Description: The Aztec Death Whistle: Once heard, the disturbing sound can not be forgotten In the 1990s, archeologists in Mexico City unearthed a 500-year-old skeleton near an ancient Aztec temple—a victim of human sacrifice. A grisly discovery, yes, but perhaps even more chilling was what the beheaded skeleton was holding: two small whistles, one in the shape of a skull. When a researcher blew into one of the tiny instruments, the horrifying sounds that emerged immediately captivated imaginations. One scholar described the noise as “a shriek of death.” The sound is shocking and sent a chill up the spines of everyone who was around to hear it. It is the sound of a human scream.The dreadful, high-pitched sound of the whistle is perhaps most comparable to a human scream. “There are different air streams generated within the structure of these instruments, which then diametrically hits against each other,” said Arnd Adje Both, a music archeologist who has examined the whistle. “And thus the Aztecs were able to produce a very shrill and noisy sound.” Two skull-shaped, hollow whistles were found 20 years ago at the temple of the wind god Ehecatl, in the hands of a sacrificed male skeleton. When the whistles were finally blown, the sounds created were described as terrifying. The whistles make the sounds of “humans howling in pain, spooky gusts of whistling wind or the ‘scream of a thousand corpses.” “Some historians believe that the Aztecs used to sound the death whistle in order to help the deceased journey into the underworld. Tribes are said to have used the terrifying sounds as psychological warfare, to frighten enemies at the start of battle,” If the whistle was used during battles, the psychological effect on an enemy of a hundred death whistles screaming in unison might have been great, unhinging and undermining their resolve.
Price: 6.99 USD
Location: Northville, Michigan
End Time: 2023-12-14T01:10:29.000Z
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All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Brand: SLM
Modified Item: No
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
