# Terrifying sounds, not designed to be terrifying **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429 "2008-12-16T18:22:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/21 "2008-12-17T00:04:35Z")
> [@Rasa](#): > > The BLUUUUUUUURT sound that AdAware makes when it’s done running. _shudder_ Ever tried Spybot Search & Destroy? Now that’s a terrible sound. What is it with these anti-spyware programs? (I have Adaware now, I have the sound turned off though) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/22 "2008-12-17T00:11:13Z")
Bass. Loud thumping bass, near or far, makes my heart race and I grow panicky. This is one reason why I am nutso insane about cars with loud radios. I just cannot for the life of me understand how people can _enjoy_ this sound. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/23 "2008-12-17T00:50:47Z")
The sound of my upstairs neighbor walking around his apartment. Oddly, the noise sounded EXACTLY LIKE someone was walking in the snow outside my bedroom window. It terrified me, because my apartment was recently burglarized, and I was afraid the thieve had come back and were trying to break in. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/24 "2008-12-17T01:18:44Z")
That bubbly toilet sound that lets you know that something is wrong. Terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/25 "2008-12-17T01:46:13Z")
Squirrels frolicking at night in several years’ worth of leaf litter sounds surprisingly like large brutish men stomping through the wooded back yard. Our Honeywell HEPA filter provides a soothing background of white noise that helps me sleep. Except for that one night when the motor gave up the ghost at 3 a.m. with an unholy and completely abrupt SQUEEEEAAAUUURK! I believe my feet hit the floor and I was preparing to defend myself or run as need be before I was even fully conscious. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/26 "2008-12-17T02:49:13Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#): > > My parents recently bought a Sonicare toothbrush that, from several rooms away, sounds like the whining, droning Joker music in the Dark Knight soundtrack. > > Ever since I’ve been home for winter break, I’ve been waking up or falling asleep with a vague sense of unease or even dread. Then I listen more closely and realize that it’s just the toothbrush. Ha! That’s priceless. Have you seen _There Will Be Blood_? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/27 "2008-12-17T02:58:11Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > We live under what is I guess the local hot-air balloonists’ flight path. They catch me by surprise every time. I’ll be out on the back patio sipping my early morning coffee and hear that ploooooookh! from the fire jet they use. It’s a loud alien sound so I of course jerk around and see a huge dinosaur/flying saucer thing in the air and freak. Oh, sure. It’s just a hot-air balloon, but my instincts in that first fraction of a second say “monster!” They float pretty low when they go over my house, so they are big when I see them floating unnaturally close to the ground. That’s because your brain instinctively knows that large baloons and blimps are inherently [evil](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/28 "2008-12-17T05:08:04Z")
The pitter-patter of mice in the attic of country houses. I know they’re mice, and I know they’re living up there, not down here. Yet there \*is \*a chance I could wake up covered in angry rodents hungry for flesh. So I can’t sleep. In France, on the first Wednesday of each month at exactly 10AM, firestations are required to test their alarm sirens. Every time it 1) startles me 2) makes me scan the skies for Stukka bombers and/or nuclear mushrooms. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/29 "2008-12-17T05:21:24Z")
My sister has a neat ( :rolleyes: ) trick she learned at school that she likes to do, particularly in cars. I don’t really know how she does it- she sort of rubs her thumb and pointer finger together somehow and it makes this sound kind of like the ghost kid in The Grudge, or like some kind of bug with noisy wings. It’s one of those things you do right in someone’s ear when you’re sitting behind them. I don’t know why it’s so horrifying, but the only possible reaction seems to be “AUGHHHHH CUT THAT OUT!” combined with some flailing and swatting at the offending fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/30 "2008-12-17T07:00:28Z")
> [@fuffle](#): > > I recently had an MRI for the first time. They told me the scan is “a little noisy.” > > I thought it sounded very much like my heart exploding and my brain imploding simultaneously, but I admit it was hard to hear over the demonic klaxoning of death, doom, and despair. One of my patients described it as “a washing machine with a couple of two-by-fours in it.” She had been through many, many scans and was still not quite used to it. I thought that was a pretty kind description! ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/31 "2008-12-17T13:33:45Z")
A Hairball Horking noise when you’ve just put a brand new home made quilt on the bed. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/32 "2008-12-17T14:45:55Z")
Living in hurricane country, where for the past few years we have joking called chainsaws the state song bird, I developed a dread of hearing something I haven’t heard yet and hope to never hear. IMHO, many folks don’t have either a remote idea of how to use a chainsaw safely nor a healthy respect for how dangerous they can be. So, now everytime I hear a chainsaw in the distance, I cringe a little, expecting at any moment to hear a blood curdling scream. Of course, if that ever happened, I would run that way intending to help. But I dread imagining what scene of horror I might come upon should that day come. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/33 "2008-12-17T14:54:58Z")
The automatic ice maker dropping ice into an empty bin in the middle of the night. Sounds just like the clatter of the wooden blinds on my back door hitting against the glass when the door is opened. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/34 "2008-12-17T15:10:50Z")
Small single engine aircraft in instrument conditions and the engine goes silent. (absence of noise can be worse ya know) ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/35 "2008-12-17T15:12:58Z")
> [@Millit\_the\_Frail](#): > > One of my patients described it as “a washing machine with a couple of two-by-fours in it.” She had been through many, many scans and was still not quite used to it. I thought that was a pretty kind description! I think it sounds like someone beating on a steel girder with a 2x4. And the “thwheeping” sound the chiller pump makes is kinda weird too. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/36 "2008-12-17T15:44:09Z")
The sound that went with the old Viacom “V” logo at the end of various TV shows always scared the crap out of me when I was little. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/10LDTLjEPDM/hqdefault.jpg "Viacom V of Doom") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10LDTLjEPDM) ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/37 "2008-12-17T16:34:52Z")
You wouldn’t think that the sound of a bicyclist crashing is recognizable, but it is. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/38 "2008-12-17T16:59:01Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Ha! That’s priceless. Have you seen _There Will Be Blood_? Haven’t, unfortunately. But you prompted me to look it up on Wikipedia, and I’m guessing from the Jonny Greenwood soundtrack that you’re referring to the soundtrack, and not some sickening incident with a toothbrush. Now I have to rent it–I love that sort of unsettling, disturbing soundtrack… just not in real life. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/39 "2008-12-17T17:00:10Z")
Another vote for the complete silence from a sick kid’s room. Also, the sound of a screech owl in the middle of the night. Charming while you’re awake, but not at all when you’re half asleep. Anything starting with “We have to talk.” Any sudden ear-piercing shrieks in the middle of the night, outside or in. Sometimes the sound of the house settling. Sounds exactly like footsteps and freaks me out if I know my husband, son and I are all in bed. The sound of a dentist’s drill. ---
**Author:** ![Tortuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Tortuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tortuga)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429/40 "2008-12-17T19:13:01Z")
A pig giving birth was the scariest sound I ever heard. We had the intercom system of the house hooked up to the pig pen when it got close to time. It was late at night (of course) and when she really got going, everyone had already gotten up to go watch, leaving me in the dark house alone and suddenly awakened by the indescribable sounds of inhuman screaming, squealing, grunting echoing out of the walls of every room. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrifying-sounds-not-designed-to-be-terrifying/477429.md?page=3)