Page 03 Wooden IndianWooden Indians have been a common sight cigar stores in the United States since the nineteenth century. In recent years they've become less popular due to increased sensitivity to racial issues.
When Ian came up with the idea of Buffalo Bill's circus crew being held under an enchantment (when the magic lifts, most of the performers and roustabouts are revealed to be zombies) he came up with the nifty idea of turning the Red Indian troupe - who in real life were employed re-enacting their defeat at the hands of the white man - into the white man's image of themselves.
Page 04 Annie's SkinsThere is some debate about whether Europeans brought the practice of scalping to North America, or whether it was established already. It is accepted that white frontiersmen practiced scalping in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Annie's caravan, with its human pelt on the wall and racks of firearms, is a reminder that the settling of North America was not simply the claiming of an empty land by pioneers; it was the displacing of one population by another, and that was a bloody and unpleasant business.
Steve In Nottingham, November 2005
