Jill Dando and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls

"Delve into the world of crystal skulls (yes, like the terrible Indiana Jones movie) and the mystery of the death of Jill Dando!"

Presented by: Cristina
Category: Hoax

The Crystal Skulls are a series of artifacts that many believe are ancient and possibly mystical in origin. In the most popular version of the legend, while 12 of the crystal skulls, each made of rock quartz, have been found, there remains a 13th one at large. All of human knowledge is kept in the skulls. When the 13 are reunited, humanity will be able to access said wisdom.

The best known of the skulls belonged to Anna Mitchell-Hedges who claimed to have found it on an archaeological dig with her father in modern-day Belize in a collapsed temple. No record of her presence or the discovery of skull was note at the dig and the skull, a far cry from the thousands of years it was alleged, could only have been made with modern tools. It was later revealed to have been bought years the dig.

Still, Mitchell-Hedges professed the story until her death in 2007. She believe that Mesoamerican priests had used it to will people to death and had even claimed to have done so herself.

Other notable skulls are held in museums in Britain, France and the Smithsonian. All of them have them have been determined to be modern creation and no example of genuine ancient Mesoamerican crystal skulls have ever been found.

Takeaway: If you have the ability to fake ancient, mystical artifacts, do it.

Presented by: Cristina
Category: Unsolved Murder

Jill Dando was a reporter for the BBC on their Crimewatch program, the UK equivalent of Unsolved Mysteries. Tragically, Dando became the center of her own unsolved mystery when she was murdered outside her home in 1999.

Dando was shot with a 9mm gun. The murder was over in 20 minutes. A rarity in England, the gun was thought to either be a modified gun or and illegal one. She was pronounced dead on arrival.

Numerous theories have been put forward:


 * A jealous ex-boyfriend
 * A work rival
 * Revenge from an investigation
 * A mistaken identity.
 * Connection to a Q Anon-style conspiracy.

Among the more likely theories is that she was murdered by a crazed fan. A man named Barry George was accused and convicted of the crime on the basis of previous stalking and sexual abuse as well as gun powder residue. He served 8 years in prison until his conviction was overturned after it was discovered the police had misrepresented the presence of police guns at the arrest.

Her murder has also been linked to the War in Kosovo that was going on at the time. A number of people were assassinated in a similar fashion in England in connection to the war at the time and Yugoslavian leaders had called for her death following her speaking out against the war.

Takeaway: Sometimes the creep guy isn't the murder.

Trivia

 * Chelsea and Cristina claimed they would never record in the same room again.