CREEPY CREATION—Aleen Ferris shows off one of her crystal skulls inside the meditation room of her Simi Valley home Tuesday. Ferris is an artist and owner of Orphic Skull and she deals in crystal skulls and skull beads, accessories and jewelry. Do crystal skulls hold mystical powers? Some people believe they do.

Eight years ago, Aleen Ferris started collecting the skulls. Since then, she’s turned her fascination with the mysterious pieces into a life’s work.

“I was interested in them and I saw that other people were fascinated with them, too,” said the 53-year-old Simi Valley resident. “I look at the skulls as a representation between this reality and another reality. To me, they represent growth, change and a transition from one lifestyle into another.”

As Ferris’ skull collection grew, her husband joked they should either buy a bigger house or go into the business of selling them.

The couple did, in fact, decide to start Orphic Skull, a business that sells crystal skulls and related items. They started selling at trade shows and then online.

“We have buyers in every demographic group,” said Steve Ferris, 48, who helps his wife with the online business but is a plumbing contractor by trade.

“The skulls are interesting to look at and, for some people, they hold a metaphysical value as well,” he said.

Aleen Ferris is an artist and designs and sells skull jewelry and handbag motifs. She also works full-time as a trade patent illustrator, a job she has performed for the past 30 years.

She draws patents and prepares trademarks for intellectual property law. She has her own business doing the technical drawing and works mainly for attorneys.

The skulls she sells—the largest the size of a grapefruit—are smaller than those of humans. Ferris sells skulls carved by crafts people in the United States, South America and Russia.

The skulls are made of various materials, including crystal, Tibetan quartz and turquoise. Skull beads made from bone, wood, crystal and jade are also popular on the website.

Ferris’ customers can even buy an acrylic skull to be placed on a desk as a cellphone holder.

Prices range from 25 cents for the beads to $600 for the finer crystal skulls.

Ferris’ online business got a boost when “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” opened last year, but the artist said the movie missed the mark on historical accuracy.

“The movie is premised on the Aztec, Mayan, Toltec myths merged together,” Ferris said. “The story didn’t represent what the true mystery of the skulls is all about.”

Mystery, legend and myth surround the crystal skulls. A 12-pound human size crystal skull, known as the MitchellHedges skull, is said to be more than 100,000 years old and possess healing powers.

Some people believe crystal skulls have extraterrestrial origins or have some connection with the lost continent of Atlantis.

Ferris is aware of those beliefs and of the many legends surrounding the skulls. One legend describes the existence of 13 ancient human skulls of solid crystal with movable jaws. The skulls could speak and sing.

“There’s a whole belief system that 13 skulls are buried all over the earth, brought here by an unknown source,” Ferris said. “When the skulls are all brought together, they will reveal a prophecy or some world event will happen.”

For Ferris, the skulls represent an outlet for her artistic talents and interests.

“It’s more of a passion with my wife,” said her husband. “It’s something that she’s gotten into and she really enjoys it. She just wants to share it.”