Wizard of Oz hangman's noose?

Question

I'm watching WOO, my son says there's an urban legend about a noose in the scene with the tin woodsman, we didn't see it. anybody know anything about it?

Answer 1

Yes, I've been told many things
that a munchkin actor hung himself and you can see the shadow of the swinging body

however, snoopes checked it out and said that it's shadows of escaped birds flying overhead

Answer 2

This is nothing more than an urban legend. People always "know" people who claim to know it's true...classic case of "Friend of a Friend"...or simple manufactured memory (where a person claims to remember it happening when it never actually did).

Snopes, among many other groups, have found it to be untrue.
The Snopes site has this to say about it:
"The logistics of this alleged hanging defy all credulity. First of all, the forest scenes in The Wizard of Oz were filmed before the Munchkinland scenes, and thus none of the munchkin actors would have been present. And whether one believes that the figure on the film is a munchkin or a stagehand, it is simply impossible that a human being could have fallen onto a set actively being used for filming, and yet none of the dozens of people present -- actors, directors, cameramen, sound technicians, light operators -- failed to notice or react to the occurrence. (The tragic incident would also had to have been overlooked by all the directors, editors, film cutters, musicians, and others who worked on the film in post-production as well.) That anyone could believe a scene featuring a real suicide would have been left intact in a classic film for over fifty years is simply incredible."

Answer 3

After the scene where the witch throws the fireball at the scarecrow the main characters turn to skip down the road. In the background are 2 large birds. They look like large cranes. One of them infolds it's wing up and then down. If you have an old VHS copy that has not been cleaned up it does appear to look like someone climbing up a ladder and swinging out away from the tree possibly hanging. A lot of this has to do with the power of suggestion. I was told about a crew member who hung himself and shown the scene from an old video tape. I swore for years that I had seen it myself. When the cleaned up version on Laserdisc came out I watched that scene thinking you would be able to see the hanging clearly and now saw only birds in the background. Apparently it is a very old joke that has been going around for ever.

Answer 4

My husbands Great Uncle produced this movie. My husband has told me about this for years and he says that it is in really old copies of the movie. Most places that air the movie on TV have already replaced their copy. It was a munchkin that hung himself. Sorry I don't have any proof other than that but I thought he was B.S.ing me until it came up at his parents house and his mother whose uncle it was confirmed it.

Answer 5

yeah its when the witch is on the roof i think. in the background on like the right side of the screen, it looks as if a munchkin is swinging by his neck from a rope. ive seen it before.

Answer 6

I heard about that to, I watched it and never saw it!!

Answer 7

oooo there's a myth that a midget hung himself in that seen...but they edited it out, so you won't see anything!!!!