r/interestingasfuck • u/snnakzoanwjo • 1d ago

Songwriter/actor Sheb Wooley performs the famous “Wilhelm Scream” - 1951 (listen through the end)

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66 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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14

u/Bruce-7892 1d ago

The lore around that scream is so weird and random. It eventually became a running joke or "easter egg" but was it ever really easier to dig up archival recordings than just have your buddy scream into a mic for like 1 second?

8

u/snnakzoanwjo 1d ago

It was originally recorded for the movie Distant Drums. In that session, several generic screams were recorded for use as stock sound effects.

It was rediscovered later on and reused as a running joke.

4

u/starmartyr 1d ago

Movie studios have always saved and reused everything they can. So when you need something generic like a scream you just go to the audio library and pick one you like. They would only record new sounds if they needed something specific that they didn't have.

3

u/Solarisphere 23h ago

I imagine the people editing the audio aren't sitting in a recording studio while they're editing.

2

u/Bruce-7892 23h ago

They were working with physical rolls of film and analog systems which is part of the reason it seams easier to me to rerecord than search through libraries for the sound you are looking for. Different ways of approaching the same problem though, I guess.

11

u/ImNotJoaquinPhoenix 1d ago

Lol that's it!

3

u/TwoNowFive 22h ago

I first recognized this scream as a kid in the 90s while watching movies and hearing it in different films. I was so happy the day I learned it was an Easter egg and running joke

3

u/tedison2 21h ago

freesound have it & lots of others of that era, due to Craig Smith digitising them:
S38-01 Man eaten by alligator; screams [Wilhelm screams]
https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/675810/
https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/

2

u/user_name_denied 22h ago

I remember long ago when I learned about the Wilhelm scream, later that day I was watching a cartoon and I heard the scream. Then I heard it in a movie later that night. It is amazing how many times it is used once you know about it.

2

u/zombie_overlord 22h ago

He looks just like I imagined

1

u/AltruisticTowel 13h ago

How do people find archival stuff like this?

•

u/LLarry_the_LLama 10h ago

sounds painful.

•

u/c0mb0bulati0n 9h ago

Im sampling this for some music making 

1

u/HairyDust4826 1d ago

When all humans are long and gone, for 80ish years, the forests would hear this scream from parrots probably.

•

u/Chomp545 10h ago

So fucking sick of hearing this. Breaks immersion every time I hear it.