Thank you! Yes, the movie referred to it as an "Aztec death whistle" (looking it up, it was probably a recent Ghostbusters) and I thought "that sounds made up" but I was wrong. Reading Wikipedia though it sounds like the 'death whistle' part is a modern error - it should sound like natural wind!
If you want to hear the real thing, which is less spectacular but more appropriate for being an instrument associated with a wind deity:
Oh that's sick though. And I don't know about less spectacular, it's extremely otherworldly!
It’s just a more natural, less terrifying sound. I like its natural, eerie quality.
Yup. The reproductions were shit and too big for the air to produce the actual sound of the original whistle. This led to the myths about the whistle being used to terrify enemies, rather than it being a sacred, ritualistic object.
Pleased to learn that. My assumption was (based on the 'death whistle' name) it was a bit of fiction leaning into tired tropes about American Indigenous peoples, so I was surprised to learn it was real. Discovering it's real but *not* a goofy screaming whistle kinda takes it full circle!