This particular whistle and others similar were used by tribes people indigenous to Central America, including Zapotec, Aztecs, and Mayans. It was used to announce the death of a tribal member. The members of the "sacred house" would play this whistle by itself and then later along with a drum, a conch shell, and a flute. It was also used on the "Day of the Dead" with a combination of other instruments. These whistles are hand sculpted from terra cotta clay and fired in a kiln and glazed. 

The Aztec death whistle produces a sound so horrifying, it will chill you to the bone. Described as the ‘scream of a thousand corpses’, the death whistle sounds like the cry of the un-dead, or the torment of a human being burned alive.