What’s the Scariest Sound in the World? Experts Recreate Noise of Aztec Death Whistle

What's the scariest sound you've heard? Some consider the Aztec Death Whistle the most terrifying sound, and experts were able to recreate it.

Aztec Death Whistle - The Scariest Sound

Experts have recreated the noise of the Aztec Death Whistle, which was deemed the "scariest sound in the world." A new version of the legendary instrument was built using a 3D printer, and the sound was similar to a "spooky gust of whistling wind" and "scream of a thousand corpses."

They modeled the design of their new whistles on the skull-shaped original discovered in Mexico with a skeleton in the late 1990s. The Action Lab, a YouTube channel for education specializing in scientific experiments, just published a new video of the 3D-printed whistle.

Presenter James J. Orgill said this has been called the most horrifying sound worldwide. Despite what you would think, the noise was not a human scream, even if it sounded as such.

Your heart instinctively races with fear when you hear the death whistle.

During the excavation of an Aztec temple in Mexico City in 1999, the original Aztec Death Whistle was discovered, carried in the hand of a decapitated skeleton.

According to Orgill in the new film, archaeologists initially assumed this must be some toy and didn't give it any thought. Not until 15 years later, for some unknown reason, a scientist blew into the opening at the top of it, and it released a horrifying sound - it sounded like a screaming human.

Although history has forgotten the death whistle's exact function, there are several popular theories. Perhaps the device was buried with the original skeleton as a form of protection to frighten off evil spirits as they passed from this world. Orgill asserts that soldiers may have also employed whistles to strike fear in the hearts of the opponents before the battle.

The expert claims that the whistle's form resembles a human larynx. When the user breathes into it, the air splits in half, generating oscillating sound waves that travel through a sizable chamber before escaping through a second hole. The whistle also features an inside ball, frequently made of cork, which bounces about and causes extra sound distortion.

Why Did the Aztecs Die?

In 1545, tragedy struck Mexico's Aztec civilization when the locals started experiencing high fevers, headaches, and bleeding from the eyes, mouth, and nose. In most cases, death occurred three or four days later.

Within five years, an epidemic known locally as "cocoliztli" took off up to 15 million people or around 80% of the population.

In the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, the word implies plague. However, its origin has been debated for close to 500 years.

Scientists claimed in one study that they had identified the potential culprit. They discovered signs of the salmonella enterica bacterium, of the Paratyphi C variant, after analyzing DNA taken from 29 bones interred in a cocoliztli cemetery.

According to the research team, several salmonella strains may have arrived in Mexico via Spanish-imported domestic animals and spread through contaminated food or water.

According to co-author Alexander Herbig from Tuebingen University, salmonellaenterica was the sole pathogen found despite testing for every bacterial pathogen and DNA virus for which genetic data is available.

However, it's plausible that some diseases were either undetected or unheard of. According to team member Kirsten Bos, they could not declare that S enterica was the root of the cocoliztli pandemic. However, it should be regarded as a strong candidate.

Check out more news and information on Aztecs in Science Times.