The Wizard of Oz Hanging Munchkin Scene

A friend told me that in one scene of the Wizard of Oz you can see someone ‘hang’ themselves from a tree in the background.

Well, the "dead person hanging in the background" rumor is popular, but untrue. What the "hanging person" actually is a film crew person who got caught in the shot and quickly ran off the set.

It’s kind of hard to see, but it never did get cut out. I guess the hanging person legend has too much flare to die down.

The video clip in question appears below:

MGM proclaimed at the time of filming, that they had rented 300 birds from ZOO PARK, in Los Angeles, so that the director could select an appropriate few for the background atmosphere amidst the trees.

Among the birds were: golden pheasants, a South American toucan, an African crane and a Saurus crane.

A few of these birds managed to escape and appeared in various shots throughout the filming of THE WIZARD OF OZ.

One of these incidents occurred in the scene discussed here.

The explanation given is that it was one of the larger birds on that particular set that creates the illusion of a person hanging!

Reference: http://www.wendyswizardofoz.com/hanging.htm