Mitchell-Hedges never came across extra-terrestrial beings, but he did come upon what experts told him was a unique human being – which looks as strange as no doubt aliens would look like.
This encounter with a bizarre “mummy” is the so-called ‘chief fetish’, which Mitchell-Hedges encountered amongst a tribe known as the Chucunaque. It is little known that it was actually Mitchell-Hedges and Lady Brown that discovered this tribe in Panama. It will therefore come as no surprise that on their arrival amongst the Chucunaque, the tribe decided to kill the white intruders as it was a tribal custom that death should be dispensed to anyone violating their territory.
Mitchell-Hedges’ intelligence and knowledge was put on display when he realised that the best methodology to deal with this lethal danger, was to pretend they were gods, and as such put on a spectacle: he had brought some flares and Lady Richmond Brown’s Queen of Sheba costume, resulting in a performance that convinced the Chucunaque that Mitchell-Hedges and Lady Richmond Brown were indeed gods sent to cure their ills.

A huge number of fascinating exhibits was collected. Amongst these was the ‘Chief Fetish’ of the Chucunaque tribe, used to treat males on the point of death. This was a human male foetus preserved by an unknown means. Professor Sir Arthur Keith F.R.S., regarded as one of the greatest anthropologist of his day, examined the fetish and declared it had a skull formation ‘hitherto entirely unknown’. This anomaly has never been solved and the unique specimen was presented to The British Museum along with hundreds of others.

To quote from Mitchell-Hedges’ Danger My Ally:

“Our experience with the San Blas Indians had warned us that sickness would be rife; but nothing we had seen there remotely approached the terrible condition of the Chucunaque. The village was rotten with disease.
[…]
Day after day Mabs and I went from hut to hut, dosing as many of the natives as we could and for as long as we could endure the dreadful diseases and the appalling stench – a matter of only four hours a day. Ruthlessly we threw out the witch-doctors’ ‘medicines’ – the wooden gods, the half-calabashes of pebbles, bone, crocodiles’ teeth, bark and the acrid, smoking herbs that forced the patient to cough and fill the steamy air of his hut with germs. Many of these fetishes – including the greatest of all – we were able to bring back to England.
This chief fetish was used only as a last resort, when an Indian was at the point of death. As far as we could discover only males were privileged to undergo the treatment, and if the sufferer subsequently recovered it was considered that a miracle had occurred. But to us the significance was in the fetish itself which proved to be unique, for it was found upon examination to be a human male foetus.
Professor Sir Arthur Keith, F.R.S., who is regarded throughout the world as one of the greatest anthropologists, gives it as his opinion that its age was from five to six months when it was removed from the womb of the mother. It had been preserved perfect in every single detail, even the fine skin; and under a microscope one can see the beginning of the eyebrows. This preservation of an embryonic child shows a scientific knowledge of the highest order in contradistinction to their habits and conditions of living. All anthropologists who have seen it are unanimous in their opinion that is has neither been smoked, sun-dried nor cured by any process known today, neither has it been treated with spirit; yet it is as perfect as when first removed from the mother.
Subsequent close examination disclosed that the foetus had a skull formation hitherto entirely unknown.
When we were told by experts that it was probably the only specimen of its kind in the world, we felt its proper place was The British Museum to which we gladly presented it.”

Various cultures have used foetuses in their magic; the practice is known to have been present in Roman times in Egypt. The foetus, of course, was a living human being. Normally, in magic, inanimate objects (stones, dolls, etc.) are used as a first grade of magic, e.g. the ushabtis that in ancient Egypt were used to help the deceased in the Afterlife, or the Terracotta Army to guard the Chinese Emperor. In cases where these objects cannot be animated, human remains – such as aborted foetuses – are used as, of course, they once had a “soul”.
Because of the rather extra-ordinary nature of these artefacts, little to no research has occurred. Furthermore, the fact that Mitchell-Hedges was able to have the tribe part with their Chief Fetish underlines the level of integration and gratitude he received from the tribe.

The Chief Fetish currently remains in storage at The British Museum. Jon Rolls and Cris Winter viewed the Chief Fetish at the British Museum in 2005. Jon says that it “was the most amazing object I have ever seen – and I have visited many museums. It had incredible detail and looked like it was sleeping, it was so lifelike I expected its eyes to open any second. As I examined it, a number of questions sprung to mind which remain unanswered to this day.”
These questions were:
1. How was it preserved? In his book, it is described as being by an unknown method.
2. Can the foetus be dated by some scientific means to determine its exact age?
3. Can it be x-rayed to see whether the skull formation is as unique, as was declared in the 1920s?
4. Is there anything unique about the bone structure and joints? Obviously most foetuses have bent legs and arms and are curled up within the womb. This foetus’s joints are unnaturally straight. It looks like it could have stood upright. Could it have been in this position in the womb or was it stretched out for preservation?
5. What is its DNA? Is it human? If so, is it similar to the Chucunaque tribe? Was it deformed?
6. If not human, is it a type of monkey or other form of animal life?
7. What stage of development was the foetus at? How many months? Why did the experts in the 1920s believe it was 5-6 months old when it’s surely far too small for this to be true – even if the mother was suffering from illness or malnutrition.
8. The fingers on both hands look to be in proportion to the other fingers on that hand. However, the fingers on the foetus’s right hand are noticeably longer than on the left hand. Is there an obvious explanation for this?
9. There appears to be some thick flesh on the back of the foetus’s right hand. What is this?
10. There seems to be no scar from an umbilical cord. Why?
11. Is it possible to determine the cause of death?
12. What do the foetus’s genes tell us? What was its eye colour?
13. Can we project what its adult skull formation would have been – size and shape?

As of yet, these questions remain unanswered. The object is about 4” high – making it too small to be a four to six months old foetus, whereas those who have seen it, also mention that the eyes and head is too big for that age. Further analysis is therefore definitely not a luxury.

Posted: 05|8|08 at 2:54 pm. Category: Wonders.
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