F.A. Mitchell-Hedges
Member of the Maya Committee of the British Museum

Internationally famous explorer whom the Indians named “El Tigre Blanco”

MITCHELL-HEDGES has given over thirty-seven thousand specimens of great historical and educational value to various museums; yet has never been financed by any one. He is without question one of the greatest of scientific explorers – and among the explorers he is probably the finest speaker. Despite his scientific attainments he is a man of action, a great speaker and an outstanding personality. Named by the Indians, who at once fear and revere him as “’El Tigre Blanco” (The White Tiger) he, with his intrepid assistant and secretary, Jane Houlson, have had adventures almost too fantastic to chronicle.
His previous books, “Battles With Giant Fish,” “The Land of Wonder and Fear.” etc., together with his radio experiences, have caused him to be known from one end of this country to another, yet until now he has never been offered for an extended lecture tour.
It is our pleasure to present Mr. F. A. Mitchell-Hedges as one of the most important adventurers, scientists and lecturers of his day.

LECTURE SUBJECTS
Illustrated With Magnificently Colored Lantern Slides

THE LAND OF WONDER AND FEAR
Life among the Zutuhilc Indian living in the region of Lake Atitlan. Bloodless revolutions some not so bloodless. Impenetrable jungle, unexplored territory where rivers debauch from the bowels of the earth and volcanoes are ever active, belching forth smoke, molten lava and lire.

BATTLES WITH GIANT FISH
Some of the most remarkable pictures ever taken of great fish and the great adventures involved in their taking. Pictures of the death-ray, poison-grouper (certain death within three to six minutes to anyone it strikes), the barracuda, the liger shark, the sea scorpion, living horrors of the lovely tropical waters.

THE LOST WORLD
The jungle gives up her treasures. A deserted city of ghostly mystery is found. A white woman, unwillingly invests herself with occult powers. Adventures among the Maya Kekchi descendant of the once highly cultured Maya race.

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HAILS “THE LOST WORLD” AS A DISCOVERY WHICH “WILL COMPEL ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO RECONSTRUCT THEIR PRESENT IDEAS REGARDING THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT.”

F. A. MITCHELL-HEDGES
WHO would believe that prehistoric tribes of people still dwell on the American continent? Tribes whose manner of living has not advanced as far as the Stone Age. Who have never seen a white man, have never beard of a ship, a railroad, money, the Great War, or the United Stales of America. Who dwell in complete seclusion because they take every precaution to keep their village hidden. Who by the word of their gods savagely oppose any stranger seeking entrance to their territory. Yet some of these primitive natives live in the shadow of magnificent ruins of a once great civilization that flourished before the time of Christ and has since completely vanished from the lace of the earth.
HOW did Mitchell-Hedges find his way into these hidden places, walled in by thousands of square miles of solid jungle? Why did the natives accept this strange while man, name him “El Tigre Blanco,” allow him to take part in their strange ceremonies and rituals? Not one tribe of Indians, but twenty, be has lived among. Each one distinct, each with its own strange customs and superstitions. He penetrated the very heart of the interior of the greatest […] of all and is in possession of the most amazing facts about primitive life that have ever been collected. Daily life in the primeval jungle. Night in the jungle, when animal life awakes and the darkness is jewelled with gleaming eves, and rent with strange cries, as the age-old battle of survival of the fittest is fought to the death. When dancing lights on the hillsides mark the stronghold of the witches for those who would consult the occult. What weird knowledge is sought by the Indians who creep through little known trails to visit the wizards?

GAINING the confidence of the Indians he learned secrets which have been closely guarded for centuries. How much of these strange legends are based on fact, only the patience and courage to push on year after year through solid jungle can ever tell. Many of the rumors have already proved fruitful, leading him in one instance to the oldest Mayan city yet discovered, which he named Lubaantun, (city of fallen stones). Its principal citadel covers eight acres, and it brought to light the first amphitheatre found on the American continent, having seating accommodations for at least ten thousand people.

LAND of Wonder and Fear. Mitchell-Hedges has termed his beloved Central America. For year alter year its wonders lure him hack for fresh discoveries, while the dangers lurking in its unknown depths are a constant challenge to this great adventurer. Will he ever find the great white city which legend avers as a place of immense pyramids, temples and courtyards, gleaming like frosted ice in the sun-light? Have the Indian- revealed its location to El Tigre Blanco? And where is the stronghold in which Tecum-Umane, last of the great Quiche kings, is said to have concealed the vast treasure of the Indians at the time of the Spanish Conquest? Wondrous tales of an ancient race are written on fallen stones, while only time can tell what unsolved riddles still await discovery in the vast unexplored regions of the land of Wonder and Fear.
He spent nineteen years in Central America, fought his way to jungle depths never before penetrated by white men, discovered a new race of people, unearthed the oldest Maya city yet discovered. His deep sea research in the waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean brought to light many strange monsters in support of his theory that prehistoric life may still lurk in the depths of the sea. Shunning cities, refusing to be lionized, he returned only long enough to get supplies, arrange new expeditions and dispose of his amazing collection of hitherto unrecorded specimens which have been donated to the British Museum, the Museums of Oxford and Cambridge, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York, and others.

When Paramount released the title of the fourth instalment of the Indiana Jones series, it was clear that the object of desire was going to be a crystal skull. When they released their press kit, it included a photograph of the crystal skull – clearly alien in nature. From the press kit, it also appeared that the legendary city of Akakor would play a role in this story – it’s name changed to Akator. The kit contained a photograph of the so-called “Akakor Chamber” – a reference to Karl Brugger’s The Chronicle of Akakor book, which inspired the likes of Erich von Däniken to go in search of subterranean networks – including the infamous “Gold Library”.
In pre-release interviews, Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg commented that they had initially dismissed George Lucas’ idea to base the new Indiana Jones movie around a mythical crystal skull. The actor, along with director Spielberg, were looking for ideas for a fourth movie featuring the legendary character, and turned down several script possibilities, including one that saw the Dr. Henry ‘Indiana’ Jones Jr. hunting for the Lost City of Atlantis.
When producer Lucas suggested a script focusing on the crystal skull - a quartz cranium believed to hold supernatural powers - both his colleagues laughed off the idea. Ford admitted it became a struggle between the three men as they resisted Lucas’ idea - but they eventually gave in, conceding that the Star Wars filmmaker was “always right”.

The premiere of the movie was at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, with a worldwide theatre release on May 22. “Crystal Skull” begins in 1957 Nevada, with Indy and his partner Mac (Ray Winstone) trying to escape from the Soviets who have kidnapped them. Blanchett’s fearsome Irina Spalko wants them to locate the crystal skull within Area 51 for some kind of nefarious mind-control plan involving alien intelligence (a long-standing Spielberg subject). A former colleague of Indy’s, Professor Harold Oxley (John Hurt), also was after the skull – and went missing in pursuit of it. LaBeouf’s young tough Mutt Williams tracks Indy down and pleads with him to help find their mutual friend, which sends the two on a quest to determine the purpose behind the mystical artefact and keep it out of the wrong hands.

In the earlier Indiana Jones films, the objects of antiquity that seemed to drive the story acted more or less purely as MacGuffins: plot devices that advanced the action, but whose explicit usefulness and others details were not of paramount importance. Audiences never needed to know exactly how the Sankara Stones worked or what they actually did in “The Temple of Doom,” nor exactly how the Arc would be put to use by the Nazis in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” We knew the parties involved were evil, and that the artefacts were powerful, and that was reason enough to stop them. Even though Hitler believed in the mystical power of such ancient artefacts, it was never about that power for Indy, the consummate archaeologist. In “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the nature of the artefacts is anything but understated.

Since The Da Vinci Code and the media-dumbing down, movies and books come with danger. Hence, members of Russia’s dwindling Communist Party called for a nationwide boycott of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, objecting to the depiction of Soviet troops invading top-secret American installations, killing guards and wreaking havoc. The Communists claimed that no Soviet terrorists were ever sent to the US in 1957. Instead, they said, the government successfully launched the first Sputnik satellite, “which evoked the admiration of the whole world.”
The film has two references to the name Mitchell-Hedges and his crystal skull. The only other skull mentioned is in the British Museum. And though the object of desire is not the Mitchell-Hedges skull, the crystal skull of the film is nevertheless equally carved against the grain, like the Mitchell-Hedges skull.
There is a further, somewhat obscure, reference to Mitchell-Hedges. At one point, Indiana Jones relates that he was once captured by Pancho Villa. It cannot be a coincidence that Mitchell-Hedges was captured by Pancho Villa too – suggesting that portions of Indiana Jones’ profile are indeed taken from the life and times of Mitchell-Hedges. Both are definitely larger than life characters.
Other topics in the movie address the Remote Viewing projects initiated by the US and Soviet governments, the alien theme, especially Roswell and Area 51, the Nazca geoglyphs, and the legend of Akakor, with a tiny addition of the El Dorado and Col. Fawcett stories.
However, of great interest is that the plot of the movie revolves around not so much bringing 13 crystal skulls together, but bringing back the 13th skull back to the place from where it was taken from, so that this “return” can set a sequence of events in motion.

Mitchell-Hedges never came across extra-terrestrial beings, but he did come upon what experts told him was a unique human being – which looks as strange as no doubt aliens would look like.
This encounter with a bizarre “mummy” is the so-called ‘chief fetish’, which Mitchell-Hedges encountered amongst a tribe known as the Chucunaque. It is little known that it was actually Mitchell-Hedges and Lady Brown that discovered this tribe in Panama. It will therefore come as no surprise that on their arrival amongst the Chucunaque, the tribe decided to kill the white intruders as it was a tribal custom that death should be dispensed to anyone violating their territory.
Mitchell-Hedges’ intelligence and knowledge was put on display when he realised that the best methodology to deal with this lethal danger, was to pretend they were gods, and as such put on a spectacle: he had brought some flares and Lady Richmond Brown’s Queen of Sheba costume, resulting in a performance that convinced the Chucunaque that Mitchell-Hedges and Lady Richmond Brown were indeed gods sent to cure their ills.

A huge number of fascinating exhibits was collected. Amongst these was the ‘Chief Fetish’ of the Chucunaque tribe, used to treat males on the point of death. This was a human male foetus preserved by an unknown means. Professor Sir Arthur Keith F.R.S., regarded as one of the greatest anthropologist of his day, examined the fetish and declared it had a skull formation ‘hitherto entirely unknown’. This anomaly has never been solved and the unique specimen was presented to The British Museum along with hundreds of others.

To quote from Mitchell-Hedges’ Danger My Ally:

“Our experience with the San Blas Indians had warned us that sickness would be rife; but nothing we had seen there remotely approached the terrible condition of the Chucunaque. The village was rotten with disease.
[…]
Day after day Mabs and I went from hut to hut, dosing as many of the natives as we could and for as long as we could endure the dreadful diseases and the appalling stench – a matter of only four hours a day. Ruthlessly we threw out the witch-doctors’ ‘medicines’ – the wooden gods, the half-calabashes of pebbles, bone, crocodiles’ teeth, bark and the acrid, smoking herbs that forced the patient to cough and fill the steamy air of his hut with germs. Many of these fetishes – including the greatest of all – we were able to bring back to England.
This chief fetish was used only as a last resort, when an Indian was at the point of death. As far as we could discover only males were privileged to undergo the treatment, and if the sufferer subsequently recovered it was considered that a miracle had occurred. But to us the significance was in the fetish itself which proved to be unique, for it was found upon examination to be a human male foetus.
Professor Sir Arthur Keith, F.R.S., who is regarded throughout the world as one of the greatest anthropologists, gives it as his opinion that its age was from five to six months when it was removed from the womb of the mother. It had been preserved perfect in every single detail, even the fine skin; and under a microscope one can see the beginning of the eyebrows. This preservation of an embryonic child shows a scientific knowledge of the highest order in contradistinction to their habits and conditions of living. All anthropologists who have seen it are unanimous in their opinion that is has neither been smoked, sun-dried nor cured by any process known today, neither has it been treated with spirit; yet it is as perfect as when first removed from the mother.
Subsequent close examination disclosed that the foetus had a skull formation hitherto entirely unknown.
When we were told by experts that it was probably the only specimen of its kind in the world, we felt its proper place was The British Museum to which we gladly presented it.”

Various cultures have used foetuses in their magic; the practice is known to have been present in Roman times in Egypt. The foetus, of course, was a living human being. Normally, in magic, inanimate objects (stones, dolls, etc.) are used as a first grade of magic, e.g. the ushabtis that in ancient Egypt were used to help the deceased in the Afterlife, or the Terracotta Army to guard the Chinese Emperor. In cases where these objects cannot be animated, human remains – such as aborted foetuses – are used as, of course, they once had a “soul”.
Because of the rather extra-ordinary nature of these artefacts, little to no research has occurred. Furthermore, the fact that Mitchell-Hedges was able to have the tribe part with their Chief Fetish underlines the level of integration and gratitude he received from the tribe.

The Chief Fetish currently remains in storage at The British Museum. Jon Rolls and Cris Winter viewed the Chief Fetish at the British Museum in 2005. Jon says that it “was the most amazing object I have ever seen – and I have visited many museums. It had incredible detail and looked like it was sleeping, it was so lifelike I expected its eyes to open any second. As I examined it, a number of questions sprung to mind which remain unanswered to this day.”
These questions were:
1. How was it preserved? In his book, it is described as being by an unknown method.
2. Can the foetus be dated by some scientific means to determine its exact age?
3. Can it be x-rayed to see whether the skull formation is as unique, as was declared in the 1920s?
4. Is there anything unique about the bone structure and joints? Obviously most foetuses have bent legs and arms and are curled up within the womb. This foetus’s joints are unnaturally straight. It looks like it could have stood upright. Could it have been in this position in the womb or was it stretched out for preservation?
5. What is its DNA? Is it human? If so, is it similar to the Chucunaque tribe? Was it deformed?
6. If not human, is it a type of monkey or other form of animal life?
7. What stage of development was the foetus at? How many months? Why did the experts in the 1920s believe it was 5-6 months old when it’s surely far too small for this to be true – even if the mother was suffering from illness or malnutrition.
8. The fingers on both hands look to be in proportion to the other fingers on that hand. However, the fingers on the foetus’s right hand are noticeably longer than on the left hand. Is there an obvious explanation for this?
9. There appears to be some thick flesh on the back of the foetus’s right hand. What is this?
10. There seems to be no scar from an umbilical cord. Why?
11. Is it possible to determine the cause of death?
12. What do the foetus’s genes tell us? What was its eye colour?
13. Can we project what its adult skull formation would have been – size and shape?

As of yet, these questions remain unanswered. The object is about 4” high – making it too small to be a four to six months old foetus, whereas those who have seen it, also mention that the eyes and head is too big for that age. Further analysis is therefore definitely not a luxury.