# Ever been scared by one of these...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 21, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242 "2006-03-21T03:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/1 "2006-03-21T03:14:03Z")
About 20 minutes ago my 11 year old step-brother asks me of I can help him complete a puzzle on the computer it was some kind of number thing, I don’t remember exactly but after really concentrating for a few seconds this face pops up on the screen out of nowhere and screams at me and I screamed back at it and bro had a good laugh, I swear my heart is still pumping faster than normal off of that one incident. So now I want to join him in tricking people with this puzzle…my only criteria for choosing the next “victim” is that they have to be under 60 and in reasonably good health. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/2 "2006-03-21T03:21:51Z")
The one that I saw recently was a side by side of a mountain and lake scene where the viewer was invited to make note of the differences between the two. Somewhat to the disappointment of the person who was trying to, ahem, surprise me, I did NOT shriek. I was in the middle of saying to her, “what kind of differences am I supposed to be looking for 'cause I don’t see anything?” while turned away from the monitor. So no surprise for me. And no joy for her. Ha. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/3 "2006-03-21T03:22:34Z")
yeah, i’ve been had by a couple of them. look out for variations on the same thing. bwhahahahahaha… bet your reaction was priceless…heh ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/4 "2006-03-21T03:24:29Z")
Yes, the screamer is a relatively old joke on the Internet. It’s most effective in conjunction with what appears to be a very difficult game that requires a certain amount of concentration, like this one. WARNING: If you click that link, when you get to level 3 and try to go through the narrow part the Exorcist chick will pop up and scream. You’ve been warned. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/5 "2006-03-21T03:32:18Z")
There was a file on youtube or somewhere someone made of a very young kid getting pranked with one of these, I mean like 7 years old. One of the cruelest things I’ve ever seen. Whoever did that to that kid really deserves a nice beating. The poor kid really freaked, you can imagine. But it was fascinating to watch, for some reason. The old slow-down-and-rubberneck-at-a-car-wreck effect, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/6 "2006-03-21T03:35:23Z")
Yeah, I think we’ve all seen that - to the point where [the SDMB actually has a “don’t post that thing” rule.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=1949380&postcount=2) I’m not junior modding, I’m just saying that being freaked out by one of those things is almost a rite of passage on the 'net. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/7 "2006-03-21T03:36:45Z")
Oops. Relevant or not, I guess I shouldn’t have linked that site. If a Mod would care to break that link, be my guest. I’m properly humbled. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/8 "2006-03-21T03:51:02Z")
I’m too lazy to find it, but there’s one that works really well because it has music, and it’s very soft, so people are likely to turn up their speakers. I love those things. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/9 "2006-03-21T05:23:24Z")
Yes, I’ve been done! Got me good, too. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/10 "2006-03-21T06:14:17Z")
It got me back in the late '90s, in the dorms, when I wasn’t nearly as Internet-savvy. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/11 "2006-03-21T06:19:31Z")
I showed one to a (guy) friend of mine over IM. He didn’t talk to me for a few minutes afterwards, so I just assumed he was mad and not talking to me or something. No, it turns out he had jumped out of his seat and ran around his house a couple times screaming. For the record, he was about 16 or 17 at the time, prime “I’m so tough” age. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/12 "2006-03-21T13:24:36Z")
I know we can’t get a link, but how would I find one of these? ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/13 "2006-03-21T13:45:18Z")
There are links (and descriptions, if you won’t want to actually watch them) to several versions on the Wiki page about them: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prank\_flash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prank_flash) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/14 "2006-03-21T14:25:30Z")
[QUOTE=TJdude825] […]there’s one that works really well because it has music, and it’s very soft, so people are likely to turn up their speakers. [/QUOTE] Yes, I’d say be suspicious of **ANY** Flash whose sound level is set unusually low. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/15 "2006-03-21T14:57:48Z")
I was playing some computer game or other, was in some dark dungeon, and signed off to go check my e-mail. I got the “differences” one…my room was all dark and I was already creeped out by the game. I screamed loud enough for my SO to come running in from the other room. He laughed and laughed…for he was the one who’d sent it to me, hours earlier, and had forgotten about it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/16 "2006-03-21T15:11:59Z")
Yup, I got taken by one just late last year. I probably avoided it up 'till then because I abhor forwards and usually delete them without reading them. This time, a coworker of mine came over to my desk to show it to me. Fortunately for my dignity, I’m not a screamer. I jerked back in my chair, all my muscles tensed, and my heart was beating like a drumroll, though. ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/17 "2006-03-21T15:25:37Z")
I’ve seen lots of these. The low volume is a good warning sign. I remember the car one which looks like a car commercial with a car driving down a winding road. My spidey sense went tingling when it got too quiet and calm, so I didn’t really jump when a zombie-ish looking thing popped up. I personally despise these. I keep thinking that someone out there has gotten a heart attack from one of these, but we just haven’t heard about it yet. So I find them morally irresponsible. That being said, there is the low-volume audio recording of Paris Hilton’s (fake) phone conversation with Britney Spears, where… …a loud male voice comes on saying “I love gay porn, I LOVE gay porn. I hate my job, but I love gay porn!” You can try to find it for yourself. I spoiler-boxed it, because it’s funnier when it’s a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/18 "2006-03-21T16:18:29Z")
[QUOTE=Charger] I’ve seen lots of these. The low volume is a good warning sign. I remember the car one which looks like a car commercial with a car driving down a winding road. My spidey sense went tingling when it got too quiet and calm, so I didn’t really jump when a zombie-ish looking thing popped up. [/QUOTE] That’s the one I saw, too. I swear, I must have jumped a foot off the ground! I’m a pretty jumpy person though; the photoshopped ghost pictures freak me out too, if you can see their eyes. There’s just something about the eyes. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/19 "2006-03-21T19:31:13Z")
The subliminal messages one got me. As in “fell out of my seat trying to breath” got me. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242/20 "2006-03-21T20:29:32Z")
My wife’s former employer sent an email attachment to a salesman friend. The friend was in the client’s waiting room, and he checked his mail on his laptop. He opened the attachment, and a loud voice said, “Hey, everybody, I’m lookin’ at porno!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-scared-by-one-of-these/349242.md?page=2)