The Morbidly Fascinating Page |
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The Morbidly Fascinating Page This Month's Subject: Shrunken Heads |
IN THE ARCHIVES: Dissections |
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A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes. By the end of the nineteenth century, little was known about the Jivaro clans in South America, except for their macabre practices of taking and then shrinking the heads of their enemies. This practice intrigued travelers and collectors and compelled them to visit these tribes to satisfy their curiosity. Robert Ripley of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" was reported to be a big collector of shrunken heads, as well as a lot of other weird things. Below is a photo or Robert Ripley: More about shrunken heads can be seen HERE and HERE HOW DOES ONE CREATE A SHRUNKEN HEAD? Carefully, the eyes are sewn shut with fine native fiber. The lips are closed and skewered with little wooden pegs, which are later removed and replaced with dangling strings. From here the tsantsa goes to the sacred boiling pots or cooking jars. The head is simmered for approximately an hour and a half to two hours. If the heads were left for any longer, the hair would have fallen out. On removal from the pots, the skin is dark and rubbery, and the head is about 1/3 its original size. The skin is turned inside out and all the flesh adhering is scraped off with a knife. The scraped skin is then turned right side out and the slit in the rear is sewn together. What remains is similar to that of an empty rubber glove. The final shrinking is done with hot stones and sand collected nearby in order to sear the interior and to shrink the head further. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW TO SHRINK A HEAD HERE
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