So this week I got a wild idea to find some actual shrunken head photos without spending a dime. Yeah I know it sounds creepy, but bear with me - it's for this horror novel research thing. Figured I'd document how it went down.
Starting With The Obvious Stuff
First I just Googled "free shrunken head pictures" like a total noob. Big surprise - got flooded with museum exhibit shots and fake rubber Halloween props. Every decent image wanted money or credits. Tried Bing too, same trash results. Felt like smacking my forehead real hard.
Changed Tactics With These Moves:
- Added "museum archive" to the search terms
- Tried "anthropology collections" instead of just "shrunken heads"
- Put quotes around "real shrunken heads" to filter garbage
Got slightly better results but still either paywalled or those crappy watermarked previews. The National Museum collections showed some thumbnails but wanted €25 per download. Nah fam.
Hitting Gold With Public Archives
Remembered my local university library lets regular folks access their academic databases. Made an appointment saying I was writing a paper (not totally lying). Librarian showed me JSTOR and Artstor - bingo! Found three legit shrunken head photos taken during some 1920s expedition. Free access as long as I don't sell them. Took screenshots with my phone but the lighting sucked.
Got ambitious and asked about medical archives. Pro tip: those weirdos at medical schools keep the wildest collections. One pathology department actually had high-res 360° scans when I emailed them. Just had to promise not to use them commercially or in "distasteful contexts". Whatever that means.
Weird Stuff That Accidentally Worked
- Turns out some vintage anthropology books on archive dot org had scans with photos
- Old Reddit threads pointed to decommissioned educational websites on Wayback Machine
- Messaged a taxidermy YouTuber who DMed me his personal museum visit pics
Ended up with like 20 usable images after two days of digging. Would've been faster if I'd known where to look at the start.
Biggest Lessons Learned:
- Academic archives > stock photo sites for creepy stuff
- Say you're a student/researcher - people give way more access
- Never pay when museums might give stuff away if you ask
Honestly felt like a dang detective finding these. But hey, zero dollars spent - mission accomplished. Might do antique medical tools next week.
