Skull & Bones Article from Esquire Magazine Sept. = 1977

From: Subject: Skull & Bones Article from Esquire Magazine Sept. 1977 Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 16:34:54 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.prisonplanet.com/skull_and_bones_esquire.html X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962 Skull & Bones Article from Esquire Magazine Sept. = 1977 Ron=20 Rosenbaum - Esquire Magazine - September, 1977=20

Take a look at the hulking sepulcher over there. Small wonder = they=20
call it a tomb. It's the citadel of Skull and Bones, the most=20
powerful of all secret societies in the strange Yale secret-society=20
system. For nearly a century and a half, Skull and Bones has = been=20
the most influential secret society in the nation, and now it is one =
of=20 the last.
   In an age in which it seems that all that = could=20 possibly be
concealed about anything and anybody has been revealed, = those=20 blank
tombstone walls could be holding the last secrets left in = America.=20
   You could ask Averell Harriman whether there's really a =
sarcophagus in the basement and whether he and young Henry Stimson =
and=20 young Henry Luce (Time magazine) lay down naked in the coffin
and = spilled=20 the secrets of their adolescent sex life to 14 fellow =
Bonesmen. You=20 could ask Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart if
there came a time = in the=20 year 1937 when he dressed up in a skeleton
suit and howled wildly at = an=20 initiate in a red-velvet room inside
the tomb. You could ask = McGeorge=20 Bundy if he wrestled naked in a
mud pie as part of his initation and = how it=20 compared with a later
quagmire into which he so eagerly = plunged. You=20 could ask Bill
Bundy or William F. Buckley, both of who went into = the CIA=20 after
leaving Bones - or George Bush, who ran the CIA / President -=20
whether their Skull and Bones experience was useful training for =
the=20 clandestine trade. ("Spook," the Yale slang for spy.) You =
could ask J.=20 Richardson Dilworth, the Bonesman who now manages the
Rockefeller = fortune,=20 just how wealthy the Bones society is and
whether it's true that = each new=20 initiate gets a no-strings gift
of fifteen thousand dollars cash and = guaranteed financial security
for life.
   You could = ask...but=20 I think you get the idea. The lending lights
of the Eastern=20 establishment - in old-line investment banks (Brown
Brothers = Harriman pays=20 Bone's tax bill), in a blue-blood law firms
(Simpson Thacher & = Bartlett,=20 for one), and particularly in the
highest councils of the = foreign-policy=20 establishment - the people
who have shaped America's national = character=20 since it ceased being
an undergraduate power, had their = undergraduate=20 character shaped in
that crypt over there. Bonesman Henry = Stimson,=20 Secretary of War
under F.D.R., a man at the heart of the heart of = the=20 American
ruling class, called his experience in the tomb the most = profound=20
one in his entire education.
   But none of them will = tell you=20 a thing about it. They've sworn
an oath never to reveal what = goes on=20 inside and they're legendary
for the lengths to which they'll go to = avoid=20 prying interrogation.
The mere mention of the words "skull and = bones" in the=20 presence
of a true-blue Bonesman, such as Blackford Oakes, the = fictional=20
hero of Bill Buckley's spy thriller, 'Saving the Queen', will cause =
him=20 to "dutifully leave the room, as tradition prescribed."
   = I can=20 trace my personal fascination with the mysteriouis goings-
on in the = sepulcher across the street to a spooky scene I witnessed
on its = shadowy=20 steps late one April night eleven years ago. I was
then a = sophmore at=20 Yale, living in Jonathan Edwards, the residential
college = (anglophile Yale=20 name for dorm) built next to the Bones
tomb. It was part of = Jonathan=20 Edwards folklore that on a April
evening following "tap night" at = Bones, if=20 one could climb to the
tower of Weir Hall, the odd castle that = overlooks the=20 Bones
courtyard, one could hear strange cries and moans coming from = the=20
bowels of the tomb as the fifteen newly "tapped" members were put=20
through what sounded like a harrowing ordeal. Returning alone = to=20
my room late at night, I would always cross the street rather than =
walk=20 the sidewalk that passed right in front of Bones. Even at that =
safe=20 distance, something about it made my skin crawl.
   But = that night=20 in April I wasn't alone; a classmate and I were
coming back from an=20 all-night diner at about two in the morning.
At the time, I knew = little=20 about the mysteries of Bones or any of
the other huge windowless=20 secret-society tombs that dominated with
dark authority certain = key-corners=20 of the campus. They were
nothing like conventional = fraternities. =20 No one lived in the tombs.
Instead, every Thursday and Sunday night = the best=20 and the brightest
on campus, the fifteen seniors in Skull and Bones = and in=20 the Scroll
and Key, Book and Snake, Wolf's Head, Berzelius, in all = the seven=20
secret societies, disappeared into their respective tombs and spent=20
hours doing something - something they were sworn to secrecy about. =
And=20 Bones, it was said was the most ritualistic and secretive of all. =
Even the=20 very door to the Bones tomb, that huge triple-padlocked
iron door, = was never=20 prermitted to open in the presence of an
outsider.
   = All this=20 was floating through my impressionable sophmore mind that
night as = my friend=20 Mike and I approached the stone pylons guarding
the entrance to = Bones. =20 Suddenly we froze at the sight of a strange
thing lying on the = steps. =20 There in the gloom of the doorway on the
top step was a long white = object=20 that looked like the thighbone of
a large mammal. I remained=20 frozen. Mike was more adventuresome:
he walked right up to the = steps=20 and picked up the bone. I wanted
to get out of there fast; I = was=20 certain we were being spied upon
from a concealed window. Mike = couldn't decide what to do with the
bone. He went up to the = door and=20 began examining the array of
padlocks. Suddenly a bolt = shot. The=20 massive door began to swing
open and something reached out at him = from=20 within. He grasped,
terrified, and jumped back, but not before = something clutched the
bone, yanked it out of his hand and back into = the=20 darkness within.
The door slammed shut with a clang that rang in our = ears as=20 we ran
away.
   Recollected in tranquility, the = dreamlike=20 gothic moment seems to me
an emblem of the strangeness I felt at = being at=20 Yale, at being given
a brief glimpse of the mysterious workings of = the inner=20 temples of
privelege but feeling emphatically shut out of the secret = ceremonies
within. I always felt irrelevant to the real = purpose of the=20
institution, which was from its missionary beginnings devoted to=20
converting the idle progeny of the ruling class into morally =
serious=20 leaders of the establishment. It is frequently in the tombs =
that=20 conversions take place.=20

NOVEMBER, 1976: SECURITY MEASURES
   It's night and = we're back=20 in front of the tomb, Mike and I,
reinforced by nine years in the = outside=20 world, two skeptical women
friends and a big dinner at Mory's. = And yet=20 once again there is an
odd, chilling encounter. We're = re-creating that=20 first spooky moment.
I'm standing in front of the stone pylons and = Mike has=20 walked up to
stand against the door so we can estimate its height by = his. Then
we notice we're being watched. A small red = foreign car=20 has pulled
up on the sidewalk a few yards away from us. The = driver has=20 been
watching us for some time. Then he gets out. He's a = tall,=20 athletic
looking guy, fairly young. He shuts the card door = behind him=20 and
stands leaning against it, continuing to observe us. We = try to act=20
oblivious, continuing to sketch and measure.
   The = guy=20 finally walks over to us, "You seen Miles?" he asks.
We look at each = other.   Could he think we're actually Bones
alumni, or is = he=20 testing us? Could "You seen Miles?" be some sort
of = password? =20 "No," we reply. "Haven't seen Miles." He nods and =
remains=20 there. We decide we've done enough sketching and measuring
and = stroll=20 off. "Look!" one of the women says as she turns and points =
back. =20 "He just ran down the side steps to check the basement-door =
locks. He=20 probably thought he caught us planning a break-in."
   I = found the=20 episode intriguing. What it said to me was that Bones
still = cared=20 about the security of its secrets. Trying to find out
what = goes on=20 inside could be a challenge.
   And so it was that I set = out this=20 April to see just how secure
those last secrets are. It was a = task I=20 took on not out of malice
or sour grapes. I was not tapped for = a=20 secret society so I'm open
to the latter charge, but I plead guilty = only to=20 the voyeurism of a
mystery lover. I'd been working on a novel, = a=20 psychological thriller
of sorts that involved the rites of Bones, = and I=20 thought it wouldn't
hurt to spend some time in New Haven during the = week of=20 tap night
and initiation night, poking around and asking questions.=20
   You could call it espionage if you were so inclined, = but I=20 tried
to play the game in a gentlemanly fashion: I would not = directly ask=20
a Bonesman to violate his sacred oath of secrecy. If, however, = one=20
of them happened to have fudged on the oath to some other party and =
that=20 the other party were to convey the gist of the information to
me, I = would=20 rule it fair game. And if any Bonesman wants to step
forward = and add=20 something. I'll be happy to listen.
   What follows = is an=20 account of my search for the meaning behind
the mysterious Bones=20 rituals. Only information that might be too
easily traced to = its=20 source has been left out, because certain
sources expressed fear of=20 reprisals against themselves. Yes,
reprisals. One of = them even=20 insisted, with what seemed like deadly
seriousness, that reprisals = would be=20 taken against me.
   "What bank do you have your checking = account=20 at?" this party
asked me in the middle of a discussion of the = Mithraic=20 aspects of
the Bones ritual. I named the bank, "Aha," said the = party.=20
"There are three Bonesmen on the board. You'll never have a = line=20
of credit again. They'll tap your phone. They'll..." =
Before=20 I could say, "A line of what?" the source continued:   "The =
alumni=20 still care. Don't laugh. They don't like people tampering =
and=20 prying. The power of Bones is incredible. They've got their=20
hands on every level of power in the country. You'll see - = it's=20
like trying to look into the Mafia. Remember, they're a secret =
society, too."=20

WEDNESDAY NIGHT, APRIL 14: THE DOSSIER
Already I = have in my=20 possession a set of annotated floor plans
of the interior of the = tomb,=20 giving the location of the sanctum
sanctorum, the room called = 322. And=20 tonight I recieved a dossier
on Bones ritual secrets that was = compiled from=20 the archives of
another secret society. It seems that one = abiding=20 preoccupation
of many Yale secret societies is keeping files on the = secrets=20 of
other secret societies, particularly Bones. The dossier of = Bones=20
is a particularly sophisticated one, featuring "reliability ratings" =
in=20 prercentiles for each chunk of information. It was obtained for =
me by=20 an enterprising researcher on the condition that I keep secret
the = name of=20 the secret society that supplied it. Okay I will say,
though, = that=20 it's not the secret society that is rumored to have
Hitler's = silverware in=20 its archives. That's Scroll and Key, chief
rival of Bones for = the=20 elite of Yale - Dean Acheson and Cy Vance's
society - and the source = of most=20 of the rest of the American foreign
policy establishment. =
=20 But to return to the dossier. Let me tell you what it says about =
the=20 initiation, the center of some of the most lurid apocryphal
rumors = about=20 Bones. According to the dossier, the Bones initiation
ritual = of 194O=20 went like this: "New man placed in coffin - carried
into central = part of the=20 building. New man chanted over and
'reborn' into = society. =20 Removed from coffin and given robes with
symbols on it. (sic) = A bone=20 with his name on it is tossed into
bone heap at start of every=20 meeting. Initiates plunged into mud
pile."=20

THURSDAY EVENING: THE FILE AND CLAW SOLUTION TO THE MYSTER OF 322=20
   I'm standing in the shadows across the street from the = tomb,=20
ready to tail the first person to come out. Tonight is tap = night,=20
the night fifteen juniors will be chosen to receive the one-hundred- =
forty-five-year-old secrets of Bones. Tonight the fifteen = seniors=20
in Bones and the fifteen in each of the other societies will arrive=20
outside the rooms of the prospective tappees. They'll pound = loudly=20
on the doors. When the chosen junior opens up, a Bonesman will =
slam him on the shoulder and thunder: "Skull and Bones: Do you =
accept?"=20
   At that point, according to my dossier, if the = candidate=20 accepts,
he will be handed a message wrapped with a black ribbon = sealed in=20
black wax with the skull-and-crossbones emblem and the mystic Bones=20
number, 322. The message appoints a time and a place for the=20
candidate to appear on initiation night - next Tuesday - the first =
time=20 the newly tapped candidate will be permitted inside the tomb. =
Candidates are=20 "instructed to wear no metal" to the initiation,
the dossier notes=20 ominously. (Reliability rating for the stated to
be one = hundred=20 prercent.)
   Not long before eight tonight, the door to = Bones=20 swings open.
Two dark-suited young men emerge. One of them = carries a=20 slim black
attache case. Obviously they're on their way to tap = someone. I
decide that Bones inititates are taken to a = ceremony=20 somewhere near
the campus before the big initiation inside the = tomb. =20 The
Bonesmen head up High Street and pass the library, then make a=20
right. Passing the library, I can't help but recoil when I = think=20
of the embarrissing discovery I made in the manuscript room this=20
afternoon. The last thing I wanted to do was reduce the = subleties=20
of the social function of Bones to some simpleminded conspiracy=20
theory. And yet I do seem to have come across definite, if=20
skeletal links between the origins of Bones rituals and those
of = the=20 notorious Bavarian Illuminists. For me, an intersted but =
skeptical=20 student of the conspiracy world, the introduction of
the = Illuminists, or=20 Illuminati, into certain discussions (say
for instance, of events in = Dallas=20 in 1963) has become the same
thing that the mention of Bones is to a = Bonesman - a signal to
leave the room. Because although the = Bavarian=20 Illuminists did
have a real historical existence (from 1776 to 1785 = they=20 were an
esoteric secret society within the more mystical = freethinking=20
lodges of German Freemasonry), they have also had a paranoid =
fantasy=20 existence throughout two centuries of conspiracy literature.
They = are the=20 imagined megacabal that manipulated such alleged plots
as the French = and=20 Russian revolutions, the elders of Zion, the
rise of Hitler and the = House of=20 Morgan. Yes the Bilderbergers and
George De Mohrenschildt, = too. =20 Silly as it may sound, there are
suggestive links between the = historical if=20 not mytho-conspiratorial,
Illuminists and Bones.
   = First=20 consider the account of the origins of Bones to be found
in a = century-old=20 pamphlet published by an anonymous group that
called itself File and = Claw=20 after the tools they used to pry their
way inside Bones late one=20 night. I came upon the File and Claw
break-in pamphlet in a = box of=20 disintigrating documents filed in
the library's manuscript room = under Skull=20 and Bone's corporate
name, Russell Trust Association. The = foundation=20 was named for
William H (later General) Russell, the man who founded = Bones=20 in
1832. I was trying to figure out what mission Russell had = for the=20
secret order he founded and why he had chosen that particular =
death-head=20 brand of mumbo jumbo to embody his vision. Well,
according to = the File=20 and Claw breakin crew, "Bones is a chapter
of corps of a German=20 university. It should properly be called the
Skull and Bones=20 chapter. General Russell, its founder, was in
Germany before = his=20 senior year and formed a warm friendship with
a leading member of a = German=20 society. The meaning of the permanent
number 322 in all Bones=20 literature is that it was founded in '32 as
the second chapter of = the German=20 society. But the Bonesman has
a pleasing fiction that his = faternity is=20 a descendant of an old
Greek patriot society founded by Demosthenes, = who=20 died in 322 BC."
   They go on to describe a German slogan = painted=20 "on arched walls
above the vault" of the sacred room 322. The = slogan=20 appears above
a painting of skulls surrounded by Masonic symbols, a = picture=20 said
to be "a gift of the German chapter." "Wer war der Thor, wer = Weiser,=20
Bettler oder Kaiser? Ob Arm, ob Reich, im Tode gleich," the slogan=20
reads, or, "Who was the fool, who the wise man, beggar or king? =
Whether=20 poor or rich, all's the same in death."
   Imagine my = surprise=20 when I ran into that very slogan in a 1798
Scottish = anti-Illuminatist tract=20 reprinted in 1967 by the John
Birch Society. The tract (proofs = of a=20 conspiracy by John Robinson)
prints alleged excerpts from Illuminist = ritual=20 manuals supposedly
confiscated by the Bavarian police when the = secret order=20 was banned
in 1785. Toward the end of the ceremony of = initiation in=20 the
"Regent degree" of Illuminism, according to the tract, "a = skeleton=20
in pointed out to him [the initiate], at the feet of which are laid =
a=20 crown and a sword. He is asked 'whether that is the skeleton of =
a=20 king, nobleman or a beggar.' As he cannot decide, the president =
of the=20 meeting says to him, 'The character of being a man is the
only one = that is=20 importance'".
   Doesn't that sound similar to the German = slogan=20 the File and
Claw team claims to have found inside Bones? Now = consider=20 a
haunting photograph of the altar room of one of the Masonic =
lodges at=20 Nuremburg that is closely associated with Illuminism.
Haunting = because at=20 the altar room's center, approached through
the aisle of hanging = human=20 skeletons, is a coffin surmounted by
- you guessed it - a skull and = crossed=20 bones that look exactly
like the particular arrangement of jawbones = and=20 thighbones in
the official Bones emblem. The skull and = crossbones was=20 the
official crest of another key Illuminist lodge, one right-wing=20
Illuminist theoretician told me.
   Now you can lok at = this=20 three ways. One possibility is that
the Bircher right - and = the=20 conspiracy-minded left are correct:
The Eastern establishment is the = demonic=20 creation of a clandestine
elite manipulating history, and Skull and = Bones is=20 one of its
recruiting centers.   A more plausible = explanation is=20 that the
death's-head symbolism was so prevalent in Germany when the =
impressionable young Russell visited that he just stumbled on =
the same=20 mother lode of pseudo-Masonic mummery as the Illuninists.
The third=20 possibility is that the break-in pamphlets are an
elaborate fraud = designed=20 by the File and Claw crew to pin the
taint of Illuminism on Bones = and that=20 the rituals of Bones have
innocent Athenian themes, 322 being only = the date=20 of the death
of Demosthenes. (In fact, some Bones literature = I've seen=20 in
the archives does express the year as if 322 BC were the year =
one,=20 making 1977 anno Demostheni 2299.)
   I am still following = the=20 dark-suited Bonesman at a discreet
distance as they make their way = along=20 Prospect Street and into
a narrow alley, which to my dismay, turns = into a=20 parking lot.
They get into a car and drive off, obviously to tap an=20 off-campus
prospect. So much for tonight's clandestine work = I'd never=20 get
to my car in time to follow them. My heart isn't in it=20
anyway. I am due to head off to the graveyard to watch the=20
initiation ceremony of Book and Snake, the secret society of =
Deep=20 Throat's friend Bob Woodward (several Deep Throat theories
have = postulated=20 Yale secret-society ties as the origin of
Woodward's = underground-garage=20 connection, and two Bonesmen,
Ray Price and Richard Moore, who weree = high=20 Nixon aides, have
been mentioned as suspects - perhaps because of = their=20 experience
at clandestine underground truth telling). And = later=20 tonight I
hope to make the first of my contacts with persons who = have been=20
inside - not just inside the tomb, but inside the skulls of some =
of the=20 Bonesmen.=20

LATER THURSDAY NIGHT: TURNING THE TABLES ON THE SEXUAL =
AUTOBIOGRPHIES=20
   In his senior year, each member of Bones goes through = an=20 intense
two-part confessional experience in the Bones crypt. = One=20 Thursday
night he tells his life story, giving what is meant to be a = painfully
forthright autobigraphy that exposes his traumas, shames, = and=20 dreams.
(Tom Wolfe calls this Bones practice a fore-runner of the Me = Decade's
fascination with self.) The following Sunday-night = session is=20
devoted exclusively to sexual histories. They don't leave out=20
anything these days. I don't know what it was like in General=20
Russell's day, maybe there was less to talk about, but these days =
the=20 sexual stuff is totally explicit and there's less need for =
fabricating=20 exploits to fill up the allotted time. Most Sunday-night =
sessions=20 start with talk of prep school masturbation and don't stop
until the = intimate details of Saturday night's delights have come
to light = early=20 Monday morning.
   This has begun to cause some = disruptions in=20 relationships. The
women the Bonesmen talk about in the crypt = are=20 often Yale co-eds
and frequently feminists. While it might = seem to be=20 a rebuke to
Bone's spirit of consciousness raising, none of these = women is=20
too pleased at having the most intimate secrets of her relationship =
made=20 the subject of an all-night symposium consecrating her lover's =
brotherhood=20 with fourteen males she hardly knows. As one woman
put it, "I = objected=20 to fourteen guys knowing whether I was a good
lay...It was like = after that=20 each of them thought I was his woman
in some way."
   = Some=20 women have discovered that their lovers take their vows to
Bones = more=20 solemnly than their commitments to women. There is the
case of = the=20 woman who revealed something very personal - not
embarassing, just = private -=20 to her lover and made him swear never
to repeat it to another = human. =20 When he came back from the Bones
crypt after his Sunday-night sex = session,=20 he couldn't meet her
eyes. He'd told his brothers in Bones.=20
   It seems that the whole secret society system at Yale = is in the=20
terminal stages of a sexual crisis. By the time I arrived this =
April, all but three of the formerly all male societies had gone =
co-ed,=20 and two of the remaining holdouts - Scroll and Key and
Wolf's Head - = were=20 embroiled in bitter battles over certain
members' attempts to have = them=20 follow the trend. The popular
quarterback of the football team = had=20 resigned from Scroll and Key
because its alumni would not even let = him make=20 a pro-coeducation
plea to their convocation. When one = prominent=20 alumnus of Wolf's
Head was told the current members had plans to tap = women,=20 he
threatened to "raze the building" before permitting it. =20 Nevertheless,
it seemed as though it wouldn't be long before those = two=20 holdouts
went co-ed. But not Bones. Both alumni and = outsiders=20 see the
essence of the Bones experience as some kind of male = bonding, a=20
Victorian, muscular, Christian-missionary view of manliness and =
public=20 service.
While changing the least of all societies over its = one=20 hundred
forty-five years. Bones did begin admitting Jews in = the early=20
Fifties and tapping blacks in 1949. It offered membership to = some=20
of the most outspoken rebels of the late Sixties and more recently,=20
added gay and bisexual members, including the president of the =
militant=20 Gay Activist Alliance, a man by the name of Miles.
   But = women,=20 the Bones alumni have strenuously insisted, are
different. = When a=20 rambunctious Seventies class of Bones proposed
tapping the best and=20 brightest of the new Yale women, the officers
of the Russell Trust=20 Association threatened to bar that class from
the tomb and change = the locks=20 if they dared. They didn't.
   The sort of thing is = what=20 persuaded the person I am meeting with
late tonight - and a number = of other=20 persons - to talk about what
goes on inside: after all, isn't the = core of=20 the Bones group
experience the betrayal of their loved ones' = secrets? =20 Measure for
measure.