# When was the last time that 'The Church Bells Rang Out'?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-that-the-church-bells-rang-out/740144>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 11, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-that-the-church-bells-rang-out/740144 "2015-12-11T03:20:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-that-the-church-bells-rang-out/740144/1 "2015-12-11T03:20:34Z")

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As a warning or in celebration; I mean a spontaneous, city-wide occurrence.

The end of WWII would be an obvious starting point. Surely there are more recent events. Can you come up with any?

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-that-the-church-bells-rang-out/740144/2 "2015-12-11T03:22:22Z")

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Roman Catholic churches like to ring the bells every time a Pope is elected. Does that count?

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-that-the-church-bells-rang-out/740144/3 "2015-12-11T03:26:43Z")

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The one I remember best was when Pope John Paul I died in 1978.

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**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-that-the-church-bells-rang-out/740144/4 "2015-12-11T08:06:53Z")

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Well there was [that claim that](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3q6187/til_during_the_riots_in_ukraine_st_michaels/):

> [@](#):
>
> … during the riots in Ukraine, St. Michael’s Cathedral rang all of their bells at once to alert the sleeping city to the violence. The last time all the church bells had been rung at the same time was in 1240, when the Mongols were attacking

Don’t know if it’s legit though, since their source is behind a paywall.