By PAMELA A. BROOKS
Special to The Post-Star
JoAnn Parks owner of Max? a crystal skull reported to have magical powers, poses with the artifact on Friday, during a visiting session at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls.
GLENS FALLS * Although it?s hard to know for sure, he may be the only rock in the country with his own passport papers � complete with a head-shot photo.
Max, the Texas crystal skull, which dwelt for 10 years in the bottom of JoAnn Park?s closet in Houston, will be radiating metaphysical energy this weekend at the Queensbury Hotel. Those who embrace the idea of meditating with Max can pay $60 for a half-hour sitting with the rock.
Parks and her pal Max have traveled the country together since 1987 when she was watching the ?Good Morning Houston? television show and saw a spot featuring another ancient crystal skull.
At that moment she realized that the odd item, gifted to her and her husband, Carl by a Tibetan-trained healer for whom Carl had made custom kitchen cabinets, should be pulled out from under the shoes and old clothes in her closet and allowed to fulfill its destiny.
?I?d been having dreams that I was supposed to find this �man? to serve mankind,? said Parks, in a Texas drawl that fires with the speed of an AK-47 when talking about Max. ?When I saw the skull on TV, I got mine out and patted it on the head.?
The housewife said what happened next was truly remarkable.
?The skull spoke to me,? she said. ?He told me his name was Max. Imagine that! I had a rock in a box in the closet who had a name.?
The back story
Not only a name, but practically an Indiana Jones back story that includes Norbu, the American-born Tibetan-trained healer, who, according to Parks, was at one time an undercover agent with the Marines, the Air Force, the CIA and the DEA. Norbu had infiltrated universities and jails, breaking up drugs rings and, thus, had several contracts on his life that necessitated enrollment in the federal Witness Protection Program, she said.
?He was a strange fellow when my husband met up with him,? recalled Parks. ?Black capes and gowns � that kind of stuff. I told my husband �Watch out, he?ll turn you into a lizard and put you in a pot.? ?
In an aside, she mentioned that a new movie, ?Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,? is due out next May.
Parks has taken the skull to France and Holland where she said it attracted large crowds. She added that a recent four-hour radio show that was carried in the United States, Canada and Guam generated 3,000 e-mails and calls.
One of 30 worldwide
Max is one of about 30 crystal skulls known worldwide, said Deb Morris, of Stratford (Herkimer County), who has known Parks and Max since meeting up with the pair in Saratoga Springs 13 years ago.
?It was one of those �Max moments? you can?t explain,? said Morris. ?My husband was going into a store I wasn?t interested in, so I decided to get a pedicure and it turned out Max was there. They asked me if I wanted to meet Max. I thought it was a person, like a card reader. I sat with him and spent $50 that changed my life.?
During the sitting, Morris said she felt an emotional release and cried. After the encounter, Max?s business card kept turning up in weird places in her home, which nudged her into further involvement with Parks and the rock?s journey around the world.
?All my life I?d felt out of sorts, like I didn?t fit in,? she recalled. ?For the first time, as I sat with Max, I felt like I had come home. It was a cleansing experience.?
Subject of scrutiny
Max, and a variety of the other crystal skulls like Sha-na-na, Jaguar Man and Rainbow, have been the subject of much scrutiny, scientific testing and several documentaries by the BBC, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel.
In 1996, BBC, the British Museum and Everyman Productions of London released a documentary ?Skull Trek: Journey of the Crystal Skulls,? in which they claimed to prove that the skulls owned by both the British and Smithsonian museums were actually carved with tools and methods common in the 1800s.
?But they said �no comment? about Max, and tried to stop the release of the documentary,? said Parks. ?But it?s been seen all around the world now.?
Since carbon-dating is only effective on organic materials, actual age can?t be determined, although one famous skull, the Mitchell-Hedge, supposedly found in British Honduras in 1927, is believed to be a fraud purchased at a Sotheby?s auction in London in 1943.
?Oh, I know there?s several out there, scamming and duping, especially oversees? said Parks. ?But they stay away from me.?
According to the website www.world-mysteries.com, some of the skulls are thought to be between 5,000 and 36,000 years old, with links to the Mayans and Aztecs in Central America. Other theories speculate they were originally created by extraterrestrials, inhabitants of Atlantis or members of an inner-earth society.
�A lot of joy?
Max consists of five layers of quartz crystals, cut on an axis that would almost assure that it could not hold together, Parks explained.
He feels like glass and seems warm to the touch. Parks has a number of stories of people who meditated with the skull and claim physical or emotional healing from the experience.
Whatever his actual age or history, Parks said she feels the healing energy of Max?s crystals may have prolonged the life of her 12-year-old daughter, who had bone cancer and was given only months to live.
Her daughter?s life was extended by three years, for which the doctors had no explanation.
?Max has given me a lot of joy,? said Parks. ?He?s helped me express myself and helped with the loss of my daughter. I believe he?s another tool given by the Creator to help us along.?
At 7 p.m. today at the Queensbury Hotel, Parks will offer a presentation that tells the whole story of Max. Admission is $20. Meditation appointments are also scheduled throughout the day and on Sunday until 11 am. Call (786) 478-2350 to make a reservation.
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