Shrunken Heads

[Toy Ranch]

Since having a few plastic shrunken heads and a big shrunken head pencil as a child...  I've always been a fan of the shrunken head and it's played a part in my monster and horror fascination.  A while back I found a really nice fake on eBay that I bought and have had on a stand on my bathroom counter for a while now.  A number of years ago, I saw a bunch of them in a shop and didn't have any money with me, but vowed to go back.  When I did, they were all gone.  The ones in the shop were not great quality, but they were very cool I thought.  Every once in a while I do a shrunken head search on eBay and I found a seller who was offering a lot of 10 of them.  There was a bid starting at $99.99 and a BIN of $150, but they had the Best Offer thing going.  A search of their closed auctions revealed they had accepted a $99.99 offer from someone else, and with $9.99 shipping that brought them to a very reasonable $11 each.  I made the offer, it was accepted, and today they arrived.









See them all here:  http://flickr.com/photos/toyranch/sets/72157605690674371/show/with/2590455387/

There are 2 shots of the last one, and that was not part of the lot, it's the one I mentioned I've had a while.  I'm really happy with this lot of shrunken heads. 

[Meek]

   Yes, everyone should get a head. Years ago the local Community Theatre was doing a production of "South Pacific" and not only did I get to draw fake tattoos on the sailors(including Luther Billis' full rigged sailing ship on his belly), paint the backdrop, letter various signs and do make-up, but I got to make a fake shrunken head for Bloody Mary to hawk. In spired by the shrunken heads I used to see at the Reading Museum said head turned out very nice and I even sewed his mouth and eyes shut with an upholstry needle--the cast called him "Hermie" and he was very popular--his dressing room was a fancy gift box lined with tissue paper.
   I have no photographic record of "Hermie" nor do I know who ended up taking him home after the production was over.

    "Meek"(As I was going out one day, my head fell off and rolled away . . .)

[Gasport]

Terrific shrunken head collection!! Here's a favorite of mine sculpted by Mike Parks of Mad Lab Models. I got it from him at a Chiller show years ago. He said it would be his last show as a vendor and he [so far has] stuck to his word!

[Toy Ranch]

Love that Creech head, Gasport!  Very cool!

[hhwolfman]

I saw those. They are very cool, and 10 on display, even nicer. HHW

[Gasport]

Here's a matching Franky shrunken head to go along with the Creature...Wish he would make them available again!

[Gasport]

Sorry, couldn't resist...another view of  the Creetch and Franky shrunken heads...

[raycastile]

I do not believe for a minute that any witch doctor could catch the Creature from the Black Lagoon, cut off his head and shrink it.  I think it is more likely the Creetch would give the witch doctor one good swat with his claw and send the doc's head flying into a pool of waiting piranha.

Aside from that...

Everybody's shrunken heads look great.  I love that stuff.

[Gasport]

Not "technically" a shrunken head, but equally cool. I've amassed quite a few of these and other similar versions, thanks to ebay. . . But this one's the original. "Mr Satan" is the title on the package header... Hey Monster Bob,  you MUST have one of these dangling from somewhere in your Horton Heat Ford , right?  This head is also associated with the classic Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner. The springy devil head on top of the fortune telling machine.

[Inkfink]

I have a couple of those devil heads too and I'd like to recreate a Twilight Zone fortune telling machine. I have yet to see a ticket dispenser like the one in the episode. Did fortune telling machines without the devil head actually exist back in the day?

[Inkfink]

Googled my question... Yes, they were called Swami machines. Here's a web page on constructing a replica of the Mystic Seer: http://www.b9robotresource.com/mystic_seer.htm

[Gasport]

 I recall at  a Chiller show in NJ a few years ago seeing somebody selling this replica of the fortune telling machine... He had one on display and i thought it was meant to sell just the devil heads. A beautiful replica, but WAY out of my price range.

[Muggs]

If you are a VINTAGE NOVELTY SHRUNKEN HEAD lover like i am, then you might be interested:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1180328626281059/?ref=share_group_link

[Sir Masksalot]

Thanks for bumping this musty old thread with such a fun reply, Muggs. It's incredible that
there's a fb group devoted to shrunken heads! I'm not a participant in social media myself
but you're welcome to add any of the images in my post here to your group:

EVIL UGLY FACE by the Ayres Studio who also used it as their logo >

            

SHRUNK PUNKS by Dimensional Designs, 1980s >



"Witchdoctor" mask plus shrunken heads by Retro Rubber, early 2000s >

[Rex fury]

I bought one of those glow in the dark shrunken heads at Disneyland back in 1967. I still have it around here somewhere, alas it had a chip on the jaw last I looked at it. The original price tag is still attached to the base, which I recall was 2.95 or so!
RF