Pawn Shop Sells Real Shrunken Human Heads And Other Grisly Items

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'Everywhere you go, the spirit of history has left its mark'

David Delgadillo shows an authentic shrunken head at Dave's Pawn Shop.

Texas - Within a span of about six or seven city blocks, you can find Pancho Villa's alleged trigger finger, one of Tejano singer Selena's bustiers and buildings where celebrities once laid and still lay their heads.

All these treasures and points of interest are in Downtown El Paso, which has thousands of other artifacts and has drawn many interesting personalities since the turn of the 20th century.

Dave's Pawn Shop, 216 S. El Paso, has always attracted curiosity seekers and bargain hunters in its cramped confines where skeletons, Nazi memorabilia, mannequin heads and antiques take up every available space, but if you take a look inside one of the store's display windows, you'll see a black, crooked finger in a cotton-lined box, and above it, a metal cross with what looks to be a baby's heart in the middle.

Pawn shop owner Larry Baron said the finger, which allegedly belonged to Pancho Villa, was pawned by someone a couple of years ago. The heart, which may or may not have belonged to a baby vampire, was pawned a few years before the

"Both stories are pretty interesting," Baron said last week. "This morning, someone said they wanted to pawn a mummy. I told him to bring it in so I could take a look at it."

Baron said he didn't know how much he'd offer the mummy owner for the artifact until he actually saw the mummy and did some research. Villa's finger's selling price is $9,500, while the heart is $7,500. When asked to remove the two items from the display window for closer inspection, Baron declined, stating "for

The body of what Dave's Pawn Shop claims is a Chupacabra lies in a case at the Downtown shop. the right price, I'll take it from the window."
Among the celebrity clients claimed to have visited Dave's Pawn Shop are Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, who once bought a bronze statue and some jewelry, and a member of ZZ Top, who is expected to pick up a $9,000 shrunken head from the shop any day now.

Store employee David Delgadillo said he's amazed at the number of people who stop by the store to gaze at a mummified chupacabra and the Feejee mermaid skeleton in the store's display cases.

"About a month ago, we had a group come in from Mexico City," Delgadillo said. "They said they came in just to check out the store, and I said 'Yeah, right.' "

Celebrities have long been fixtures in Downtown. Elvis Presley once stayed at the now-vacant International Hotel, and President John F. Kennedy spent the night in the Cortez Building just before his fateful trip to Dallas.

When movie star Elizabeth Taylor was married to hotelier Conrad Hilton, she often stayed in the penthouse atop the Plaza Hotel, and the Camino Real Hotel is often the hotel of choice for many celebrities.

David Romo, a local historian and author of a book about Downtown, "Ringside to a Revolution," said many sites throughout Downtown, particularly in the Segundo Barrio, have been visited by important historical figures and events.

"The reason I think El Paso has such a fascinating Downtown is because all these people left their mark on it," Romo said. "Everywhere you go, the spirit of history has left its mark."

The Caples Building at Mesa and San Antonio streets was the site for planning the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s, and the Pablo Baray building at 609 S. Oregon was where Mariano Azuela wrote his book "Los De Abajo," or "The Underdogs," in 1915. Local historians say the book was instrumental in espousing the cause of the rebels during the Mexican Revolution.

Romo said his favorite street in Downtown is Oregon Street. Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point, and pachuco musician Don Tosti, who was born Edmundo Martinez Tostado, all lived near Oregon Street.

However, Romo says that not many El Pasoans know about the rich culture Downtown has.

"Downtown is one of the most unique places in the world," Romo said.