About Skull and Bones Tomb
At 64 High Street in New Haven, a heavy brownstone building presents an almost blank face to Yale University. Known simply as the Tomb, it is the meeting hall of Skull and Bones, the senior society whose secrecy and influential alumni have generated nearly two centuries of rumor.
Skull and Bones was founded in 1832 by William Huntington Russell and Alphonso Taft. The society selects a small group of Yale seniors each year, traditionally fifteen, and its membership has included political leaders, judges, business figures, and members of prominent American families.
The first section of the Tomb was completed in the mid-nineteenth century and expanded later. Its fortress-like exterior, limited windows, and private rituals encouraged outsiders to imagine hidden chambers, stolen relics, initiation ordeals, and conspiracies. Verified facts and campus folklore became tightly tangled.
The building remains private and active, not a museum. Its mystery comes largely from what cannot be seen: a secret organization conducting ceremonies inside a structure deliberately designed to reveal almost nothing. Even the society’s skull emblem and number 322 invite competing explanations.
Visitor info: View the exterior only from public sidewalks and respect Yale property and privacy. There are no public tours. The Tomb stands near the corner of High and Chapel streets.