Wikipedia: ruining my fun since 2001
‘The Aztec skull whistle is a unique and unsettling instrument that has fascinated historians and archaeologists for centuries. These whistles, typically shaped like human skulls, produce a blood-curdling, high-pitched sound that has been described as a “scream of death.”’
So says Brave AI. Just listen to these recordings. Spooky, neh?
You can even buy one from Amazon.
Then along comes Wikipedia:
“The whistle was discovered after the 1999 excavation of an Aztec temple at the Tlatelolco site, in Mexico City by archaeologists, revealed the remains of a 20-year-old sacrificial victim clutching various musical instruments, among them a small ceramic skull-shaped whistle. This artifact, later dubbed the “Aztec death whistle,” gathered public interest.”
Wait, there’s only the one? And it was discovered 25 years ago?
“The whistle’s sounds, analyzed through its functioning mechanism, have been noted to resemble the sound of wind and fall within the human hearing sensitivity range.”
It was dug up in the temple of the wind god Ehecatl, so that makes sense. But, I mean, the screaming?
“A common misconception is that this whistle produced a sharp shriek-like sound. However, these sounds credited as the Aztec death whistle are actually produced by much larger reproductions of the whistle.”
Larger reproductions and, apparently, blown with some kind of intense hydraulic mechanisms. I mean, you could blow a giant whoopee cushion with a foghorn and it would probably sound pretty scary.
I got played :(
November 26, 2024 — 5:41 pm
Comments: 8