Scientists Find Aztec 'Death Whistles' do Weird Things to the Listeners' Brains

[Reader Rabbit]

Scientists Find Aztec ‘Death Whistles’ do Weird Things to the Listeners’ Brains

New research reveals that one of the Aztecs’ most chilling artefacts, clay death whistles, which resemble a human skull and produce a scream-like sound, not only frightened listeners in ancient times, but also had a profound effect on the human brain’s ability to increase states of alarm and fear.

For the first time, scientists investigated the effects of these disturbing whistles on the brains of modern European volunteers, conducting two separate experiments with different participant samples.

Aztec death whistles usually skull-shaped were designed to produce a high-pitched, penetrating sound similar to a scream, resulting from the collision of different air currents. Numerous examples have been found in graves dated between 1250 and 1521 CE.

[Nittersing]

1. Wonder if they could scare off ICE?

[SheltieLover]

2. Great thought!

[Warpy]

5. Aztec death whistle or Celtic carnyx?

The second doesn't do full justice to the awful noises you can get out of a carnyx, but it might give you a hint of what a dozen or so of these things with their fearsome animal heads poling above a defensive wall might sound like. Yes, people are doing reproduction instruments now, they're about a grand a pop, er, scream

[SheltieLover]

3. As enlarged & hyperactive as magats' amygdalas are, this should have quite an effect!

[DBoon]

4. I'm waiting for a Death Metal band to start using these

or a cheezy horror film