The Most Terrifying Sounds in War

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Frightening the wits out of soldiers or popping their eardrums till they bleed, are more unexpected ways of targeting one’s enemies. Here we cover the theory that the centuries old ‘Aztec death whistle’ may have had a military use. We listen to the sweet siren songs and church organs of World War II that quickly blew you to kingdom come. We recount the abuse of folk superstitions in Vietnam during the war, as well as the modern police sound cannons (LRADs) that are blasted onto protesters today.
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Credit:
Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)

Narrator:

Chris Kane

[dave_riots]

The scariest part about modern and future wars is the fact you won't even hear the attack coming.

[murilovsilva]

The Stuka's sirens were so incredibly striking, they became a cultural shorthand for "incoming bombardment" in many movies, TV shows and cartoons. The power of psychological warfare.

[cko]

I showed this to my great grandfather and he said the scariest sound in war is the cocking of a gun behind you, because it was there and now

[pauliusiv]

of all weapons on this list, the katyusha is quite possibly the most devastating, not only due to the sound but also the sheer amount of rockets fired in short succession, making it basically artillery on steriods

[TheReaper]

Imagine being enemies of the Aztecs walking through the forests and then hearing that whistle, that would send absolute chills down your spine

[Ssu]

Imagine how scary it would be waking up to the Stuka siren…

[OldManAzeban]

The Stuka needed sirens built in, but the Vought Corsair whistled on its own!

[Better_Clean_Than_Green]

As a German its a pleasure to hear the Jericho Trumpet
As a Russian its a pleasure to hear the Katyusha Whistle
As a American its a please to hear the A-10 BRRRT
As a Japanese its a pleasure to hear a plane explosion

[AlexDahlseid]

You forgot the V1’s engine, MG42’s firing noise, the brrrt sound from the A-10’s gatling gun and the HIMARS missile sound.

[ahuman]

The three scariest sounds to hear in war that I can think of

1: the whistle of artillery
2: Stuka sirens
3: “hey, get up, you have fire watch”

[parkerthomson]

Listening to the scary sounds of war made by the weapons just makes my head spin and makes my mind open up with all the scary thoughts and imagine listening to these truly horrifying. Sounds when you’re in battle I bet it will be the last thing you ever want to hear what you were in a war

[jacobzehner]

The Katyusha and Stuka dive bombing are the scariest in the Second World War.

[fordman]

Honorable mention: the Rebel Yell. The story behind it’s origin is pretty interesting. Union veterans after the American Civil War said that if you heard the Rebel Yell, and weren’t terrified by it, then you didn’t really hear it.

[TommyCrosby]

3:30 The Trumpets of Jericho might have been removed during the war but came back for some reasons to make the impossible: sound in the vacuum of space in a galaxy far, far away.

[vanhattfield]

I spent quite a bit of time in combat situations and the one time that I was truly terrified was during a moment of what seemed like complete silence. We had intel that the enemy had information regarding a night airdrop that we were to receive and that they were planning an ambush at the drop site and we were moving into position as part of a coordinated counter-ambush. It was a moonless night and black as coal and as we were approaching our ambush point my team leader turned on an unfiltered flashlight... Heart immediately in my throat... I snatched it out of his hand, turned it off and the whole team dropped low and hauled a$$ to put some distance between us and that point. It went from being "quiet" to suddenly seeming like you could hear footsteps in every direction, and it took some effort to recover, calm down and get back into the zone. Lucky AF that the mistake did not cost us but memories of that pops into my head at the most random times even today and I still get that panicky feeling for a split second. Crazy..

[ВячеславСеменов-мш]

By the way, the siren on the Ju-87 stood for a reason. The fact is that if you exceed the speed during a dive, then the wing, which is not designed for such loads, may fall apart. And since when bombing, the pilot often could not pay due attention to the flight instruments (in this case, the speed indicator), a siren was installed, which allowed the approximate speed to be determined by sound.

[alessiodecarolis]

I think that the Katyushas' were the most terrifyng sound, simply because, contrary to Stuka's siren, there were a lot more, and an artillery's attack could last hours. Imagine being pounded relentlessy by thousands of rockets, and you can't do absolutely NOTHING.

[satyrosphilbrucato]

The video misses one of the most iconic and effective sonic weapons of all: bagpipes. Scottish regiments were outfitted with pipers who would play - usually in conjunction with drums (also used as sonic weapons by many armies) - as the troops approached their targets. The resulting blast of sound frightened horses and intimidated troops. As someone who played a solider in the George Washington miniseries battle scenes, I can attest that the blare of several bagpipers and the thunder of their associated drummers hits you with a painful sonic wall. We had only three or four pipers in that group. Real armies employed many more pipers and drummers than our miniseries did, and the effect on enemies and allies alike must have been impressive.

[robbmorris]

The Katyusha rockets' blood curdling scream is a type of weapon used by the Axis powers as well. The Americans dubbed these rockets "screaming Mimis".

[agpaok]

Reserve soldier here. From my experience the most annoying noise was the noise our riffles did when fired all together. It is way louder than the videos on YouTube. When I was firing with my kamaradens, after the first bullet, my brain was locked already. I didn't manage to turn to any other direction because I had the feeling that something would hit me, because of the loud noise. And all this with ear protection. Guns we most of the time used were HK G3. Greetings from Hellas 🇬🇷☦️