18. The myth of the Munchkin suicide is another which won’t go away
In the scene in which Scarecrow and Dorothy encounter the apple-throwing trees, discover the Tin Man, and are threatened by the Wicked Witch, they close by heading further along the Yellow Brick Road. In the background, among the trees in the distance, there is a motion near the center of the screen. Sometime in the late 20th century, a story emerged that the motion is an actor who played a Munchkin, who committed suicide by hanging.
No such suicide took place during the production. The scene cited as the suicide was filmed at a time when the actors portraying the Munchkins were not required on the set, well before the scenes in Munchkin Land were committed to film. Despite the existence of doctored film clips online, a careful examination of the released version of the film clearly demonstrates that the motion is from one of the large artificial birds which were scattered about the backgrounds.
