As the war in Europe winds down, President Truman closes the door on the United States government’s involvement in occult matters. Dozens of artifacts are returned to museums and their respective owners. The Black Crystal Skull disappears from an Army depot before the sinister item can find its way back to the Bloom Estate. There were no witnesses to the crime, although the desiccated remains of a duo of soldiers are found during a search for the missing relic. An investigation finds no evidence of what killed the soldiers, nor does it locate the missing skull. The deceased’s families each received urns containing their cremated remains. It is unknown if the ashes were singularly those of their loved one.