Bone Whip ‘Found In Wyoming’ Is Most Likely A Movie Prop
A picture of a whip made of real human spines was said to have been found in Wyoming, but is this factual?
The viral photo was original shared on February 5th, 2019, from a Facebook page called Historical Pictures. The post read:
A whip made from two real human spines discovered in the basement of an abandoned house in Wyoming.
After some quick online research (see also: Google search), a very similar version of the bone whip was found on the movie prop website called Prop Store.
The listing for the whip states it's from the 2014 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson movie Hercules. The entire auction listing reads:
Sitacles’ (Peter Mullan) bone whip from Hercules. This prop weapon was used by the Thracian general during the battle with the Bessi tribe and later as he tried to kill Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) in the Thracian throne chamber.
The whip is fabricated of a leather-bound, resin arm bone handle with rubber vertebrae running along the length of a leather lace, secured with a metal pin. Short leather tassels hang from both ends. The components of the whip are finished to replicate the look of worn bone with paint washes applied to give it a ruddy, aged appearance. Displaying some light wear from use, the whip remains in very good condition. Dimensions (uncoiled): 203 cm x 12 cm x 9 cm (80” x 4 ¾” x 3 ½”)
The starting bid for the item is 400 euros, which is about $453.00.
Other people have pointed out there is no way the whip could have been made from just two human spines, because of the drastic size differences. It would take roughly around 4 different humans from infant size to full grown to actually make the whip.
There you have it! Don't believe everything you read on the internet.