The Mysterious Case of Pancho Villa’s Missing Skull

Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa was both revered and feared. 

His life became fodder for legends, and the strange stories surrounding his death lasted for decades. More than a century has passed since the infamous figure was buried, yet the mystery of his missing skull remains.

But why would anyone want to steal his skull, and where is it now?

Let’s retrace Pancho Villa’s most defining moments to uncover the mystery of his missing head.

THE LIFE OF PANCHO VILLA

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Pancho Villa was born in 1878 in Durango, Mexico, to a field laborer and was orphaned at a young age. He worked at an estate where he killed a man who assaulted his sister, after which he ran to the mountains, spending his formative years as an outlaw.

In 1910, he took up arms in Francisco Madero’s uprising against Mexico's dictator, Porfirio Díaz. He quickly rose to commander and trained his own division, imparting his knowledge of the land and its people. After the revolution, Villa remained in the army.

Two years later, during Pascual Orozco's rebellion, General Victoriano Huerta "condemned him to death," but Madero lessened the sentence and had him imprisoned instead. Villa escaped to the United States, but only shortly. After Madero's assassination, Villa returned to Mexico and formed his own army, the División del Norte, which counted thousands of men.

In 1913, he revolted against Huerta, now dictator of Mexico, and won "several victories." That same year, he became governor of Chihuahua. In 1914, he and fellow revolutionary Venustiano Carranza triumphed over Huerta.

By the end of the year, Carranza and Villa were at odds, and Villa headed to Mexico City with another revolutionary, Emiliano Zapata. When Carranza asserted his dominance in a series of battles, Villa retaliated by killing 17 American citizens in Chihuahua and 17 in New Mexico. This drew the attention of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who sent General John J. Pershing to northern Mexico to stop the violence.

With Carranza still in power, Villa continued his bloody campaign. Pershing’s efforts were no match for Villa’s familiarity with the land. After Carranza was overthrown, Villa was pardoned and returned to Chihuahua, leaving politics in his rearview. Just three years later, in 1923, he was assassinated in his car by seven riflemen as he returned home to Parral.

His last words were allegedly: “Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something.” 

Pancho Villa died reaching for his gun.

HIS MISSING SKULL

Though his memory as both a cunning and brutal revolutionary endured, Villa lay dead in the ground for three years, until one day he didn’t, or at least, parts of him didn’t. 

A mysterious figure, or figures, who remain unknown to this day dug up his body and "mutilated" and "decapitated" it, according to the Guadalajara Reporter. In February 1926, the Parral cemetery caretaker discovered his gravestone damaged amid the disturbing scene.

Over a century later, we still don’t know who stole Pancho Villa’s skull. An American soldier named Emil Holmdahl was arrested in connection with the crime, but was later released for lack of evidence.

Without total certainty, speculation ran rampant, as it does. Some say the skull was delivered to Prescott Bush (George W. Bush’s grandfather) during his time in the secret Order of the Skull and Bones at Yale University. Others believe American scientists hired grave robbers to steal the skull so they could poke and prod Villa’s brain to discover his military genius.

Many other theories and suppositions have spread, but, like the location of Pancho Villa’s skull, none have been confirmed.

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