Dec. 22, 2021

This Day in Halloween: The famous “Wilhelm Scream” sound effect is heard by an audience for the first time at a screening in 1951. / Illustration by Madison Kemp

The famous “Wilhelm Scream” is heard by an audience for the first time at a screening of Distant Drums in St. Augustine, Fla. in 1951. The sound effect of actor Sheb Wooley screaming is eventually used in more than 400 movies, TV shows and commercials of various genres including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series, several Marvel movies, Poltergeist, Them!, Gremlins 2, Death Proof, The Mist, and 30 Days of Night. 

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