The Aztec whistle is considered by science and the entire world to be one of the most terrifying sounds. Imagine walking at night and hearing a desperate cry like that of a thousand men, because that is what the Aztec Death whistle sounded like.
Although there is very little research on them, since they have not been taken with sufficient importance, a small group of archaeologists are beginning to bring to light the first results of their studies.
With shape of a human skull, lizard or monkey facethe ancient Aztecs used the “death” whistles or Aztec whistle during combat engagements with the aim of “multiplying” the number of soldiers with the sound they produced, which resembled the screams of the combatants.
However, this sound resembles a “distressing”, although at night the sound could sound a little scarier than it seems, do you dare to listen to it?
The cry of death inside the Aztec whistle
In 1999, researchers found the ‘Aztec Death Whistle‘, made of clayin it Temple of Quetzalcoatl in the Teotihuacán Archaeological Zone. 15 years later, scientists blew on it by accident and found that the sound it makes resembles a “distressing” human cry.
But what scientists found even more terrifying is the engineering of this whistle, thanks to a 3D recreation, based on the original skull-shaped design found in Mexico. According to the finding, the Aztec whistle emitted interference and sonic beats, the latter also known as “ghost sounds.” which do not travel by air but are generated within the brain, causing the receptor alters states of consciousness by exciting the neurons of the cerebral cortex which causes the sound to create more necessary echoes and then, be more frightening than it is.
And it is that, the low frequency band It is similar to the scream emitted by a person when scaresAccording to the study published in the
“The hiss of death and the screams of men and women were analyzed based on acoustic studies. As a result, it was confirmed that this instrument resembles human screams, but among them it sounds like a scream when feeling fear, causing more fear.”
Due to the power of its soundwhich can reach up to 102 decibelsit is possible that it was also used in battles, causing fear in enemies of culture Aztec or Mexica.
Not only war but also sacrifices
When academics discovered the whistle that emits the scariest sound in the worldthey thought it was a ornament. However, when they rang it, they began to hypothesize that it was a musical instrument created for “the time to cut and burn the necks of the enemies of the Aztec Civilization.
“There is a theory that it was used as a threat tool during the war and that it was used religiously for the rituals necessary for the human sacrifice“says the study led by Ik-Soo AhnSong-Geon Bae and Myung-Jin Bae.
He aztec whistle has been associated with death rituals for its decorative face skull. “Two of them were found in the hands of a sacrifice in front of the Ehecatl temple in Tlatelolco”, according to Roberto Velázquez Cabrera, of the National Institute of Anthropology and History.