So I remember my sister first telling me about this, apparently during the filming of the Wizard of Oz, the munchkins were treated like crap and stuffed into one small trailor where they awaited there scenes in the Wizard of oz, while Dorthy had her huge glamorous trailor and pretty much stepped all over the little people.

ANYWAYS, the legend goes that one munchkin was so unhappy with it and with his life at the time that he actualy went and hung himself during the end of the forest scene and it was captured on tape and used in the final print.

I have examined the video many times and it looks very questionable, it could be a dwarf hanging himself, or a type of animal in the background, some kind of goose or ostrage(idk how to spell that).

There is some information on it from this site, which classifys it as fake, but I was wondering what you guys think?

This is the site, left it out in the above post, my bad.
http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/ozsuicid.htm

I've watched that a few times in the past, and it always looked pretty obviously like a bird to me.

Yea...im leaning more towards that too, its fun to think otherwise though

I always thought it was a forgotten prop from another scene.

Nah its deffinitly something moving, just not sure what

I always thought that the movement was just a stage hand who was where he wasn't supposed to be.
But in a morbid way it's sort of funny to believe the legend

Yeah the videoclip shows something swinging.

Am going to make the same comment about something swinging. Have no idea what it is, even though have heard this rumor for years and believed it, but it doesn't look like a bird.

There's been threads on this before and it's dismissed on www.snopes.com.

Believe it or not I actually STUDIED this in US History, pertaining to all the Bimetalism issues with the movie. But I definitley thinks a bird, when I first saw it my teacher freaked me out with it, but then I watched it for myself.

It's a peacock. This was on TV a couple months ago. The Munchkins weren't even in California yet because the sceen was filmed before they were. Although the legend also says there is one in another sceen, but I don't remember where.

Edit: Yes, I do remember. The one that was on TV is the part that happened right after Dorothy oiled the tin man and they went skipping down the road. The other one (Which I haven't ever noticed) happens after the Cowardly Lion joins the group.

I remember hearing something about the second one. . . But I never really knew where it was supposed to be.

Some website did a close up on the "swinging" thing in the background, and it did look really weird. Come on guys, wheres that ever-endearing UM conspiracy attitude? Of course a munchkin hung himself. Do you really think they'd come out and tell us the truth? No! They'd try to cover it up as hard as they could!

Seriously, though. . .I don't think they'd be daft enough to use the take in the final cut if someone DID hang themselves in the background. That'd just be poor decision making on someone's part. It is a fun story though (how morbid am I?). I'll try to find the website where it shows a closeup. It really does look weird. .but I highly doubt it's a dead munchkin.

I just watched the video and it looked like a birds wing...Couldn't be any worse then those "flying monkeys"...

It was on the TV Land mysteries show or something. The Muchkins didn't even come to California to start filming for a couple of weeks after that scene was shot. And if you look at it it really looks like a peacock, I mean come on! I agree, why would they keep a cut with a suicidal Munchkin in it?

Dudes. It's a bird. Come on.

Sure it's fun and creepy to think otherwise, but it is a bird.

There are other movie ''hauntings'' in classics though. Like the ''face'' in the Godfather or the ''ghost'' in Three men and a Baby. And all of them have been proved wrong (though the 3 men and a Baby page on Snopes doesn't really convince me).

While this thread is still open, here is a close-up version someone put up on youtube awhile ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4gh6BEPN8Q&NR=1

It's 100% a bird spreading it's wings. No dead munchkin (thank god)

I don't know what it is, but either way birds and munchkins are both delicious.

That's just wrong

It's definitely a bird, and I have heard this story before.

One of which the would be hanged munchkin supposedly had a break up with his little girlfriend munchkin and he took it really bad and hung himself.
But as I said earlier it's untrue and the thing in the background is one of the many exotic birds that was put on set to make the place look more like a fantasy world.

That's what I've been trying to say. Never-the-less, it does make a fun Urban Legend.

It does look like a bird. Although, just to argue, the bird looks like a silohuette most of the time, the 'wing' that swings out just looks... different to me.

http://www.freewebs.com/urbanbee/media/ozdeath.htm

It is true that it made a good urban legend and it actually has been somewhat long lived for something that the Oz personnel have already debunked with actual video. The reason I believe it was so fun and has lasted for so long is because the show and or movie itself was very well known through out the world. As it is news travels fast and some parts and not so fast in others. Living room for this legend to resurface again and again.

When yougo to that part of the movie and watch the part that is supposed to be the suicide, you'll notice that it's hard to see much of anything there, let alone actually make out a human form. What I don;t get is how someone found that one little set of of frames and then making that out of it. I would've never even seent he bird if someone hadn't made a big productin out f it being a suicide.

On the other hand, what does that say about all of us that went to the movie and looked for a lovestruck dwarf hanging himself. WE are sick, all of us, me included.

Did it ever occur to anyone that this was supposed to be the witch spying on them? Or that it might have been some accident on the set but it LOOKED like the witch spying on them so they left it? In that one closeup veiw, it DOES look like a peacock, but I still say it might have been intended to be the witch.

WTF?! I THOUGHT THE WIZARD OF OZ'S MUNCHKINS WERE ALWAYS HAPPY PEOPLE!

Well, at least one of them was supposed to have had a "swinging" good time!

O.K., I'm sorry. That was in bad taste, even if no one actually did die.

I saw a video on it on youtube. It shows how the hanging munchkin(srry I spelled it wrong) is in reality a crane spreading its wings. Its still creepy looking either way.

If it was a munchkin, at least he picked a low branch to hang from.

That would be pretty pathetic if a munchkin hung itself over a hissy fit about the size of it's trailer. The story seems too far fetched, so I am highly doubtful.

It can't be someone hanging themselves because while the figure does swing, it doesn't swing back so, it definitely wasn't someone hanging but I don't know what it is.

Should I feel bad cuz I find this to be funny?

Nope. I mean, it is pretty funny, really

Looks like a pelican spreading it's wings then turning slightly to it's left. Actually that's exactly what it appears to be.

Then I guess it's alright, and the thing indeed looks like a bird's wing.

Being that I'm intensely spooked out by "little" people, I'm hoping it was a midget.

Sorry the conspiracy nuts are busy digging for vague evidence for their 9/11 conspiracy.

kool

First of all, did they film it in an actual forest? I've never seen the video of it, but it seems like most prop trees would be too flimsy to hold even someone of smaller stature. Also, does the legend state whether he did it purposely as the scene was being shot? If otherwise, seems pretty coincidental that he happened to still be swinging from hanging himself right when the scene was being shot.

If you're really interested, maybe search the newspapers from the time the movie was being filmed and see if anything was mentioned about a suicide. They'd have to mention it somewhere, I mean what would be the point of covering it up? I myself am too lazy, don't care enough as I don't believe it anyway, and wouldn't know where to start looking.

It is most likely a giant bird, because the directors borrowed giant birds friom the los angeles zoo for the movie, and you can see a peacock infromt of the woodman's house in a few scenes, and plus, I doubt they'd be doing the "Disney movie thing" so long back.

Yeah it's funny because it's a BIRD, not a munchkin or a midget..
Watch the close up video of it on youtube..it's most definitely a BIRD

If it were a human it wouldn't be funny it would be tragic. Finding humor in misery, and an actual death is a little mental.

Hanging Munchkin - False

Its a bird you can see the wing flap but i did come across this article talking about a real suicide seen in wizard of oz check it out but dont jump to conclusions

http://www.gigdig.com/~oz/

^ yeah I remember reading somewhere that the supposed hanging occured in Munchkinland, not the bird scene, though that too is a bit farfetched. There were many people around, surely someone would have noticed a poor munchkin hanging, and that sites pictures aren't very clear and the video is corrupt (least my media player says so). I did like the guys reasoning though - "If I'm not worth the pay of a dog - I'd rather die"

ya I couldnt play the video also..I guess im actually gonna have to buy that movie someday...

After watching the video provided on the Snopes page, I'd have to say false.

If you zoom in, you can clearly see, it's some kind of bird. It dips its head down, then up, and turns to face/away from the camera.

Unless I'm looking at the wrong thing : P

The scene you're referring to can be found here. It's a munchkin dancing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGXsa71v2Q8

hi everyone!
Um that clip was definatly a bird BUT... That is not the part with the hanging person. I have personally seeen it and at the moment I can't actually think of what part it is. My uncle showed it to me when I was about 12 years old. I've never forgotten it either! Though I'm not exactly sure at this moment waht scene it is in. I'm determined to find this part again. If I can't find it myself I will get my uncle to show me again. AND if my recollection is right, it was not even a munchkin, but an adult male. I also remember it was in the shadows , kinda like the bird BUT you can definatly tell it is a human hanging by a rope.
I swear on my fathers grave I am not lying! I'll get back to you as soon as I find it and tell you the exact spot.

the scene where the munchkin supposedly hung himself was considered a hoax on www.castleofspirits.com

The scene where the trio was dancing and singing on a small roads with lotsa trees on the movie, that's the supposed scene. However, I've seen a TV show that covers the topic (I think it was called "Urban Legend") and finally a team of pros and even the munchkins' actors themselves admit that it's actually a big flightless bird, probably an emu or cassowary flapping it's wings, making it looks like a hanging man. What makes me convince is that (I've seen the movie when I was small, mind you) is that all the munchkins were there and alive! Well of course there are some which has been deceased, but they deceased not long ago and of natural cases, not from hanging themselves.