# What about Pancho Villa's skull? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 15, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-pancho-villas-skull/331145 "2005-11-15T09:54:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tubezone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@tubezone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tubezone)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-pancho-villas-skull/331145/1 "2005-11-15T09:54:32Z")
OK, I believe Geronimo’s skull is not at Yale, but what about Pancho Villa’s? There’s enough plausible evidence that someone messed with Villa’s grave, including comtemporary press reports. See: [http://www.aztlan.net/return\_skull\_of\_villa.htm](http://www.aztlan.net/return_skull_of_villa.htm) [http://tinyurl.com/7v2rm](http://tinyurl.com/7v2rm) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-pancho-villas-skull/331145/2 "2005-11-15T13:02:02Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, tubezone. When commenting on one of Cecil’s online columns it is appreciated if you could provide a link to the same. Doing so can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051111.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051111.html) ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-pancho-villas-skull/331145/3 "2005-11-16T00:08:32Z")
FWIW, Alexandra Robbins, in the book cited by Cecil, has this to say on the matter: > [@](#): > > Similarly, a group in 1987 charged that Bones had paid $25,000 to an American soldier in the 1920s to steal the skull of Pancho Villa. Bones retorted that not only did the society never have the skull, but that the stingy alumni would never have given up $25,000 in the first place. What strikes me is that, while there seems reasonable grounds for believing that Holmdahl disturbed the grave in 1926 and may well have taken the skull, the link to Yale and him having taken it to order for cash on behalf of the society is apparently substantially less established. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-pancho-villas-skull/331145/4 "2005-11-16T03:58:27Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > FWIW, Alexandra Robbins, in the book cited by Cecil, has this to say on the matter: > > What strikes me is that, while there seems reasonable grounds for believing that Holmdahl disturbed the grave in 1926 and may well have taken the skull, the link to Yale and him having taken it to order for cash on behalf of the society is apparently substantially less established. From my additional reading of press reports at the time, there is no doubt that Holmdalh took part in the removal of the head. There was never a follow-up story that would indicate any connection with Yale. Of course, that doesn’t mean there was none. The newspaper stories at the time suggested that a multi-millionaire in Chicago had commisioned the crime. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-pancho-villas-skull/331145/5 "2005-11-16T13:53:51Z")
The crime being skullduggery, I presume?