The Morbidly Fascinating Page Shrunken Heads
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The Morbidly Fascinating Page

The Morbidly Fascinating Page

This Month's Subject:

Shrunken Heads

IN THE ARCHIVES:

Dissections
Alberta the Dog
Synthetic Cadavers
Cobain and Depression
Preserved
Heavenly Bodies
Open Caskets
The Stanley Hotel

Head 4

Head

Head

Head 5 Head 5

Head 7

Head 8

Head 9

Head in Hand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shrunken Head

A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.

Headhunting occurred in many regions of the world. But the practice of headshrinking has only ever been recorded in the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest. In the Amazon rain forest, the only tribes known to have shrunken human heads are the Shuar, Achuar, Huambisa and Aguaruna, collectively classified as the Jivaro people of Ecuador and Peru.

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:

Ripley

More about shrunken heads can be seen HERE and HERE

HOW DOES ONE CREATE A SHRUNKEN HEAD?

Prep

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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