Some sound effects we hear, we KNOW we’ve heard before. Whether that may be entire melodies or even ones such as the opening of a door, you’re bound to find one of these. Here is one of the most common examples:

The Wilhelm Scream.

If you don’t know what it sounds like, here it is:

Now you know what it is.

The scream originates from when people were doing some sound effects for the 1951 movie Distant Drums. The sound was originally titled “Man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams”, and it took 6 attempts to do it. The 5th one was used in the movie, but the 4th one is the most well-known one (to be frank, they sound kinda the same).

Because it was costly to make new sound effects, it ended up being used in many other films in the 50s and 60s, though the movie that made the sound big was the first Star Wars movie, where a Stormtrooper gets shot off a ledge. It became famous and has been used not only in every Star Wars film since, but also in every Indiana Jones film. The full recording session was released in 2023, and you can hear it on the Wikipedia page.

The voice of the scream is unknown, but it has been attributed to Sheb Wooley, known for his song “The Purple People Eater.” Wooley had done many screams in Western films, so it IS believable!

What an interesting history for a sound. Who knows, maybe one day, there’ll be a new sound that will overtake the sound effects world (but i doubt it)!

Oh, and one last note:

AHHHOUUGGHHH!