When I saw this shrunken head hanging from a bar at an estate sale, I immediately grabbed it. Well, first I made sure it wasn't real.
It wasn't too hard to see it wasn't real, but it was still cool looking. It appears to be made out of rawhide and has real hair implanted in it.
It brought to mind two different movie scenes.
It was most likely made for the tourist trade.
Real shrunken heads were made by the Jivorean tribes of Equador and Peru. Shrinking the head of a slain enemy was thought to force its spirit to serve you and prevent it from avenging its death.
By the 1920's, they had become so popular with Western tourists, the natives were killing people just to keep up with the economic demand, hence the term "headhunting parties".
It remains sketchy whether you can sell or even own an authentic shrunken head in the United States, however, if you'd like your own, may I recommend Pressman's Witch Doctor Head Shrinker kit.
i love both those movies, haha. i actually didn't realize that shrunken heads were an actual thing... i thought they were just myths. also, i am quite surprised you didn't mention the Vincent Price's Shrunken Head Kit. i always wanted one when i was a kid, and i have vivid memories of the comic book ads and the commercial, although youtube is failing me : (
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You know, I meant to get into the whole dried apple shrunken head thing, but there are only so many hours to the day! I always looked at those in the Christmas catalogs. I couldn't find the Vincent Price version, but I did find another which I'll add as a bonus.
Deleteomg, those witch doctor head kits... i seem to remember something like those. what a great commercial!
DeleteThat's really creepy. The tourists would actually buy a real shrunken head? Yikes.
ReplyDeleteApparently, it was all the rage.
DeleteSuper Creepy and Super Awesome! Quite a unique find!
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