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The Knights Templar have been rumored to have worshipped a skull. Nick Nocerino claims to have encountered a crystal skull used by the Knights Templar. Nick stated the encounter occurred during World War II while serving in France. There is much speculation about just exactly what the Knights Templar used in their rituals.

In 1307 King Philip IV of France convinced Pope Clement V that the Knights Templar were committing heresy. Evidence of heresy used by Pope Clement V to destroy the Knights Templar was the worship of an idol called Baphomet. This strange “thing”—although sometimes referred to as a “cat” or “goat”—was generally seen as a “severed head.” Allegedly they adored and used to kiss this bearded head. It was variously described, in the trial proceedings. Allegedly, its eyes were made of carbuncle, thus, as a precious garnet, a deep red gem. Supposedly, it was kept at the Knights Templar’ Temple in Paris. An interpretation that makes sense is that it either was a sculpted head, a head reliquary, or a preserved human head. One presumably legendary account is the Knights Templars’ Baphomet was the head of a man, embalmed with herbs and spices, and interrogated as an oracle.

Some said it was a man’s head, but others a woman’s head. Some said that it was bearded, others non-bearded. Some presumed that it was made from glass and that it had two faces. This general mixing of ideas shows where the idea of the head could have come from. That it was a man’s head or a woman’s, indicates its “dual nature”—and much like the ancient Celtic heads, it would incline one to the opinion that it emerged from part of the supposed ancient head cult. Templar interrogation records reveal that the head was respected as a source of fertility and germination. There is obviously a link here with the idea of the "Lord of Midsummer" and the summer solstice.

A templar of Florence, declared that, in the secret meetings of the chapters, one brother said to the others, showing them the idol, 'Adore this head. This head is your God and your Mahomet.' Another, Gauserand de Montpesant, said that the idol was made in the figure of Baffomet (in fieram Baffomeli); and another, Raymond Rubei, described it as a crystal skull, which was hanged opposite the Baphomet.