How do you make a shrunken head?

Question

I just returned from visiting Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum in San Francisco with some out-of-town relatives. We saw several shrunken heads and shrunken torsos (and one human body that was only 6 1/2 inches tall).

Are these real? Scientifically, how would one go about making a shrunken head, assuming one was so inclined?

Answer 1

You have to boil it for a very long time...

Answer 2

This is the most interesting question I have ever seen! I dont know how its done, but im sure it is submerged in some kind of voodoo solution.

Answer 3

I expect you would have to get rid of the bones of the head to begin with.  Not sure how you would do this except to skin the head carefully, throw the brains away, then treat  (they do this with shoe leather, right?) the rest of it until it has the consistency of leather, stitch up the sack of skin around say a major league baseball or a large stone, taking care to preserve the hair.  Voila! Shrunken head.