Page 40 - 201212 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - December 2012

Alien Like Skulls Found in Mexico Archeologists Unearth Alien-Like Skulls In A Mexico Cemetery Red Orbit Archeologists have unearthed what looks like a cone-shaped alien skull from 1,000 years ago in Mexico. The skull, which dates from 945 A.D. to 1308 A.D., was discovered accidentally while digging an irrigation system in the northwest state of Sonora in Mexico. Cristina Garcia Moreno, who worked on the project with Arizona State University, explained that 13 of the 25 skulls found in the Hispanic cemetery had these deformed heads. “We don’t know why this population specifically deformed their heads,” Moreno told ABC News. The site, known as El Cementerio, was discovered in 1999, but the team just completed the edges. He runs The ‘X’ Zone out of his psychology behind the paranormal, has been their analysis of the skeletal remains last month. basement studio on a quiet street on southeast doing The ‘X’ Zone since 1993. It tackles They plan to continue their research during the Hamilton Mountain, but it reaches listeners and subjects such as UFOs, conspiracies and next field season. Archaeologists also viewers all over the world. doomsday crazes — with an open mind but also discovered artifacts on the site, like pendants, The only thing that’s coming to an end a readiness to debunk. nose rings and jewelry. that day are the rumours of our death (yours, The show is popular worldwide, They said the deformation of human mine, the planet’s), says McConnell. They’re especially in the United States, where it’s skulls was part of an ancient ritual that took not just greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark carried on radio affiliates from Oklahoma to place 1,000 years ago. The deformation was Twain. They’re completely unfounded. Oregon, and has almost a million and a half achieved by binding a person’s head between And don’t blame it on the Mayans. podcast downloads, says McConnell. It’s two blocks of wood to apply pressure on the You might’ve heard about the end of the available online, with video, at skull by wrapping the wood with bands. world, which some — the apocalyp-synchers — www.xzone2012.com. “Cranial deformation has been used by say is foretold in the Mayan calendar as McConnell, who has also worked as a different societies in the world as a ritual happening Dec. 21, 2012. criminal investigator, says he’s fascinated by practice, or for distinction of status within a It’s not, says McConnell. He has studied mysteries, hoaxes (especially when media are group or to distinguish between social groups,” Mayan culture. He and his wife Laura Rogers involved) and the challenge of solving them. Moreno told ABC News. “The reason why these actually travelled to Mexico and Guatemala Everything from War of the Worlds (the Orson individuals at El Cementerio deformed their earlier this year and talked to some of the 1.5 Welles broadcast) to Hale-Bopp. skulls is still unknown.” million Mayans who live there. He’s friends with Art Bell and others in The team said that many of the bones “They’re laughing at us,” says the paranormal media programming community unearthed were the remains of children, leading McConnell, “because we’re so gullible.” and McConnell describes his particular them to believe the practice of deforming skulls When you strip away the “gunk and approach as nonsensationalistic. “may have been inlet and dangerous.” flamboyant prophesy,” what’s left is an obvious “I think there are real mysteries but we The Chinook of the U.S. Northwest and misunderstanding. get distracted by false ones. You have to dig the Choctaw of the U.S. Southeast both were It would be like someone prophesying down to the real mystery. There’s an known for practicing skull deformation as well. that the world will end on Dec. 31 on the basis explanation, but to find it is like peeling through Moreno told ABC that people deformed of our calendar. It doesn’t end there; the cycle the layers of an onion.” their heads in Mexico because they wanted to starts over. McConnell is a tough critic of UFO distinguish important people, or they wanted to But, he adds, some people simply want sightings, even his own. When he was a boy in distinguish people from one group from to believe. They’re catastrophizers. And what Montreal, he and his brother saw in the sky a another. they’re probably going to do, starting around cigar-shaped light with a circle in it. Dec. 23, is go ransacking the calendar for “If I were sensationalistic I’d say it was MAHONEY: The end of another date to pin the end of the world to. a sighting, but I don’t know what I saw. There might be an explanation. But it piqued my “There have been at least 280 doomsday the world predictions,” says McConnell. “We’re still curiosity.” [] here.” What he dislikes so much about this one By Jeff Mahoney is that it seems to have found such a vogue among young people. The Hamilton Spectator “Y2K was more of an elderly concern. Now it’s the kids.” Despite some extreme weather conditions being His granddaughter at university was forecast for Dec. 21, including widespread telling him that it’s got many of her peers pretty habitat annihilation mixed throughout the day spooked. with a rivers-of-blood apocalypse (so dress in On Thursday, Dec. 20, at 11 p.m. layers!), Rob McConnell says there’s nothing to Eastern, through Saturday, Dec. 22, at 1 a.m. worry about. McConnell will host a live broadcast featuring In fact, he and others are going to be expert guests and other features aimed at saying it for 26 hours straight on McConnell’s debunking the Dec. 21 “hysteria.” popular syndicated radio program, The ‘X’ McConnell, who has had a long career Zone, all through Dec. 21, with a little around in radio broadcasting as well as research into the