In many old movies holly wood would try to bring fear to your hearts by throwing in head hunters and shrunken heads or make you laugh like in beetlejuice when the head hunter shrinks beetlejuice head with a hand full of Dust.
Yet is head shrinking a real thing?
Was it ever a real thing?
Let's discuss on this week's Peculiar Occurrences
(Intro)
A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.
Headhunting has indeed occurred in many regions of the world, but the practice of head shrinking has mostly been documented in the northwestern region of the Amazon rainforest. The Jivaroan tribes are most known for shrinking human heads. These include the excuse me if I pronounce these wrong Shuar, Achuar, Huambisa and Aguaruna tribes, found in Ecuador and Peru. Many tribe leaders would show off their heads to scare enemies.
The Shuar tribe began warding off any attempts at colonial rule as early as 1599, and it's believed that they also began shrinking heads around this same time. The practice of shrinking heads continued until at least the 1950s, though the western world didn't discover the existence of these shrunken heads until the 19th century. The Shuar culture was significantly changed when they began trading these carefully crafted heads for guns.
As a result, tribal warfare greatly increased and during a 22-year time period, one tribe lost nearly half of its population. The increase in disease, war, and death was blamed primarily on witchcraft and, oddly enough, this explanation led only to more wars.
The practice of preparing shrunken heads originally had religious significance; shrinking the head of an enemy was believed to harness the spirit of that enemy and compel him to serve the shrinker. It was said to prevent the soul from avenging his death.
Shuar believed in the existence of three fundamental spirits:
Hopefully I pronounce these right
Wakani which was natural to humans and the soul was thought to survive their death.
Arutam – literally means "vision" or "power", and was thought to protects humans from a violent death.
Muisak – was a vengeful spirit, which surfaces when a person carrying an arutam spirit is murdered.
To block a Muisak from using its powers, they severed their enemies' heads and shrank them. The process also served as a way of warning their enemies. Despite these precautions, the owner of the trophy did not keep it for long. In fact tribal members would often give the heads to their children or animals after they finished making them. This only changed once it became apparent that the heads had trade value. Many heads were later used in religious ceremonies and feasts that celebrated the victories of the tribe. Accounts vary as to whether the heads would be discarded or stored.
It's worth noting that removing the head of an enemy and wearing it as a token goes back to ancient China, but no other culture is believed to have shrunken heads before the Jivaros.
In a more modern example's During Nazi Germany two shrunken heads were presented as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials. It's been hotly debated as to whether the Nazis actually made these heads themselves or if they came from South America. Either way, though, these items could have easily been used to intimidate their prisoners. In modern day some people believe that ISIS has also been shrinking heads and selling them to raise money for their terrorist activities.
The selling of Shrunken Head was a big industry many westerners would pay big to get there hands on an authentic shrunken head .
For example Actor Nicolas Cage happens to be an avid collector of shrunken heads, a hobby which may or may not be totally legal. And an official ruling about the legality of his strange collection can't even happen until an examination proves whether or not they're the real deal in the first place. Perhaps this is the same reason why airport personnel found an abandoned Gucci bag containing a bunch of shrunken heads in the 1980s. After all, importing artifacts of this type is typically illegal in the U.S., which could lead to jail time and a serious financial penalty.
Most trinkets that are sold to tourists are known to be of low quality, and interestingly enough, this proves to be true for real shrunken heads as well. There are two types of real heads, and they're made entirely differently. The first, Tsanas, are authentic ceremonial heads, which feature extremely dark skin, a narrow face, and vertical nostrils. Meanwhile, the non-ceremonial human heads were made specifically for tourists and collectors, and are designed to maintain their proportional appearance so that they look more like a non-shrunken human head.
The process of creating a shrunken head begins with removing the skull from the neck. An incision is made on the back of the ear and all the skin and flesh is removed from the Skull. Red seeds are placed underneath the nostrils and the eyes and lips are sewn shut This is to keep the soul from escaping the head. The mouth is held together with three palm pins. Fat from the flesh of the head is removed. Then a wooden ball is placed under the flesh in order to keep the form.
At this point, the prep process was already complete and it was time to move forward with the actual shrinking. To do so, the heads would first have to be placed into a pot of boiling water that contained herbs containing tannins for 90 to 120 minutes, during which time the skin would slowly shrivel to 2/3 of its original size.
The heads could become compromised if the boiling time wasn't properly calculated. For example, removing the head too soon made it gooey, while on the other hand, if the head stayed in the pot for too long, all of the hair would fall out. But if the skin came out looking rubbery and dark, then the head was probably cooked for the appropriate amount of time.
. At this point, headhunters would take numerous steps to shrink the head even further. The first thing that they would do is place sand and hot stones into the head, which caused it to contract more while also preserving it on the inside.
Once the head was shrunk to its desired size, it was time to shape the face. By applying additional hot stones to the face, it was possible to give the features some definition while also sealing the skin to make it last for centuries.
They would then spread a charcoal ash across the skin In the head shrinking tradition, it is believed that coating the skin in ash keeps the muisak, or avenging soul, from seeping out.
Lastly, the head would be hung over a fire to blacken and harden it. It was after this that the peg that had been placed between the lips was finally removed and the mouth was stitched up. In some cases, a hole on top of the head would also be made in order to make it easier for people to carry or wear the now shrunken heads.
Shrunken heads became highly sought after souvenirs in the western world during the mid-1800s. It's unclear whether purchasers truly believed that these curious display pieces came from real human heads or not, but it still led some tribes to use it as a way to trade for things of value, including guns and gold. As a result, the practice of literal headhunting increased, as did the killing of innocent people. The practice of freely exchanging and selling these shrunken heads in shops around the world continued well into the 20th century.
The obsession that people have with these artifacts has led to the creation of a huge industry of fake shrunken heads. It's estimated that up to 80% of all so-called shrunken heads available today are not human at all. Some places still claim to sell the real deal, but it's unclear just how these dealers are able to verify their products. Unless you're willing to pay a scientist to run a DNA test for you, the odds are high that you'll never really know for certain if a headis real or fake.
Fake heads take up more than 3/4 of the shrunken head market. So if you're trying to determine if the display piece at your friend's house is the real deal, you'll have to look out for a few signs that make fake heads really stand out.
Encouraged by the shrunken head trade, people in Colombia and Panama unconnected to the Jívaros people began to make counterfeit shrunken heads. They used corpses from morgues, or the heads of monkeys or sloths. Some even used goatskin. Kate Duncan wrote in 2001 that "It has been estimated that about 80 percent of the shrunken heads in private collections and museum hands are fraudulent," including almost all that are female since this process was mostly done to warriors and females where not allowed to be warriors in the Jivaros tribes Those which include an entire torso rather than just a head are also mostly fake.
How to tell if a Shrunken head is fake well Known as false heads, these tourist souvenirs that are made out of animal skin rather than human are particularly lightweight, have glued on hair, lack an ear structure and facial details, and have prominent ridges along the mouth slit. These are legal to buy, sell, and trade, so if you're looking for one to bring home with you this will be your best bet. since most countries have banned the Trade of Shrunken heads.
So what do you think about this Peculiar Occurrences I always wondered if they where real heads or just something made from animal skin I find it fascinating and sad for the victims that had there heads shrunk. But I want to know what you think about this down in the comments below.
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