It's safe to say that if you don't know what a crystal skull is, by the end of the summer you might be an amateur expert on one of life's long-standing mysteries. From May 17 to May 18, the SCI FI Channel is celebrating the upcoming release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with their own "Indiana Jones Weekend," which will feature multiple airings of all three adventure movies.

As the "Indy Weekend" comes to a close, the SCI FI celebration will culminate with the original investigative special, Mystery of the Crystal Skulls, hosted by NBC News' Lester Holt on Sunday, May 18th at 9:00 p.m. In the special, which explores the real life mysteries surrounding skulls - from the ancient Mayan civilization to the Lost City of Atlantis to extraterrestrial origins - Lester Holt follows in the footsteps of British explorer and adventurer Frederick Mitchell-Hedges, an inspiration for the fictional Indiana Jones character, whose daughter discovered the first ancient crystal skull in the 1920s in the Mayan ruins of Lubaantun.

Leading up to the SCI FI special, The Deadbolt embarked on its own crystal skull adventure only to find Lester Holt on a recent conference call where we got the scoop on earlier tests on the famous skull, whether other skulls exist around the world, and their significance in today's South America.

THE DEADBOLT: Since the skull was sent to Hewlett Packard back in 1970 and their tests revealed that it would have taken 300 years to make, has there been any update on that?

LESTER HOLT: No, that’s the information that is in the documentary. And that was one of the things that I read that I was like, "Hmm..." I guess as a journalist you approach everything naturally as a skeptic, especially when it comes to things that border in the supernatural. I’m always like, "Okay, you got to give me something here." That was one of the pieces that I said, "This is really worth exploring." It’s made of this quartz and we discovered that quartz is available nearby. We learned a lot about the Mayan culture. You walk away thinking, "Hey, maybe."

THE DEADBOLT: Is there any evidence that there are other sets of 13 skulls in other parts of the world?

HOLT: The legend, if you will, has been that there are 13. I can’t remember how many now have been identified in various locations, but one of the legends is that if they’re brought together that they have some kind of a significant power. And that’s where it gets a little sketchy. The origins of it in either the story of it coming from the - there’s a Mayan ruin, it has some legitimacy. I came away from it with some sense that it was quite possibly an explanation.

THE DEADBOLT: Has anyone ever tried to recreate what the person would actually look like from the skull?

HOLT: I don’t have an answer to that. We didn’t deal with that in the program. I don’t think so.

THE DEADBOLT: How significant are the skulls in today's South America?

HOLT: I think it’s a growing significance. I think the fact that they’ve received a lot of attention from other parts of the world, that they’re certainly among local Maya there in Belize. In fact, one of them we introduce to you in the story, the story is quite known. I think there’s a fair amount of pride that they had this link to this culture. In terms of the broader population, I can’t answer that. But I do know that there are prominent members of the Mayan community today who know about them and clearly, even archeologists who we interviewed, local archaeologists, one of whom was clearly a skeptic. I mean, they knew all about it. And when I say a skeptic, the gentleman we interviewed, I don’t think he says it’s not possible. It’s just that he says archaeologically they have not proven it to be the real deal.

Searching for the Real Crystal Skulls with Lester Holt Page 2