in Secret Club |work=] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6DE1738F935A3575AC0A967958260 |access-date=February 28, 2009}}</ref> Other alumni, such as ] and ], spoke out in favor of admitting women. The dispute was highlighted on an editorial page of '']''.<ref name="cedotal" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Semple |first=Robert B. Jr. |date=April 18, 1991 |title=High Noon on High Street |work=] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD7153CF93BA25757C0A967958260&sec=&spon= |access-date=February 28, 2009}}</ref> A second alumni vote, in October 1991, agreed to accept the Class of 1992, and the lawsuit was dropped.<ref name="cedotal" /><ref name="hevesi">{{cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |date=October 26, 1991 |title=Shh! Yale's Skull and Bones Admits Women |work=] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DB1130F935A15753C1A967958260&scp=1&sq=skull%20bones%20women&st=cse |access-date=February 28, 2009}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Leuing |first=Rebecca |date=2003-10-02 |title=Skull And Bones |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/skull-and-bones/ |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}</ref>
Skull and Bones also owns a campground island in the ] in ] named ]. "The {{convert|40|acre|m2|adj=on}} 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.'"<ref name=atlantic-robbins/>


===Admitting women=== ===21st century===
In recent years, Skull and Bones, like other elite Yale institutions, "utterly transformed", according to '']''. 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.<ref name="Horowitch" />
Yale became ] in 1969, but Skull & Bones remained all-male at the behest of the Russell Trust Association. The Class of 1991, however, disregarded the Trust and "tapped" seven female members for membership in the next year's class.<ref name="cedotal"/> The Trust responded by changing the locks on the "Tomb"; the Bonesmen had to meet at the building of Manuscript.<ref name=cedotal/> A mail-in vote by living members decided 368-320 to permit going co-ed, but a group of alumni led by ] obtained a ] to block the move, arguing that a formal change in bylaws was needed.<ref name=cedotal/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6DE1738F935A3575AC0A967958260|title=Yale Alumni Block Women in Secret Club|date=September 6, 1991|work=]|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref> Other alumni, such as ], spoke out in favor of admitting women, and the dispute even ended up on '']'' editorial page.<ref name=cedotal/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD7153CF93BA25757C0A967958260&sec=&spon=|title=High Noon on High Street |last=Semple|first=Robert B., Jr.|date=April 18, 1991|work=]|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref> A second vote of alumni in October 1991 agreed to accept the Class of 1992, and the lawsuit was eventually dropped.<ref name=cedotal/><ref name="hevesi">{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DB1130F935A15753C1A967958260&scp=1&sq=skull%20bones%20women&st=cse|title=Shh! Yale's Skull and Bones Admits Women|last=Hevesi|first=Dennis|date=October 26, 1991|work=]|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref>


== Symbols and traditions ==
==Lore==
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.<ref name=":2" /> Its members worshipped Eulogia, a fictional goddess of eloquence.<ref name=":4">{{cite news |last=Stephey |first=M. J. |date=February 23, 2009 |title=A Brief History of the Skull & Bones Society |newspaper=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1881172,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226150130/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1881172,00.html |archive-date=February 26, 2009}}</ref>
]
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."<ref> at www.yalealumnimagazine.com</ref> Brooks Mather Kelley attributed the secrecy of Yale senior societies to the fact that underclassmen members of ], ], and junior class societies remained on campus following their membership, while seniors naturally left.<ref>''Yale: A History'', Brooks Mather Kelley, (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, Ltd.), 1974</ref>


The number "322" appears in Skull and Bones' insignia and is widely reported to be significant as the year of Greek orator ]' death.<ref name="hevesi" /><ref name="atlantic-robbins">{{cite web |author=Robbins, Alexandra |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/05/george-w-knight-of-eulogia/304686/ |title=George W., Knight of Eulogia |work=] |date=May 2000 |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Richards" /> A letter between early society members in Yale's archives<ref>{{cite web |url=http://images.library.yale.edu/madid/oneItem.aspx?id=1772730 |title=Letter from a member of Skull and Bones Society to another member |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=March 23, 1860 |website=Yale Manuscripts & Archives Digital Images Database |publisher=] |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> suggests that 322 is a reference to the year 322 BC and that members measure dates from this year instead of from the ]. In 322 BC, the ] ended with the death of ] 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."<ref>{{cite book |author=Stevens, Albert C. |year=1907 |title=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 |publisher=E. B. Treat and Company |page=340 |isbn=978-1169348677 |oclc=2570157}}</ref>
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 ] and three shipping companies owned and operated by Skull and Bones members; ], ], ] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar|title=How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power|publisher=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,100474,00.html#|title=Documents: Bush's Grandfather Directed Bank Tied to Man Who Funded Hitler|publisher=Fox News}}</ref> The society is alleged to have illicit connections to the ], ], ], and/or ].{{or}}


One legend is that the number represents "founded in '32, 2nd corps", referring to a first ] in an unknown German university.<ref name="Robbins">Robbins, Alexandra. ''Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power''. Back Bay Books, 2003.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://images.library.yale.edu/madid/oneItem.aspx?id=1780610 |title=German postcard included in a Skull and Bones photograph album originally owned by Chester Wolcott Lyman, BA 1882 |year=1882 |publisher=Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives |trans-title=Photograph albums of the Skull and Bones Society}}</ref> 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,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Provincial Grand Lodge of Suffolk - Lodge of Virtue and Silence 332 |url=https://www.suffolkpgl.org.uk/about/lodge-groups/group-9-hadleigh-area/hadleigh/228-lodge-of-virtue-and-silence-332 |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=www.suffolkpgl.org.uk}}</ref> 21 years before the creation of the Skull and Bones association in 1832.
===Geronimo bones===
{{main|Geronimo#Alleged_theft_of_skull}}
An ] holds that Skull and Bones members stole the bones of ] from ] during ]. In 1986, former San Carlos Apache Chairman Ned Anderson received an anonymous letter with a photograph and a copy of a log book claiming that Skull & Bones held the skull. He met with Skull & Bones officials about the rumor; the group's attorney, Endicott P. Davidson, denied that the group held the skull, and said that the 1918 ledger saying otherwise was a hoax.<ref name="abq">{{cite web|url=http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10846:635am-geronimo-died-100-years-ago-today&catid=1:latest&Itemid=39|title=Geronimo Lawsuit Sparks Family Feud|last=Daniels|first=Bruce|date=February 27, 2009|work=]|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref> The group offered Anderson a glass case with a skull of a ten-year-old boy, but Anderson refused it.<ref name=pember/> In 2006, Marc Wortman discovered a 1918 letter from Skull & Bones member Winter Mead to ] that claimed the theft; however, Mead was not at Fort Sill.<ref name="schiff">{{cite web|url=http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2006_05/notebook.html|title=Whose Skull and Bones?|last=Lassila|first=Kathrin Day|coauthors=Mark Alden Branch|date=May/June 2006|work=Yale Alumni Magazine|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref>


===Crooking===
In 2009, ] filed a lawsuit on behalf of Geronimo's descendants, against, among others, ], ], and Skull and Bones, asking for the return of Geronimo's bones. An article in '']'' 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."<ref>Geronimo’s Heirs Sue Secret Yale Society Over His Skull </ref> ] says this is one of the more plausible items said to be in the organization's Tomb.<ref>Geronimo's kin sue Skull and Bones over remains ''</ref> But ] history professor David H. Miller notes that Geronimo's grave was unmarked at the time.<ref name=schiff/> Investigations ranging from ] to ] have rejected the story.<ref name=Adams>http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2623/is-geronimos-skull-residing-at-yales-skull-and-bones</ref><ref name="kelley">{{cite book|last=]|title=]|publisher=]|date=2004|pages=17-20}}</ref> A Fort Sill spokesman told Adams, "There is no evidence to indicate the bones are anywhere but in the grave site."<ref name=Adams/> Jeff Houser, chairman of the Fort Sill Apache tribe of Oklahoma, also calls the story a hoax.<ref name="pember">{{cite news|url=http://www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_8184.shtml|title=Tomb Raiders|last=Pember|first=Mary Annette|date=July 9, 2007|work=Diverse Issues in Higher Education|accessdate=2009-02-28}}</ref>
{{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".<ref name="Mark2006">{{cite journal |first1=Kathrin Day |last1=Lassila |first2=Mark Alden |last2=Branch |year=2006 |title=Whose skull and bones? |url=http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/images/issues/2006/05/Yale_Alumn_Magazine.pdf |journal=Yale Alumni Magazine |pages=20–22}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Landrigan |first=Leslie |date=2018-09-17 |title=Skull and Bones, or 7 Fast Facts About Yale's Secret Society |url=https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/skull-and-bones-or-7-fast-facts-about-yales-secret-society/ |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=New England Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref> The society has been accused of possessing the stolen skulls of ], ], and ].<ref name="greenburg">{{cite web |last=Greenburg |first=Zach O. |date=January 23, 2004 |title=Bones may have Pancho Villa skull |url=http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=2801 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220084748/http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=2801 |archive-date=December 20, 2008 |access-date=November 5, 2011 |work=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Citro |first=Joseph A. |url=https://archive.org/details/weirdnewenglandw00jose/page/270 |title=Weird New England |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. |year=2005 |isbn=1-4027-3330-5 |edition=illustrated |pages=}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In January 2010, Christie's canceled a planned auction for a human skull with links to Skull and Bones.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Christie's drops human skull from auction |date=January 22, 2010 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/22/new.york.skull.auction/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122202428/http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/22/new.york.skull.auction/index.html |archive-date=January 22, 2010}}</ref>]
]


== Facilities ==
Another urban legend states that the group also has ]'s skull,<ref>{{cite book|last=Citro|first=Joseph A.|title=Weird New England|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|date=2005|edition=illustrated|pages=270-71|isbn=1402733305}}</ref> which was indeed stolen by unknown individuals shortly after his death.{{fact}}


===Tomb===
<!--Whole section is OR
The Skull and Bones Hall, located at 64 High St. in ], is otherwise known as the "Tomb". The building was built in three phases: the first wing was built in 1856, the second ] in 1903, and Davis-designed ] towers were added to the rear garden in 1912. The front and side facades are of ] in an ]. The 1912 tower additions created a small enclosed courtyard in the rear of the building, designed by ] and Edgerton Swartwout of ], New York.<ref name="YU">''Yale University'' 1999 Princeton Architectural Press, {{ISBN|1-56898-167-8}} </ref> Evarts Tracy was an 1890 Bonesman, and his paternal grandmother, Martha Sherman Evarts, and maternal grandmother, Mary Evarts, were the sisters of ], an 1837 Bonesman.
==Symbolism==


The architect was possibly ] or ]. 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 ] ] ] gates, built-in 1845. Pinnell also discusses the Tomb's esthetic place about its neighbors, including the ].<ref name="YU" /> In the late 1990s, New Hampshire landscape architects Saucier and Flynn designed the ] fence that surrounds a portion of the complex.<ref>{{cite web|website=Saucierflynn.com|url=http://www.saucierflynn.com/clients/nonprofit/scullandbones.php|title=Scull and Bones|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070918134929/http://www.saucierflynn.com/clients/nonprofit/scullandbones.php|archive-date=September 18, 2007}}</ref>
The Skull and Bones society has as its emblem the skull and crossbones. Perhaps best known as the ], this symbol is an international symbol for piracy. A substantially different version was chosen by Heinrich Himmler as the ] to symbolize a return to prosperity for the members of the elite killing society of the SS.{{fact}}{{syn}}{{irrel}} The skull and bones is also the international symbol for poison.{{syn}}{{irrel}} <!--- OR at best follows - The symbolism for this society is especially significant as Skull and Bones members will not talk openly about the organization.{{fact}} It is the only "face" of the organization that they will present to the public. -->


==Motto== ===Deer Island===
{{Main|Deer Island (Thousand Islands)}}
The society owns and manages ], an island retreat on the ] ({{coord|44.359063|-75.909345|display=inline|region:US-NY_type:landmark|name=Location of New Skull & Bones Society Lodge on Deer Island}}). ], author of a book on Yale secret societies, wrote:{{Blockquote|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. ]s waited on the lake. Stewards catered elegant meals.|source=""}}], namesake of the Russell Trust Association]]


Bonesmen spend a week in the late summer getting to know each other at Deer Island.<ref name="Horowitch" />
"Bari Quippe Boni"


== Russell Trust Association ==
Nature makes only a few who are good.
The Russell Trust Association is the ] of Skull and Bones ].<ref name=":02">''Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, The Ivy League, and The Hidden Paths To Power'' ], published in 2002 by ] {{ISBN|0-316-72091-7}}, p. 56</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Collection: Russell Trust Association Records |url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/5254 |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=Archives at Yale University}}</ref><ref name="nyt" /> It was incorporated in 1856 by ] as president and ] as treasurer.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":02" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 22, 2023 |title=Skull and Bones |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Skull-and-Bones-Yale |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref> The association holds the society's assets, including its endowment and property, and oversees property upkeep.<ref name=":12" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Reynolds |first=Bruce L. |date=July 2015 |title=More secrets of the Tomb |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/4127-more-secrets-of-the-tomb |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=Yale Alumni Magazine |language=en}}</ref>


According to its 2016 filing with the ], the Russell Trust Association, filing as RTA Incorporated, has assets of $3,906,458, including Deer Island and the Skull and Bones Hall.<ref name="f990">. February 1, 2018. via GuideStar.</ref>
==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 ] (1803–1892) or ] (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.<ref> at www.yalealumnimagazine.com</ref>


As of 2024, the organization had an endowment of $17 million.<ref name="Horowitch" />
The building was built in three phases: in 1856 the first wing was built, in 1903 the second wing, and in 1911, Davis-designed ] towers from a previous building were added at the rear garden. The front and side facades are of ] and in an ].


==Notable members==
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, ], New York.<ref>"Yale University" 1999 Princeton Architectural Press, ISBN 1568981678 </ref> Evarts was not a Bonesman, but his paternal grandmother Martha Sherman Evarts and maternal grandmother Mary Evarts were the sisters of ] (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 ] ] gates, built 1845, of the ], to the north of campus. Also discussed by Pinnell is the "tomb's" aesthetic place in relation to its neighbors, including the ].<ref> "Yale University" 1999 Princeton Architectural Press, p.42, ISBN 1568981678 </ref> Additional data can be seen . New Hampshire landscape architects Saucier & Flynn designed the wrought-iron fence that currently surrounds a portion of the complex in the late 1990s.<ref></ref>
{{coords|41.30857|-72.930092|name=Skull and Bones Hall|display=title|type:landmark}}

==Bonesmen==
{{main|List of Skull and Bones members}} {{main|List of Skull and Bones members}}
] just left of clock]] ] and ], who co-founded '']'' magazine in 1923]]
Skull and Bones' membership developed a reputation in association with the "]".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/skull-and-bones/ |work=CBS News |title=Skull And Bones: Secret Yale Society Includes America's Power Elite |author=Leung, Rebecca |date=June 13, 2004 |access-date=March 9, 2011}}</ref> Regarding the qualifications for membership, ] wrote in the 1968 Yale yearbook:
{{Blockquote|If the society had a good year, this is what the "ideal" group will consist of: a football captain; a Chairman of the '']''; a conspicuous ]; a ]; 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{{nbsp}}...|], quoted by ]|source=""}}


Like other Yale senior societies, Skull and Bones's membership was almost exclusively limited to ] 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.<ref name="Club" /><ref name="chosen" /> While some ] were able to join such groups, ] were more often not.<ref name="chosen">{{cite book | title=The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton | url=https://archive.org/details/chosen00jero_0 | url-access=registration | publisher=Houghton Mifflin | author=Karabel, Jerome | year=2005 | location=Boston | pages=–36}}</ref> 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 (], class of 1938) and ] player (], class of 1950), although Jackson declined the tap, instead electing to join ].<ref name="Club">{{cite book | title=Joining the Club: A History of Jews and Yale | publisher=Yale University Press | author=Oren, Dan A. | year=1985 | location=New Haven | pages=–88 | isbn=0-300-03330-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/joiningclubhist00oren | url-access=registration }}</ref>
Judy Schiff, Chief Archivist at the ], 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, ], who wrote a book on the group titled ''America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones''<ref>http://www.scribd.com/doc/9707/Americas-Secret-Establishment-An-Introduction-to-Skull-and-Bones-by-Antony-Sutton</ref>. 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.<ref> </ref> Judith Ann Schiff, Chief Research Archivist at the ], has written: "The names of its members weren't kept secret{{nsmdns}}that was an innovation of the 1970s{{nsmdns}}but its meetings and practices were."<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050404050959/http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_09/old_yale.html |date=April 4, 2005 }}</ref> While resourceful researchers could assemble member data from these sources, in 1985, ] provided ] with rosters and records that had belonged to her father, a member of the organization. This membership information was kept privately for over fifteen{{nbsp}}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 ] (a founder's son), ], and ].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2010-01-05 |title=Skull linked to secret Yale society to be sold |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna34709352 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> In the ], both the Democratic and Republican nominees were members of Skull and Bones. When asked what it meant that he and ] were both Bonesmen, former presidential candidate ] said, "Not much, because it's a secret."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48358-2004Apr3?language=printer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812112001/https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48358-2004Apr3/?language=printer |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 12, 2018 |title=Bush, Kerry Share Tippy-Top Secret |author=Oldenburg, Don |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 4, 2004 |access-date=November 5, 2011}}</ref><ref>'']''</ref>

Members are assigned nicknames. Examples include "Long Devil", the tallest member, "Boaz", a varsity football captain, or "Sherrife", prince of the future. Many of the chosen names are drawn from literature (e.g., "]", "]") religion, and myth. The banker ] passed on his nickname, "]", to the political adviser ]. ] was "]", ] was "]", ] was "]", and ] was "]".<ref name="atlantic-robbins" />


==Popular culture== ==Popular culture==
<!-- Please do not add useless trivia to this section - it is already borderline as far as any relevance is concerned. -->
{{originalresearch|section}}
The 2000 film '']'' concerns a highly elaborate secret society with clear parallels to Skull and Bones. Bones was also included, as well as the ] group the ], in the 2006 film '']'', about the ]. Skull and Bones has also featured from time to time in the ] comic strips by Garry Trudeau; especially in 1980 and December 1988, with reference to ], and again at the time that the society went co-ed.


=== Literature and print ===
==See also==
* ] 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."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wolfe |first=Tom |date=August 23, 1976 |title=The "Me" Decade and the Third Great Awakening |url=https://nymag.com/news/features/45938/ |journal=New York Magazine}}</ref>
*]
* Skull and Bones have been satirized from time to time in the '']'' comic strips by ], Yale graduate and ] member. There are overt references, especially in 1980 and December 1988, concerning ], and again when the society first admitted women.<ref>{{cite book |last=Soper |first=Kerry |title=Garry Trudeau: Doonesbury and the Aesthetics of Satire |publisher=] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-934110-89-8 |pages=25, 42}}</ref>
*]
* ] wrote in his ], " senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society; so secret, I can't say anything more."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bush |first=George W. |url=https://archive.org/details/chargetokeepbushrich |title=A Charge to Keep |publisher=William Morrow and Co |year=1999 |isbn=0-688-17441-8 |url-access=registration|page=47}}{{page needed|date=September 2024}}</ref>
*]

=== Film ===
* ] (2000) and '']'' (2002) films are based on the conspiracy theories surrounding Skull and Bones.<ref>Ebert, Roger. (July 10, 2013) . Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-15.</ref> A third film, '']'' (2004), is based on the first woman to be "tapped" to join the society.
* In ] (2006) the protagonist becomes a member of Skull and Bones while studying at Yale.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beaupre |first=Mitchell |date=December 22, 2021 |title=This Is America: How The Good Shepherd Examined the Rot at the Core of a Country |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/robert-de-niro/the-good-shepherd-american-rot |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Paste Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
* In ]'s 2013 ] of ]'s novel '']'', 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.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Great Gatsby |url=http://www.publicbookshelf.com/fiction/great-gatsby/younger-vulnerable-8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407091047/http://www.publicbookshelf.com/fiction/great-gatsby/younger-vulnerable-8 |archive-date=April 7, 2014 |website=Publicbookshelf.com}}</ref>

=== Television ===
* In Season 1, Episode 33 of the 1966 ], "Fine Finny Fiends" there is a gathering at ] during which one guest points out a portrait of ]'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 ] replies that he was not tapped for it, but "he ''founded'' Skull and Bones!"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kidd |first=Chip |date=March 2011 |title=Holy Eli, Batman! |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/3112-holy-eli-batman |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Yale Alumni Magazine |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
* In '']'' ] episode "]" (1997), after doing a ] with a dog, Mr. Burns says: "I believe this dog was in Skull and Bones".
* In '']'' episode, "]", (2007) when ] is being bullied by the richer students at Morningwood Academy, ] 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 "]" with their most senior member, ]. Chris feels uncomfortable about joining and convinces Carter to help him get back into his old school.
* On '']'', ] 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?"<ref>{{Cite web |last=NBC News |date=2004-02-13 |title=Transcript for Feb. 8th |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4179618 |access-date=2020-01-21 |website=msnbc.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=NBC News |date=2004-04-18 |title=Transcript for April 18 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4772030 |access-date=2020-01-21 |website=msnbc.com |language=en}}</ref>
* In '']'' ] episode "]" (2017), Mr. Burns visits the Skull and Bones society to meet with Bourbon Verlander about ].
* In '']'' ] episode "]" (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 in order to have blackmail leverage in case he ever needs something from them in the future.

== Conspiracy theories ==
Skull and Bones is featured in books and movies which claim that the society plays a role in a ].<ref name=":4" /> There have been rumors that Skull and Bones is a branch of the ], having been founded by German university alumni following the order's suppression in their native land by ] and ];<ref name="Robbins"{{page needed|date=September 2024}}/>{{page needed|date=September 2024}}{{dubious|date=July 2013}} or that Skull and Bones controls the ].<ref name="dempsey">{{cite news |last=Dempsey |first=Rachel |date=January 18, 2007 |title=Real Elis inspired fictional 'shepherd' |work=] |url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2007/jan/18/real-elis-inspired-fictional-shepherd/ |url-status=dead |access-date=April 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022004856/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2007/jan/18/real-elis-inspired-fictional-shepherd/ |archive-date=October 22, 2012}}</ref>

== See also ==
* ]


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|2}} {{Reflist|30em}}


==Further reading== ==Further reading==
* ], and Alice Von Kannon (2008). ]. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. {{ISBN|978-0470184080}}.
*Begin, Jeremy. ''Fighting for G.O.D. (Gold, Oil, and Drugs)''. Walterville, OR: Trine Day, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9777953-3-8
* {{cite journal|publisher=]|doi=10.1080/08998280.2011.11928679 |doi-access=free |pmid=21307974|pmc=3012287 |title=Yale, Skull and Bones, and the Beginnings of Johns Hopkins |year=2011 |last1=Jarrett |first1=William H. |journal=Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=27–34 }}
*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
* Klimczuk, Stephen, and ] (2009). '']''. New York and London: Sterling Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1402762079}}. pp.&nbsp;212–232 ("University Secret Societies and Dueling Corps").
*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
* Robbins, Alexandra (2003). ''Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power''. Back Bay Books. {{ISBN|0316735612}}.
*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
* Rosenbaum, Ron (September 1977). . '']''.
*Tedford, Cody. ''Powerful Secrets''. Hannover, 2008. ISBN 1-4241-9263-3
* ] (2003). Walterville, Oregon: TrineDay, 2003. {{ISBN|0972020705}}.
* ], et al. (2003). ''Fleshing Out Skull & Bones Investigations Into America's Most Powerful Secret Society''. TrineDay. {{ISBN|0972020721}} (hardcover). {{ISBN|0975290606}} (softcover).


==External links==
{{commons|Skull and bones}}
{{Commons|Skull and Bones}}
{{wikinews|Apaches accuse Prescott Bush of robbing Geronimo's grave}}
*
* at '']''
* , '']'', September 28, 2017


{{Conspiracy theories}} {{Conspiracy theories}}
{{Yale}}
{{The Skulls}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 09:10, 30 December 2024

Secret society at Yale University, US This article is about the secret society at Yale. For the video game, see Skull and Bones (video game). For other uses, see Skull and crossbones (disambiguation).

Skull and Bones
Founded1832; 193 years ago (1832)
Yale University
TypeFraternity
AffiliationIndependent
StatusActive
ScopeLocal
Chapters1
Members2,800+ lifetime
NicknameBones
The Order
Order 322
The Brotherhood of Death
Headquarters64 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 are Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head. The society is known informally as "Bones", and members are known as "Bonesmen", "Members of The Order" or "Initiated to The Order".

History

19th century

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. William Huntington Russell and Alphonso Taft co-founded "The Order of the Skull and Bones". The first senior members included Russell, Taft, and thirteen other members. Alternative names for Skull and Bones are The Order, Order 322 and The Brotherhood of Death.

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."

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.

Since its founding, Skull and Bones annually selects 15 members of the junior class to join the society. 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 that it views as campus leaders and other notable figures for its membership.

20th century

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.

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.

The class of 1991 tapped seven female members for membership in the next year's class, causing conflict with the alumni association. The trust changed the locks on the Tomb and the Bonesmen instead met in the Manuscript Society building. 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. 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. A second alumni vote, in October 1991, agreed to accept the Class of 1992, and the lawsuit was dropped.

21st century

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.

Symbols and traditions

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. Its members worshipped Eulogia, a fictional goddess of eloquence.

The number "322" appears in Skull and Bones' insignia and is widely reported to be significant as the year of Greek orator Demosthenes' death. A letter between early society members in Yale's archives suggests that 322 is a reference to the year 322 BC and that members measure dates from this year instead of from the 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."

One legend is that the number represents "founded in '32, 2nd corps", referring to a first Corps in an unknown German university. 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, 21 years before the creation of the Skull and Bones association in 1832.

Crooking

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". The society has been accused of possessing the stolen skulls of Martin Van Buren, Geronimo, and Pancho Villa. In January 2010, Christie's canceled a planned auction for a human skull with links to Skull and Bones.

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

Facilities

Tomb

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. 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. In the late 1990s, New Hampshire landscape architects Saucier and Flynn designed the wrought iron fence that surrounds a portion of the complex.

Deer Island

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.

Russell Trust Association

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

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.

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

Notable members

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". 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. While some Catholics were able to join such groups, Jews were more often not. 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.

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." 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. 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 he and George W. Bush were both Bonesmen, former presidential candidate John Kerry said, "Not much, because it's a secret."

Members are assigned nicknames. Examples include "Long Devil", the tallest member, "Boaz", a varsity football captain, or "Sherrife", 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".

Popular culture

Literature and print

  • 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."
  • 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.
  • George W. Bush wrote in his autobiography, " senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society; so secret, I can't say anything more."

Film

  • The Skulls (2000) and The Skulls II (2002) films are based on the conspiracy theories surrounding Skull and Bones. 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.
  • 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. 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.

Television

  • 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!"
  • 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?"
  • 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 in order to have blackmail leverage in case he ever needs something from them in the future.

Conspiracy theories

Skull and Bones is featured in books and movies which claim that the society plays a role in a global conspiracy for world control. There have been rumors that Skull and Bones is a branch of the Illuminati, having been founded by German university alumni following the order's suppression in their native land by Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria and Frederick the Great of Prussia; or that Skull and Bones controls the CIA.

See also

References

  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. ISBN 978-1169348677. OCLC 2570157.
  3. ^ "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.
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  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.
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