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Hi, listeners, it's Vanessa. Before today's episode, I want to take a brief moment to tell you about a show from Crime House's sister studio, Rewind, that I know you'll love. It's called Government that Doesn't Suck, hosted by professors Lindsay Cormack and Greg Jackson from History that Doesn't Suck. Ever wonder how the weather forecast on your phone is so accurate? Or how your mail still gets across the country for less than a dollar? Or who actually built the highway you drove on this morning? Each episode tells the surpr of an American institution that you'll never look at the same way again. Listen to and follow Government that Doesn't Suck every other Monday on Apple podcasts and Spotify. Or watch video episodes on YouTube.
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This is crime house.
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Can I let you in on a little secret? Okay, I'll admit it. I don't actually have one to tell you, but I got you wondering, didn't I? That's the thing about secrets. Even before you know what it is, just the promise of one sparks a specific kind of curiosity. Not because the secret is always shocking, but because it feels exclusive, like a piece of information meant only for you and whoever trusted you with it. Secret societies take that feeling and turn the dial all the way up. Because now it's not just one secret. It's a whole world of them, hidden away from everyone else. Skull and Bones might be the most legendary example. The club only accepts a handful of Yale's most elite seniors each year. Of those chosen few, an almost absurd number have gone on to become some of the most powerful people in the world, including three US presidents. The and yet, in its nearly 200 years of existence, not a single member has ever broken their vow of silence. That mix of extreme success and extreme secrecy has left people wondering. Is Skull and Bones just a college club with great connections? Or is something darker hiding behind those closed doors. From you UFO cults and mass suicides to secret CIA experiments, presidential assassinations and murderous doctors? These aren't just theories. They're real stories that blur the line between fact and fiction. I'm Vanessa Richardson, and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. A Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll explore the real people at the center of the world's most shocking events and nefarious organizations. These cases are wild, and I want hear what you think at the end of each episode. Leave a comment wherever you listen. Be sure to rate, review and follow so we can continue building this community together. And if you want even more? Subscribe to Crime House plus and get every episode of this show and the rest of the Crime House lineup ad free and early, plus at least two bonus episodes every month. To join, go to crimehouseplus.com or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap try free at the top of the Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes show page. Today, we're pulling back the curtain on Skull and Bones, the secret society at Yale University reserved for just 15 standout seniors each year. And that standout status seems to follow Bonesmen long after graduation. Members have gone on to become CEOs, senators, Supreme Court, Supreme Court justices, and even presidents. So what's behind their success? Well, almost nobody knows, because for nearly 200 years, members have kept their lips firmly sealed. But when a single club has produced this many heads of state, CEOs and intelligence officials, that silence starts to feel less like tradition and more like protection. So what exactly are the Bones men guarding? All that and more coming up. We've all been there. You look up. Suddenly life has thrown so much at you that your to do list is completely out of control. For me, it was last month when I moved and I needed to install a cabinet in my bathroom and fix a broken light fixture. I knew just where to turn. Finding A tasker on TaskRabbit makes tackling your to do list even easier, and I honestly felt this wave of blissful relief watching a seasoned T Tasker handle it all in a couple of hours. I like to use the same Tasker for home repairs, but I know if he's not available, the app is filled with more than qualified taskers. TaskRabbit is an app that makes everyday life easier by helping people get more done around the home. It connects you with skilled taskers in your area for everything from mounting and yard work to home repairs. You can search for the best Tasker for the job based on cost, skill set availability, and past client reviews, so you always feel confident. I use TaskRabbit and you should check it out too. When life happens, your to do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task@taskrabbit.com or on the TaskRabbit app. Using promo Code Crime House, Taskers book up fast, especially for same day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That's $15 off your first task using promo code crime house with the TaskRabbit app or@taskrabbit.com what's the business idea you've been putting off because it feels too complicated? Shopify is the ultimate excuse killer, designed to help you start your business with every necessary tool ready on day one. Taking the leap is a big deal, but Shopify makes it incredibly simple. You can easily bring your brand's unique style to life using their beautiful templates and AI tools to launch a gorgeous site with zero coding experience. You also get the ultimate peace of mind knowing that Shopify checkout is already optimized for maximum sales, making it seem seamless for returning customers to buy in a single click. If you ever feel overwhelmed or hit a snag, Shopify's built in AI Assistant Sidekick answers your toughest questions and keeps you moving forward. You'll be growing your business with the same tools used by the world's biggest brands. All you need is the idea Shopify handles the rest. Go to shopify.com pave to start your free trial today. That's shopify.com pave shopify.com pavement Yale has the kind of campus that's built to impress you. Gothic stone buildings, manicured courtyards, old libraries, and more history than most people know what to do with. It's one of the most elite schools in the world, the sort of place where every brick seems to whisper. Important people come from here. So when you picture a Yale student, you probably picture someone polished the type with their head in a textbook and their future already mapped out and but if you snuck a glance inside the headquarters of Yale's most elite secret society on initiation day, you'd see a very different picture. You'd see some of America's most promising young adults dressed as George Bush or hooded knights chasing each other around with toilet plungers and shouting obscenities. You might even see students strip half naked, kiss a strange skull, take vows of secrecy and choose choose new names. The whole thing feels somewhere between a kids game, a fraternity hazing ritual, and a strange cult. And yet those same students would go on to become some of the most powerful people in American government, finance and business. So how does a small group of Yale seniors go from seemingly regular students to half naked recruits in a cultish club, to presidents, CEOs and lawmakers? That process is wrapped in so much secrecy that even now, it's hard to tell where the truth ends and the legend begins. But to understand how a college club became this kind of powerhouse, we have to start with the world it was born into. The history of secret societies goes back centuries. Basically, as soon as there was a secret worth keeping, somebody built a society around it. Once newspapers started spreading across Europe and America in the early 1600s, governments were quick to censor anything that questioned their authority. That meant political dissent, religious criticism, or any unrest brewing in the streets. So if people wanted to talk freely, they usually had to do it behind closed doors. One famous example traces back to Freemasonry, which started as a guild for stonemasons. At first, it really was just a working group of tradespeople. But over time, it grew into something much more symbolic and secretive. Another is the Illuminati. It was founded in Bavaria in 1776 to promote secularism and free thought at a time when religious authorities still held enormous power. Officially, it didn't last long. Within about a decade, the Bavarian government cracked down and the organization disappeared. Or so they claimed. But that didn't stop the rumor mill. Plenty of people believe the Illuminati survived its supposed shutdown and quietly transformed into a hidden network of wealthy men steering global events from behind the scenes. From that point on, the idea that secret societies could shape the world from the shadows took hold. And of course, a secret is only fun, fun if you're in on it. So membership in these groups exploded. At the turn of the 19th century, only about 15,000American men claimed membership in the Freemasons. 25 years later, there were more than 20,000 members in New York alone. Before long, that fascination spread to college campuses. Professors were strict, and administrators acted like watchful parents because of that. So student secret societies became the place where young men could blow off steam without anyone hovering over them. But one university took that idea to a whole new level. The Ivy League schools have long been academic powerhouses, producing some of the most successful students in the world. And Yale, founded in 1701, is one of the most prominent of all. During the Revolutionary era, Yale was one of only nine schools offering college degrees in the colonies. By the 1860s, it was the largest college in the country, and it awarded the first PhD in the United States. The more prestigious Yale got, the more selective it became. And for much of the 19th century, the student body was made up almost entirely of young American men from wealthy Protestant families. By the 1840s.40s Yale already had dozens of student societies for scholarship, literature, sports, and other special interests. But pretty soon, Yale students realized that the only thing more exciting than a public society anyone could join was a secret society reserved for a chosen few. William Huntington Russell was a typical yale student in 1832, meaning his family was one of the most well connected in New England. With a massive fortune tied to the opium trade, Yale gave Russell a chance to see life outside of Connecticut. And he spent a year studying at the University of Berlin. While he was there, he met members of a mysterious, unnamed secret society. And if there's such a thing as a light bulb moment, this was Russell's. He realized what Yale's student societies really needed was a little secrecy. When he got back to campus later that year, Russell pitched the idea to his best friend, Alphonso Taft. Together, they founded the Brotherhood of Death. And they chose just about the most on the nose symbol possible. A skull and crossbones. From that point on, the group became known as Skull and Bones. The skull and crossbones wasn't the only iconic image. The society also adopted the number 322. And for as long as Skull and Bones had has existed, outsiders have argued about what it means. One theory is that it marks the group's founding in 1832, with the second two identifying it as the second chapter of the original German society. Others think it refers to the death of the Greek orator Demosthenes, who died in 322bce. That theory fits, since Bonesman measured dates from 322bce instead of using the regular calendar. Whatever the answer is, it says a lot about how secret this secret society really is. And it's not just the calendar that's unique to the club. Bonesmen also use their own clocks, which run five minutes ahead of the rest of the world. Or as they call it, barbarian time. On the surface, it sounds silly, but changing the way members track time and labeling outsiders as uncivilized serves a purpose. It's a classic cult tactic. Create an us versus them mindset and make members feel separated from the rest of the world. And the time and date were only the beginning. Soon, Skull and Bones would set itself apart from other Yale societies in even stranger ways. For all its prestige, Yale isn't immune to the usual undergrad shenanigans. So it's no surprise that most student societies focused on socializing and underage drinking. All except Skull and Bones members were banned from drinking alcohol at society events. And light hearted hangouts were replaced with intense debates. Skull and Bones was different in another, maybe even more important way, exclusivity. Russell and Taft agreed. The society would include only 15 seniors, including themselves. Each year, those 15 members would be responsible for inviting or tapping 15 recruits for the next class. And the commitment didn't end once new members were tapped in. Every Bonesman was expected to stay connected to the Society for the rest of his life. After graduation, members earned the title of patriarch, showing they'd Moved on from the undergraduates known as knights. Russell's choice to keep the group small had nothing to do with logistics and everything to do with. With exclusivity. The idea was create something everyone wants, make sure almost no one can have it, and let jealousy do the rest. It worked so well that it inspired copycats. Rejected hopefuls started forming secret societies of their own. And eventually Yale was home to eight of them, Each built around the same traditions of exclusivity, secrecy, and lifelong commitment. Commitment. But even with all the imitators, Skull and Bones remained the oldest, most sought after club on campus. And in 1856, the society made a move that would put it in a league of its own. They turned themselves into a corporation. The Russell Trust association, with William Russell as president, gave Skull and Bone something no other Yale society society had legal independence from the university itself. Administrators no longer had any say in how the group operated or who it let in. On top of that, the group could now collect donations, manage its finances, and hold property. That's how Skull and Bones finally got out of borrowed lecture halls and into a building of its own. By that point, the first wave of bonesmen had graduated into wealthy patriarchs who who could afford to fund it. And the way they went about it was completely on brand. Somewhere between macabre and kaldish. Just a few blocks from Yale's campus, the group built its own tomb. It cost about $8,000, which was eight times the price of a new family home in 1856. But for the men funding it, hardly a drop in the bucket. The building was made of brown sandstone in a Greco Egyptian style, with just a few windows and massive 12 foot double slitting doors, breaking up its heavy exterior. And what happened behind those doors would become one of the most controversial parts of Skull and Bones. Bonesmen turned out to be excellent guards of their own secrets. In the 170 years since the tomb opened, only one group of outsiders has ever actually made it inside. In the fall of 1876, members of a rival society called the Order of File and Claw broke in and published a story about what they found. Just inside the doors was a large hall decorated like something out of the Addams family. In the underground cellar, they found a lamp made from a real human skull and even a tombstone, all sitting near a large portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte. There was also a room upstairs, covered floor to ceiling in black velvet. Another was dedicated to the group's namesake, filled with skulls, bones, and a large painting of an open tomb. And room 322 was the most important of all, known as the Inner sanctum, it was decorated in red velvet with a skull and bones emblem set into the marble fireplace and a massive pentagram on display. Imagery of death is everywhere inside the tomb, from the skulls to the Egyptian mummy reportedly kept in the foyer. Anonymous members have claimed it's meant to remind everyone how fleeting life is. They say that no matter how powerful or successful someone becomes, everyone ends up facing the same fate beneath the grave. But what File and Klaue saw was just the scenery. The truly bizarre stuff. The costumes, the coffins, the chasing each other around with toilet plungers. Only happened once a year, and the world wouldn't get a glimpse of it for another 125 years. Best thing that's ever happened to you. Financially. Go easy.
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It's like the lottery, except you always win.
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the government gets a bad reputation, but did you know that? The roads under your feet, the forecast on your phone, the letter in your mailbox. That's all government, too. I'm Professor Lindsay Cormack, and I'm hosting a new podcast called Government that Doesn't Suck alongside Professor Greg Jackson, who you may know from the hit podcast History that Doesn't Suck. Each episode we dig into the surprising story of an American institution, from the origins of the Internet to the National Park Service to the GI Bill, and so much more. You'll hear the stories behind them, plus a conversation with an expert who knows it inside and out. This is the real history of how we built the country under your feet, and you'll never look at any of it the same way again. Listen to and follow Government that Doesn't Suck. Available now, wherever you get your podcasts.
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By the mid-1800s, Skull and Bones had become the most exclusive secret society at Yale. Founded by William Huntington Russell and alfonso Taft in 1832, the group set itself apart almost immediately with strange symbols, strict secrecy, lifelong memberships, and a meeting place that looked like a literal tomb. But the tomb was just the start. As Skull and Bones grew, so did its bank account, its property holdings, and the legend around what really went on behind those twins 12 foot doors. Unlike most university clubs, undergraduate Bonesmen don't pay any dues. Not because they can't, but because they don't have to. The society is supported by massive donations from its patriarchs. How much money is actually flowing in is hard to say. That's because in 1943, the Connecticut State legislature passed a special act exempting the Russell Trust association from filing annual financial reports with the Secretary of State. Every other similar society in the state had to file them. The almighty Skull and Bones was immune. So instead, we have to rely on the society's IRS returns. Those show that in 2016, Skull and Bones had assets worth around $4 million. Less than a decade later, in 2024, before, that number had more than quadrupled to a staggering $17 million. And remember, all of that supports just 15 students a year. But long before its assets hit the millions, the society's wealth was pretty obvious. In 1906, Skull and Bones made the ultimate rich person move. They bought themselves an entire island. Deer island on the St. Lawrence river in New York became the Bonesman's private hideaway. Only open to knights and patriarchs. The island is 40 acres of white pine, black oak, hemlock and sugar maple. Lodges and a clubhouse are tucked into the woods. Decorated in the same eclectic style as the tomb, it's more rugged than Yale's campus, but still has plenty of comforts. A dining area, a library, tennis courts, softball fields, even an amphitheater. No phones are allowed, which makes the whole thing feel like a very upscale, off the grid retreat. Chefs and butlers prepare meals and maintain the grounds, all sworn to secrecy, just like the members themselves. More than a century later, Skull and Bones still owns Deer island, but members don't seem as eager to spend summers there. These days, the once peaceful island is regularly interrupted by tour boats full of paying guests hoping to sneak a look at Yale's most elite secret society. So maybe Deer island isn't quite the secret it used to be. But other parts of Skull and Bones are still deeply mysterious. And one ritual in particular has fascinated people for years. The initiation of new members. Most university clubs have some kind of initiation ritual, ranging from light hearted to strange to full on hazing. But Skull and Bones is in a class of its own. To this day, no member has ever publicly revealed a single detail about what happens inside. Outside sources are just as limited because initiation takes place deep inside the locked tomb. The only first real hand glimpse comes from a 2001 article in the New York observer written by Ron Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum had been a Yale student himself, but he was never tapped to join a society. So with a chip on his shoulder, he set out to expose their rituals. Saturday, April 24, 2001 was Skull and Bones initiation night. Rosenbaum stationed himself outside the tomb with three night vision cameras and a tape recorder. As he adjusted his lens and zoomed in through the windows, he expected to catch something dark and occult, maybe a blood oath, maybe hazing that crossed the line into bullying. But what he actually saw looked more like an episode of the Simpsons. According to Rosenbaum, the first thing that greeted new recruits when they stepped through the tomb's foreboding doors was a knight dressed as George W. Bush. The knight announced that he was going to subject them to the same bizarre sex acts he'd performed on Al Gore. The other knights were dressed in long hooded costumes. Suddenly, one of them demanded that the recruits find the femur. As the recruits scrambled to find the missing bone, the knights kept yelling obscenities, mostly about which sex acts they wanted to do with which political figures. Eventually, the mood shifted from homoerotic chaos to something more. More cult like. The recruits were led to a row of coffins where they lay naked, symbolizing their death to the world of savages and their rebirth as knights. In other words, anyone outside of Skull and Bones was now dead to them. As newly reborn men, they needed new names. Some were already decided. The recruit with the most sexual experience was named Magog, while whoever was considered the most virginal was named Gog. Long. Devil went to the tallest recruit, Little Devil to the shortest. Anyone who didn't fit those categories could choose their own name, ranging from literary characters to occult references to flat out ridiculous nicknames. Once they were reborn and renamed, all that was left was to take turns kissing a skull, sealing their fate as Bonesmen forever. Rosenbaum must have been stunned, peering through the window and watching the whole thing unfold. These were supposed to be some of the most promising young people in the country, and they were running around naked while their classmates chanted and played dress up. As soon as his article came out, most people seemed to have the same reaction. Disbelief, confusion, and probably a little secondhand embarrassment. I'd love to hear your reaction to this. Did your college have any clubs or societies with their own weird initiation rituals? What was the strangest thing you ever heard about? Let us know in the comments, wherever you listen. I'd love to hear the patriarchs of Skull and Bones. Though they were not amused, it wasn't long before anonymous threats started showing up in Rosenbaum's inbox. One warned that Bonesmen don't like people tampering and prying. Then came something more ominous. The power of Bones is incredible. They've got their hands on every lever of power in the country. Whoever sent that message, they weren't wrong. It's hard to picture those dazed recruits, the ones chasing a hidden femur and cosplaying, as high ranking political figures, actually becoming high ranking political figures themselves. But that's exactly what happened. Bonesmen have produced more presidents and top government officials than almost any other society, secret or not. Once recruits are tapped, they gain access to some of the wealthiest, most powerful, most influential people in the entire country. You can get a sense of that reach just from the two co founders. William Russell went on to become a general in the National Guard and a key member of the Connecticut state legislature. Alfonso Taft later became Secretary of War and Attorney General under President Grant. But his proudest accomplishment might have been his son, William Howard taft, the future 20th, 27th President of the United States. Speaking of William Taft, he was a Yale student and a Bonesman too. And that wouldn't be the only time Skull and Bones helped put someone in the Oval Office. About a decade after the first Bonesman president left office, the Society tapped another Future President, George H.W. bush. But the clearest example of presidential Bonesman came in 2004. Four Republican George W. Bush, the elder Bush's son, was running for re election against Democrat John Kerry. What most people didn't realize was that they'd be electing a Bonesman either way. And when both men were asked about their allegiance to the secret society, neither said a word, seemingly honoring the oath they'd taken in a coffin all those years before Bush won the election. But the Bonesman didn't stop there. He quickly placed 10 patriarchs into some of the most senior position positions in his administration. Chairman of the United States securities and Exchange Commission, Bonesman William Donaldson. Head of the Homeland Security council, Bonesman Edward McNally. Outside the presidency, Bonesmen have risen to the highest levels of the CIA, the Federal Reserve, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Supreme Court. Others became major businessmen, investors, and policymakers, and including the founder of Time magazine and the founder of FedEx. In short, Bonesmen seem to rule the world. And remember, with only 15 new knights chosen each year, there are just about 800 living patriarchs at any given time. That's a tiny portion of the Yale student body and an even tinier slice of the more than 340 million people in the United States. Yet somehow they hold a wildly disproportionate number of powerful positions. So as the rest of the country went about its business, people started asking the question Skull and Bones had spent two centuries trying to bury how far does their reach actually go? And what have they been willing to do to extend it?
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New Purchase Necessary BTW Group Void we're by law CTS and Z's 21+ sponsored by Chumba Casino. Skull and Bones started as Yale's most exclusive secret society, but it didn't stay confined to campus for long. Backed by the Russell Trust association and generations of wealthy patriarchs, the group built an underground tomb, bought a private island, and created a lifelong network that carried its members far beyond New Haven. Bonesmen became presidents, cabinet members, intelligence leaders, judges, businessmen, and cultural gatekeepers. And as the number of successful Bonesmen grew, it got harder to ignore the possibility that they were hiding something much bigger. The simplest explanation for why Bonesmen become so successful is that the group has a good eye for talent. After all, they're picking from Yale, which is already a pretty selective and ambitious pool. But if that was the whole story, every elite university would be cranking out the same kind of insider club. And most of them don't. So the real answer probably sits somewhere between privilege, nepotism and favoritism. Take the Yale Honor Council, a group of eight seniors meant to handle student discipline and enforce the rules fairly. Historically, the council was packed with Bonesmen in 1928, six of the eight members were knights, and they were known to give fellow Bonesmen special treatment. That influence reaches higher up, too. Lots of Yale presidents were once Bonesmen, giving the group a direct line to the upper administration. And the nepotism worked just as well outside of campus. For example, George W. Bush's presidential run was funded in large part by fellow Bonesmen. And some claims go even further, suggesting Bonesman may have influence that stretches far beyond the United States. Believe it or not, some of Skull and Bones loudest critics argue the group helped support the Russian Revolution and the creation of the Soviet Soviet Union. To understand the claim, we have to rewind to 1917. The Russian Empire was falling apart and two factions were fighting to fill the vacuum. The Communist Reds and the more conservative whites. And surprisingly, some right leaning American leaders were quietly rooting for the Reds. Not because they loved Communism, they definitely didn't. They just thought the Reds had the better shot at holding the country together. Because if Russia fell apart completely, Japan or Germany might swoop in and grab some land. And to a certain kind of American power player, keeping rivals out of Russia mattered more than what kind of government ended up running it. One of those Americans was Thomas D. Thatcher, a Wall street lawyer and wealthy Skull and Bones patriarch who went on to become a federal judge. After a trip to Russia, Thatcher wrote a memo arguing the US should give the new Soviet government all the help it could while it built its army. That memo helped shape American policy in the Russian Civil War and critics say the eventual rise of the Bolsheviks. And once the Reds were in power, other Bonesmen may have helped keep them there. Take W.A. harriman, a Bonesman who opened the International Barnstahl Corporation. His company played a huge role in jump starting Soviet oil production. And the wild thing is, none of this was supposed to be happening. The US didn't even have a formal diplomatic relationship with the Soviet Union at the time. And publicly, both Thatcher and Harriman insisted they were anti Communist. It's probably a stretch to say Skull and Bones caused the Russian Revolution, but. But you've got to admit, for a college club, they sure had a habit of turning up in the middle of history, shaping events. One theory takes that scrutiny all the way back to the Founding. Remember when William Russell visited the University of Berlin and met members of that unnamed secret society? By that point, the nearby Bavarian Illuminati had officially been shut down for over 40 years. But some people have wondered, what if the Illuminati wasn't really gone? What if it had survived and influenced Russell more than anyone realized? The theory comes down to one key connection. Russell arrived in Berlin just months after the death of philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who had chaired the university until his death the previous year. Some say Hegel wasn't a just famous philosopher. He was also an influential member of the Illuminati. To believers, Hegel's ideas helped shape Russell's vision for Skull and Bones. After all, both groups are shrouded in secrecy and elitism, and both seem to always be lurking behind the scenes. Of course, the links between Skull and Bones, the Soviet Union and the Illuminati are mostly conjecture. There's no way to say for sure what role the society actually played. But in other cases, the accusations against Skull and Bones were much harder to brush aside. To put it simply, Skull and Bones has a long history of stealing. You'd think a group as wealthy and privileged as the Bonesmen wouldn't need much more. But apparently, once they had their eye on something, they'd stop at nothing to get it. Usually, they targeted items tied to Yale or New Haven history. A gong from the treasurer's office, a college flag, even a bell from a local church. It happened so often that if something went missing on campus, people generally assumed Skull and Bones was behind it. And for a group obsessed with Yale history, one artifact stood above the rest. The tombstone of Elihu Yale, the university's namesake. After his death, Yale was buried across the pond in Wrexham, Wales, where he'd spent most of his life. In 1874, the Yale Corporation, that's the governing body of the entire university, which just so happened to be packed with bones. Patriarchs paid to have Yale's tomb cleaned. But then something strange happened. The freshly cleaned gravestone suddenly had slightly different text than the original. The unspoken theory is that Skull and Bones quietly moved the real stone back to New Haven, where it still sits inside the tomb. And as disturbing as that probably was, for Yale's family, at least they only took his gravestone. Others weren't so lucky. Some had their very remains targeted by the Bonesmen. Around 1980, a story started unfolding on the other side of the country from Yale. The San Carlos Apache tribe was working to bring home the remains of Geronimo. Geronimo whose Apache name was Goyacla, was a powerful Native leader who fought American and Mexican forces for nearly three decades, from the late 1850s until his surrender in 1886. He was later held as priority a prisoner of war until his death in 1909, then buried at the Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The Apache tribe, led by Chairman Ned Anderson, wanted to bring his remains back to Arizona, closer to his birthplace. But when Anderson started contacting the cemetery at Fort Sill, he received a strange letter. The writer claimed to be a member of Skull and Bone and told Anderson not to bother because Geronimo wasn't in the cemetery at all. According to the letter, During World War I, several Bonesmen stationed at Fort Sill had robbed Geronimo's grave and brought his remains back to the tomb. As proof, the writer included a photo of a glass case containing a skull, bones, stirrups and other small artifacts. Anderson must have been equally stunned and devastated. Geronimo wasn't just one of the most famous Native warriors in American history. He was a valued member of the Apache community. One thing he certainly wasn't, though, was property of Skull and bones. Then, in 2006, a researcher found a letter dated June 1918. It was written by one Bonesman to another, casually admitting that they hadn't just taken Geronimo's skull, they'd also taken his femur and his saddle. Some people even suspected Geronimo's skull was the same one recruits had been kissing during initiation for decades. That was enough for Geronimo's family. They sued Skull and Bones to get the skull back. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed on procedural grounds. The family never got their day in court. The wildest part is that through all of it, the initiation rumors, the Illuminati theories, the literal grave robbing, Skull and Bones has survived, and it seems to be thriving. The society is still right there on Yale's campus, tapping new members every year. Still, it's not surprising that Skull and Bones modernized much more slowly than Yale itself. For example, Jewish students were admitted to Yale by the early 1800s. But it would be another 100 years before one was invited into Skull and Bones. The same was true for black students. Yale's first black graduate finished in 1874. But Skull and Bones didn't admit a black student until the 1960s. Gay students weren't invited until about a decade after that. And even those changes still left out almost half of Yale's student body. Yale became co ed in 1969, but the bones patriarchs were firmly against admitting women. The younger members on campus were more open to it and eventually offered membership to six women in the Class of 1992. The Patriarchs were so outraged that they sued their own organization to block the initiation. Eventually, the lawsuit was dropped and women were allowed to join. But even as more women came in, Skull and Bones still felt like a club built by men for men. Just look at the initiation rituals, the masculine costumes, the sexual confessions, the aggressive atmosphere. Admitting women didn't mean the culture changed overnight. Today, almost 200 years after its founding, Skull and Bones does not seem to welcome members from a wider range of backgrounds. Recent classes have included first generation college students, low income students, and students from minority groups. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. Just 15 students are still chosen each year, and each one is expected to make a lifelong commitment to the elite secret society. And that's just the simple irony of Skull and Bone. Bones. Even as the membership has gotten more diverse, the society itself has never stopped embracing the trappings of extreme exclusivity. And as you can probably imagine, Skull and Bones is far from the only elite group that walks the line between secret society and cult. In Cult Watch this week, I'm highlighting the Bohemian Club. It was originally founded by journalists and artists and meant to be a literary society. But it quickly evolved into an exclusive haven for the country's most powerful politicians, business people and cultural figures. The club started in 1872, just a few decades after Skull and Bones, with a similar goal. Bringing ultra wealthy, ultra famous men into the same private circle. And it's membership list is just as extensive. William Randolph Hearst, Charles Schwab, and Clint Eastwood, just to name a few. While Skull and Bones has produced presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle, the Bohemian Club has always leaned heavily conservative, with members like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. And if you need proof that the Bohemian Club is basically the west coast version of Skull and Bones, look no further than George H.W. bush, who was a proud member of both. Where the Bonesmen have Deer island, the Bohemian Club has the Grove, a retreat in the redwood forests of Sonoma County. The whole thing is cloaked in secrecy, but rumors say it opens with an elaborate ceremony where members wear hooded robes and chant. It's fair to say both schools, Skull and Bones and the Bohemian Club walk the line between fraternity and cult while holding a level of wealth and power that's hard to even imagine. But here's what stays with me of every story tied to Skull and Bones. The costumes, the conspiracies the presidents. The one that lingers in my mind is Geronimo. For most people, joining a club like Skull and Bones is the start of a powerful future. For Geronimo, it became a strange kind of afterlife, one his family is still fighting to bring him home from. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Come back next time. We'll hear another story about the the real people at the center of the world's most notorious cults, conspiracies and criminal acts. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is a Crime House original. 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