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 ...

When the Aztecs dominated central Mexico, a blood-curdling sound like a human scream played through a small whistle. Luis Aceves via Unsplash In cultures around the world, instruments have brought ...

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 ...

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 ...

The findings support the hypothesis that such whistles may have been used in Aztec religious rituals or perhaps as mythological symbols. Click to expand... Or, given the fear it inflicts on those who ...

Welcome back to the Bryant Park Project from NPR News. We are always online at npr.org. Some people like to go out and make their friends, to earn them, to be nice to other people, perhaps charming, ...

The wail of the Aztec Death Whistle was the last thing many human sacrifices ever heard before they met their untimely end. The chilling noise is described as the 'scariest sound in the world', and is ...

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.