Overall secret societies associated with American universities none in or famous than Skull and Bones, whose members meet in a building known as the Tomb. The society boasts a list of alumni that includes some of the most influential people on the planet, leading some commentators to see Skull and Bones as a training camp for an all-powerful cabal.
The society was founded in 1832 by Alphonso Taft and William Huntington Russell as the Order Skull and Bones. It’s members, called Bonesmen, have been selected since 1879 by a process known as tapping. in this ceremony, held each April, the Society’s senior figures walk among the members of Yale’s junior class who gather on the grass at Branford College. Fifteen candidates who are considered to be creme de la creme are then chosen by being tapped. Known members include several US president and assorted high-ranking figures from Wall Street and Washington.
The tomb is the commonly used name for the Skull and Bones Meeting Hall, located on the New Haven’s High street. It was an imposing, windowless, sandstone building in the Greco-Roman style. There is some debate as to the identity of its original architect but the first thing was built in 1856, with a second following in 1903 Brownstone building designed by A. J. Davis were added in 1911, forming a small courtyard.
The lack of Windows begs the question of what was inside, and reports suggest of someone overwrought Gothic interior, the walls strewn with portraits of steamed former members (George W. Bush being a recent addition), medieval armor, and human and animal skeletons. It has been alleged that the Tomb also holds the stolen Gravestone of Elihu Yale, One of the University’s principal early benefactors, and the man after whom it was named. Another unproven rumor says that the tomb contains the skeleton of the Apache Chief Geronimo, pilfered in early years of the last century. A locked room, the inner Temple, stores Treasures including the society’s founding documents. Clocks in the Tomb are also said to be set five minutes fast, adding to the sense of isolation from the normal world.
Amid claims of mysterious initiation ceremonies, coded nicknames, and oaths of secrecy – plus an unfaltering air of elitism – Skull and Bones seems an organization quite at ease with its exclusivity.
