Listen to the Sound of the Ancient Aztec Death Whistle Sarah Griffiths - MailOnline
go to original December 2, 2014

Speaking in a video, musician Quijas Yxayotl explained that the death whistle was used for special ceremonies, including for the Day of the Dead, and in warfare. (Mileán Ó Raghallaigh)

It’s almost impossible to imagine the terror that ancient men must have felt as they waited to be sacrificed by decorated Aztec priests.

But experts have revealed that a terrifying noise would have accompanied the grisly ritual and it was emitted by skull-shaped whistles.

The sound the horrifying death whistles make has been captured on film and they sound like humans howling in pain, spooky gusts of whistling wind or the ‘scream of a thousand corpses’.

Discovered decades ago, the whistles attracted the attention of archaeologists because of their skull shape, but it is only recently that their fearsome noise has been investigated.

Some experts have said that the Aztecs likely used the noise to help people’s souls travel to the afterlife when they were sacrified in front of square temples, but the whistles may also have been used by warriors to intimidate enemies at the beginning of battle.

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