Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. During ritual ceremonies, the ancient Aztec civilization used a “death whistle” — a haunting instrument shaped like a human skull.

The skull-shaped body of the Aztec death whistle may represent Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec Lord of the Underworld. Credit: Sascha Frühholz / UZH The so-called Aztec “death whistle” is an instrument ...

As its name suggests, an Aztec death whistle can make a most dreadful sound. But the effect depends on how it's played, explains musicologist and archaeologist Arnd Adje Both of the Free University of ...

Many ancient cultures used musical instruments in ritual ceremonies. Ancient Aztec communities from the pre-Columbian period of Mesoamerica had a rich mythological codex that was also part of their ...

In the 1990s, archeologists in Mexico City unearthed a 500-year-old skeleton near an ancient Aztec temple—a victim of human sacrifice. A grisly discovery, yes, but perhaps even more chilling was what ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A team of scientists from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, has created 3D reconstructions of several Aztec skull whistles ...

From a howling wolf to a bloodcurdling scream, there are some sounds that send a chill down the spine of even the bravest horror movie aficionado. But these chilling noises pale in comparison to one ...

Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay, skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand. But no one blew into the whistles for nearly 15 years.