# Do lobsters scream when you put them in boiling water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2002, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744 "2002-08-27T05:59:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/41 "2002-08-28T17:45:39Z")
“The Sound Machine” by Roald Dahl is in a short story collection called “Skin”. The collection just came out a few years ago. What was this thread about again? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/42 "2002-08-28T18:01:54Z")
Eve! Down, girl! Drop **the guy** into boiling water. And he’ll scream much louder. Anyone else flashing on the Night Court episode where the environmentalist frees a tankfull of lobsters at a restaurant? “One almost made it to a cab.” That kills me every time. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/43 "2002-08-29T03:46:30Z")
“What sort of a sick bastard digs up a child’s dead pet rabbit and puts it back in it’s cage?” That’s the punchline, I’m sure you all know the setup. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/44 "2002-08-29T05:52:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DonutsAreForLife \* > \*\*It seems that sometimes people are a little squeamish about cooking and eating lobsters. Alton Brown on Good Eats pointed out that lobsters (and shrimp) are more closely related to cockroaches, than for instance cows are. > > It seems only the fact that we have to dispatch the lobster ourselves means we think about the wee beastie at all. > > So, think of it as a giant bug that you ::really:: wouldn’t want to see lots of running round your kitchen late at night, and the whole cooking process should be a little smoother. 😃 \*\* Smoother, huh? I’ll say. If I start thinking of lobsters in terms of their being more closely related to vermin than they are to food, my _specialite du jour_ is gonna be macaroni and cheese. ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/45 "2002-08-29T06:32:44Z")
Several years ago, while I was visiting my parents, I noticed the dogs were _very_ interested in something in the yard. When I checked to see what it was, I found a small brown baby rabbit about the size of a hamster. I picked it up to get it away from them and it let out a high-pitched squeal that almost made me drop the damn thing. It didn’t have any injuries so I carried it to the woods on the edge of our property and released it where they couldn’t get to it anymore. It screamed a couple of more times while I was carrying it, but it never made any attempt to get away or bite or put up any resistance at all. I’ve never heard a lobster make any noise while I was cooking it, but I didn’t really listen very closely to the pot. I’ll make sure to pay more attention next time one hits the water. Anyone want to finance some research for me? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/46 "2002-08-29T11:27:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meliadus \* > \*\*I remember reading a long time ago a sf short story on this topic. A man developes a machine to detect extremely high sound frequencies and convert them into the human audible range, only to discover that trees (and all plants, too) scream horribly when harmed. I think it was an early Arthur C. Clark early collection, perhaps “Tales from the White Hart”, published in 1957 (or another “White Hart” collection). I tried a search, but could not find any synopses of the stories. \*\* I think I read this story in “The Collected Works of Arthur C. Clarke” a while ago - it might’ve been one of the Tales from the White Hart, as about a third of them are. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/47 "2002-08-29T12:13:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 \* > \*\* > > Smoother, huh? I’ll say. If I start thinking of lobsters in terms of their being more closely related to vermin than they are to food, my _specialite du jour_ is gonna be macaroni and cheese. \*\* Sure, it makes the _cooking_ process smoother. The effect on the _eating_ process can be a bit deleterious, however. On the other hand, think of the lovely images he invoked like Cockroach Newburg or a cockroach/mouse surf & turf combo… ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/48 "2002-08-29T12:33:42Z")
We used to put our bunny on a leash tied to a tree. One day she got all tangled up in the leash and started screaming loudly, almost human-like. And I mean loud. Think of the shower scene music in “Psycho”. Up until that moment, she’d never made a sound. Just thumped with her hind legs. Shook us up a bit. We never put her on the leash like that again. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/49 "2002-09-02T09:53:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meliadus \* > \*\*I remember reading a long time ago a sf short story on this topic. A man developes a machine to detect extremely high sound frequencies and convert them into the human audible range, only to discover that trees (and all plants, too) scream horribly when harmed. I think it was an early Arthur C. Clark early collection, perhaps “Tales from the White Hart”, published in 1957 (or another “White Hart” collection). I tried a search, but could not find any synopses of the stories. \*\* When I read that, the first thing I thought was ,"That sounds like something from _Tales from the White Hart_. However, I happen to have it with me at work (I just decided to re-read it) and it is definately not in this collection. I’ll figure it out, though… ---
**Author:** ![Meliadus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@Meliadus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meliadus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/50 "2002-09-02T14:49:47Z")
Linus, **brondicon** has already given the correct attrubution for the ”Screaming Trees” short story above: > [@](#): > > It’s Roald Dahl’s “The Sound Machine.” Here’s a synopsis, with spoilers, of course, but probably no more than previously posted. Complete with link and all. Damn. I have read most of A. C. Clark’s work, and a fair amount of H. G. Wells’, and one single Roald Dahl book, and it had to be Dahl. There ain’t no justice. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@Dave\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_D)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/51 "2002-09-02T15:32:22Z")
The thing that I always found funny about that lobster == roach is that from what I remember of biology class cows are considered closer kin to turtles than lobsters to roaches.(Actually for all I know fish might be more closely related to cows than lobsters to roaches.) ---
**Author:** ![fergusj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5e925/32.png) [@fergusj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fergusj)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/52 "2002-09-02T16:36:27Z")
From [Pacific Seafood Group website](http://www.pacseafood.com/products/am_lobster.html): > [@](#): > > Consumers who refrain from eating lobster because of the “scream” the animals make when placed in boiling water shouldn’t worry. The sound is simply air escaping from the lobster’s body as it expands from the heat. They definitely suffer but I guess they lack the basic mechanisms to produce a pain response signal that humans can empathize with. One is supposed to dunk the lobster in boiling water head first so that the brain is nuked asap so as to minimize the suffering the poor creature has to go through. I found [this page](http://www.causesthatmatter.com/AnimalProtection/AnimalProtection.cfm?ID=317&c=31) that talks about a way to microwave your lobster that supposedly is more inhumane than the boiled alive approach. They also talk about whether lobsters feel pain or not. ## As to freezing the animal to death before boiling: that seems rather sick to me. The advantage seems to be more that they die (horribly) in the freezer but out of view of the person cooking them, rather than thrashing around in the steaming waters of death with their death throes in full display. Fergus ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/53 "2002-09-02T16:48:34Z")
Mary Tyler Moore got on an [anti-lobster-cooking soapbox](http://www.peta-online.org/news/700/700b52lobster.html) when I was living in Maine, which for those who may not know, is a very bad place to get onto an anti-lobster-anything soapbox. She ran full page ads urging people to not go to the [Maine Lobster Festival](http://www.mainelobsterfestival.com/) in Rockland. I think she was asked to leave. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744/54 "2002-09-03T03:46:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meliadus \* > \*\*Linus, **brondicon** has already given the correct attrubution for the ”Screaming Trees” short story above: > > Complete with link and all. Damn. I have read most of A. C. Clark’s work, and a fair amount of H. G. Wells’, and one single Roald Dahl book, and it had to be Dahl. There ain’t no justice. \*\* You must be right. When I read the post, I didn’t think it was the same story that I was thinking of, as I didn’t remember reading any collection of Dahl shorts. I assumed that I must have read a similar story by another author. But after reading the synopsis, it sounds exactly like the story that I remember. Now if I can only remember where I read the story… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lobsters-scream-when-you-put-them-in-boiling-water/125744.md?page=2)