Knowing my craze for curiosités, my friend Alex Boucherot of French avant art/culture hub Fluctuat.net points me to this excellent “Mummified Pancho Villa’s Trigger Finger.” (Of course, it’s a fake, or “gaff” in carnie parlance.) The piece was created by amazing sideshow artist Mark Frierson. Just 198.09EUR.
During his lifetime, Doroteo Arango (a.k.a. Francisco Pancho Villa) was known to be a ruthless killer, notorious bandit, and revolutionary. Despite his bloodthirsty reputation, he was considered, to the poor people of Mexico, to be an enduring hero. On Friday, July 20, 1923, Villa’s luck finally ran out. As he drove through the city of Parral, a group of seven riflemen shot him dead. Even in death, Pancho Villa would not rest, as controversy continued to engulf him. Three years after his burial, it was alleged that an ex-Villista officer, Captain Emil L. Holmdahl, opened the tomb and removed Villa’s head to sell to an eccentric Chicago millionaire. This is purported to be Pancho Villa’s actual mummified trigger finger, which was also noted to be missing with his head. In a tribute to their fallen hero, the ever faithful Mexican people placed the finger in this reliquary to keep it safe, and more importantly, to serve as a glimmer of hope to all those that faithfully served and admired Villa.
