Edward Meyer travels with a shrunken head from Ecuador. Photo / Janna Dixon
Edward Meyer travels with a shrunken head from Ecuador. Photo / Janna Dixon
Fancy catching an eyeful of a 100-year-old shrunken head from Ecuador or a cannibal fork from Fiji?
Edward Meyer, vice-president of exhibits and archives for Ripley's Believe It or Not museums, arrived in New Zealand yesterday for a tour promoting Ripley's book, Strikingly True.
He brought a suitcase full oftreasures, but Customs confiscated two items.
One, a hairball coughed up by a cow, which Meyer said was the cheapest item in his collection, was held because animal products were not allowed. The second item was one of the rarest pieces in the collection - a vampire killing kit from the 1840s.
"The problem was there is a pistol as part of the kit," Meyer said. "If there are any vampires out for Halloween in New Zealand, it's the Customs guy's fault."
Meyer has worked for Ripley's museums for more than 30 years, but this was his first visit to New Zealand. The hairball would be shipped to the United States and Meyer would collect the vampire kit on departure.