UPDATE:
I recently got alot of email asking for more specific help finding the hanging munchkin.
At first I was begenning to think that maybe I had been just seeing things, but a few
of the emails refered to "the vhs" or "the tape" or the "old version". So I grabbed my
copy of "the new version" and put it in my vcr. Sure enough, the tv dont show the whole
picture like the dvd player on the computer does. The scene is still there however, and
you can see a part of this little person that appears to be hanging in the background.
So in reply to all those questions comming in (too numerous to reply to via email), I have
updated this page. Hopefully the additional information will help everybody find this
mysterous hanging munchkin scene in the Wizard of Oz.

5-23-2004:
I have also started to post some of the email that have been getting about other hanging shots.

4-03-2005:
I've been getting so many emails about this page that it's hard to get them all posted here.
Please bear with me, I save them all and will get them up here asap.

Yes the hanging scene is there!
No it's not a bird or a sand bag.
It is a real person swaying.

She is a munchkin (not a bird) and she appears to
be hanging by the neck by a rope, cord or a cable as
she sways back and forth in the munchkinland scene.

I have heard about this hanging scene in "The Wizard of Oz"
(c 1939) By MGM from many sources. And although everyone
that claims that there is a hanging in the movie seems to
have a different idea about just who was hung and how they
were hanged. Most do agree however that the hanging scene
Is somewhere along the yellow brick road. -Wrong!-

Forget the scene when Dorothy, the scarecrow, and the Tin Woodsman
are marching down the yellowbrick road and singing "We're off to
see the wizard, The wonderful Wizard of oZ...It's a bird!

The *real hanging scene takes place in Munchkinland!
I have watched this scene over and over trying to convince
myself that the woman is not hanging from somekind of rope
or cable. It seems like the more i watch that errie scene
the more it looks like like she is swaying back and forth
maybe suspended by a rope. maybe even by a rope around the neck.

I don't want to believe that the classic childrens movie
The Wizard of Oz contains a real to life death scene, but the
more i watch it, the more conciveable this idea becomes.

This particular part of the movie contained maybe hundreds
of little people (the Munchkins) who were already complaining
that they were under paid. The idea that MGM could'nt afford to
do a retake. Or maybe the Munchkins refused to come back and
do the reshoot for MGM because of the fact that Toto the dog
got paid more than they did. Maybe it was a secret protest
statement ("If im not worth the pay of a dog - i'd rather die)
that made it past the editors and into the theators and into
millions (uuh- forgot TV) billions of homes over the past
fifty three (53) years.

I can't say for sure if the hanging scene is realy a
hanging munchkin although im now a believer.
But what i can do is tell you where to find the poor
little person swaying back and forth with no expression
on her face. The only movements she makes is back and forth
not exactly side to side like the rest of the actors.
Not even swaying at the hips like a dance but more like a swing.

Look in the horse scene (in munchkinland) when Dorothy first
boards the coach (white wagon). look just over the top of the
drivers hat and a little to the right all the way in the rear
of the set. The person in the very back row. The ONLY person
in the very back row. The one that seems to sway to the others
and then back agan at an angle diffrently than everyone else.




The photo above shows the munchkin as she sways up to the next row.
( The red arrow points to the bottom of the munchkins skirt.)

The Photo below shows her as she has swayed to the very back.



The sinister part about this is that it's during the "We Thank You" rhyme: 
"We thank you verry sweetly,
 for doing it so neatly,
 You've killed her so completely,
 that we thank you verry sweetly."
"Let the joyous news be spread"

If syncronized with PinK Floyd the lyrics are:
"Money, It's a crime ..."
I accidently told somebody to look top right on the tv. Look TOP CENTER just to the LEFT

DVD/PC vs VHS/TV: Look here for a simulated tv shot.

Now I just hate to be the one to debunk the debunkers, but...
I finally got a 1/2 decent video capture tool. My video is lo-res, so it might affect this clip.
Now the Whole Wide World can see the little munchkin hanging. Use the top photo as a reference,
the red arrow in that photo points to the bottom of her skirt. Put your media player on repeat when
you play the file.
Download hanging_munchkin.wmv (in zip format) and decide for yourself.

Im not saying that this munchkin is hanging.
Im not saying that she's swinging.
Im only saying that it looks like this to me.

Get out your copy of The Wizard of Oz and judge for yourself.

BTW: If anyone knows (for sure) where the other hanging scenes
are found in the movie please email me oz@gigdig.com
I want to see all the other ones too. except the bird.

Email from skossol 4-24-2004

one of the other hanging munchkin scenes is at the very end of the moovie when dorothy is kisstin the scarecrow and the loin good by. very closely in the left hand corner you see a body, the head is cut off by the camera and it is kind of fuzzy, swinging back and forth. The bird scene howerever is only on the second and third realeases of the film. If you can get your hands on an origional copy pf the film it does not look any thing like the 2nd or 3rd. and also if you look at the tip of the birds wing, the part thats not white, and pretend like the white part of the bird, the part edited in later in the second and third version, it does look earily like a swinging midgit.

Email from Headhunter2001 6-05-2004

okay, so i saw this website and decided to see for myself. i found the scene on the video and watched it, it sure enough looked like a swinging body. but then, when i went back to look at this site i saw that it was a different person than the arrow was pointing to in the picture. in fact, if you look next to the person it appears as if three people in total are just swinging there. i don't know how that is possible since the cameraman surely would've seen it but it looks like that anyway. oh, and there's another scene i heard about where a guy slipped while working off set and was somehow hung by a wire, it's not on screen but yoèâS€èâS€����s re�€žþtion from the side.

Email from Tara 6-24-2004

Hi,
I saw your web site and had to tell you abut our experience. We herd from another person that there was a hanging munchkin and scene I didn't have the move we went to my friends house. We where looking really hard never saw a thing until later. Before they see the Emerald city back in the trees it looks like there is a person hanging, arms crossed, and legs earthier cut off or tied up hanging. you can almost see a face on a big screen. But maybe its nothing. I'm not sure. (It sure freaked us out though.)

Email from Eric 7-15-2004 
If you have the DVD of Wizard of Oz and you zoom in on the "hanging" women in 
Munchkinland, you'll see she was swaying on her feet going side to side and 
at one point she moves her hands from being at her sides to behind her back. 
She's so far back that it seems theres something round her neck but, there 
isn't. Hope this clears things up!
                                            -Eric
Hi Eric,
Would you send me a good screen shot of the zoom in so I can post it here.
Thanks,                                        -~oz
Email from Crystal 2-4-2005 
Me and some friends were at this website and we decided to watch it and
sure enough we saw it.  it was when they were in munchkin land and when
dorthy is still in the carage the girl is in the very back row and she was
wering a purpule dress.  you cant see her head she was swinging at a
constant pase. you can tell because the man in front of her was wering a
hat and you can tell he is swaing and there is a big difference.
                                                -Crystal
Email from Laura 3-28-2005 
I don't know if this still makes a difference since its awhile since youve said anything 
about your clip, but i would just like to say if you really look at it you can tell shes 
not swaying by her neck. She kind of starts out still and the sway gets bigger, so she 
wouldnt have been able to do that without someone pushing her, obviously realizing she was dead. 

Also, about 6 seconds in, she pauses at the right. Concentrate on her feet and you can 
see on foot go to the side and the other come up and touch the first. Once again, im not 
sure if this matters, but I got this from closer inspection of your video
                                                   -laura
Email from Tara 04-02-2005 
Please post this on the page!
 
 The hanging munchkin is real. unfortionately he was related to me in a way. 
he was my great aunts child. Yes unfortionately it is real my family went to 
the grave yard to see him a year ago.
                                                    -TARA
Email from Blaze 4-03-2005 
I own an Xbox, and used "The Wizard of Oz" DVD (duh)
I also own Hi-def. I beleive with High Definition T.V. you can see it as clearly as me. 
That one midget was stepping side from side. Yet I can't see the top of her head, 
it slightly DOES look like a rope/cord around her neck, but I SWEAR she was stepping 
from side from side. If what I'm seeing is wrong than correct me.
                                                     -Blaze
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