Curio-Seeking Gold Coaster Hunts Dwarf Human Head

Beady little eyes and perfect features--that's what makes an excellent shrunken human head, according to R. Victor Moran '50 who is now willing to pay as much as $80 for a truly good specimen.

And he's been getting plenty of answers to a recent ad in the CRIMSON. Apparently the shrunken head game is a bigger one than the public realizes, for more than one reply comes from Cambridge itself, where the layman considers these curios not exactly run-of-the-mile objects. Other answers place more of these little leathery skulls in Texas and South America where they are closer to home.

Come from Ecuador

The Jibaro tribe in Ecuador gets a big kick out of decapitating their enemy warriors, Moran explains. As an added touch, they shrink them with hot sand and stones until they stand only a few inches high. "They're really interesting little souvenirs," Moranassures all skeptics.

"Guess I'm kind of morbid," he asserts. "I'd sorta figured on setting up a little altar in the corner of the room and worshipping the darned thing. Just for a gag you know."

But Moran, who seems to know quite a little on the dehydrated cranium subject, wants to be sure that nobody slips one of "those imitation goat-skin heads" over on him. "It's got to be authentic," he seriously asserts.

Room-mates Don't Care

So far, Moran's room-mates in Adams House have kept comparatively silent on the prospects of having their living room turned into a native temple. "Just takes all kinds to make a world," they casually agree amongst themselves.

And if he ever gets tired of bowing before his altar and its shrunken human contents, Moran explains that maybe some relatives would like the head as a paper weight for Christmas. If not, he adds, they certainly will be eager to get it at one of the University museums, where people can come in and laugh at the ridiculous taste of the Jibaro tribes.