When Horror Gets Loud: The Weird, Wonderful World of Horror Sound in Fiction and Film

We all know that creepy music and sudden shrieks are vital in horror movies. But what about sound in horror literature? How does an author make sound scary on the page?

And on the flip side—why are certain sounds, instruments, and frequencies used so often in horror films and games?

Welcome to one of the most underrated and underexplored corners of the genre: horror sound.

Let’s explore why certain sounds, silences, and sonic tricks haunt us—and how horror creators (both authors and filmmakers) use sound to terrify in subtle, powerful ways.

1. The Science of Scary Sounds: Why Some Noises Unnerve Us

Before diving into fiction, let’s get a little primal. Certain sounds make us uncomfortable on an instinctual level:

• Infrasound (frequencies below 20 Hz) can cause feelings of dread, nausea, or unease—used in horror movies and even real haunted house attractions.

• Screams and animalistic howls hit our fear centers hard; they're evolutionarily wired to alert us to danger.

Dissonance and distortion, especially in music, create tension in our brains—we feel something’s off.

2. Horror Literature and the Challenge of Making Sound Scary

Here’s the fun challenge for horror authors: you can’t actually play a sound for the reader. So you have to describe it vividly and rely on emotional and sensory associations.

Great horror writers use clever techniques to make sound come alive on the page:

• Repetition: Think of the steady tap...tap...tap in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

• Onomatopoeia: Hiss, creak, bang, whisper—words that mimic sound immerse the reader.

• Descriptive metaphor: “The wind howled like a dying animal,” or “The whisper sounded like dry leaves brushing bone.”

Stories like Pet Sematary and The Haunting of Hill House are masterclasses in writing eerie auditory details. Readers hear the footsteps, voices, and scratches even though there’s no actual sound.

3. Fictional Sounds That Have Become Horror Icons

Let’s get even weirder. Some horror stories introduce fictional sounds that are terrifying just in concept.

Examples include:

• “The Signal-Man” by Charles Dickens – A ghostly bell no one else hears.

• House of Leaves – The deep, impossible hum from within the house.

• The Crying Woman trope – A ghostly sobbing sound that always leads to death or madness.

And let’s not forget the horror subgenre of “lost tapes” and “cursed recordings”—stories where the sound itself is evil. (The Ring, Pontypool, Transmission by Ambrose Ibsen.)

4. Silence: Horror’s Most Underrated Sound

Silence can be more terrifying than any scream. In horror, silence is rarely peaceful—it’s the calm before the carnage.

In books, silence often builds unbearable suspense:

• “The house went quiet. Too quiet.”

• “She held her breath, straining to hear what wasn’t there.”

• “Even the birds had stopped singing.”

In movies, directors use silence to yank the rug out from under the audience—just before a jump scare or reveal. And horror readers are very much aware of it.

If you’re a horror writer, silence is your best friend.

5. The Power of Banshee Screams, Sirens, and Broken Music Boxes

Certain types of sound have become horror staples:

• Sirens: Think Silent Hill or War of the Worlds—a signal that something horrible is about to happen.

• Lullabies and music boxes: Innocence turned creepy. A child’s tune playing in the dark is always bad news.

• Banshee screams: Mythology meets terror. High-pitched female wails signal death across folklore and horror fiction.

As a horror author, dropping these references into a novel triggers immediate dread in readers who’ve already built those sound associations in their heads.

6. Horror Podcasts and the Rise of Auditory Terror

Want proof that sound alone can be scary? Just look at the boom in horror podcasts.

• The Magnus Archives

• Limetown

• The Left Right Game

• Knifepoint Horror

These shows prove that without visuals, sound alone can drive fear straight into the listener’s skull.

Writers can take inspiration from these audio-only stories. You can describe how characters react to a voice over the phone, a recording with whispers, or a song that makes them hallucinate.

7. Weird Real-World Sound Horror: Numbers Stations, The Hum, and UVB-76

For those who love horror inspired by real life, there’s a treasure trove of real unexplained sound phenomena:

• Numbers stations: Eerie shortwave radio broadcasts of seemingly random numbers and tones, often assumed to be spy communications. (Inspiration for dozens of stories.)

• The Hum: A low-frequency sound heard in specific towns around the world. No confirmed source. Real-life creepy.

• UVB-76 (The Buzzer): A Russian shortwave station transmitting a buzzing sound since the 1970s—sometimes interrupted by strange voices.

These weird sounds are perfect material for cosmic horror, paranoia fiction, and psychological horror.

8. Tips for Horror Writers: Using Sound to Scare on the Page

You don’t need audio to make sound terrifying in fiction. Use these techniques:

• Let sound be the first sign something is wrong. A thump, a whisper, a voice on the phone.

• Describe sound viscerally. “It scraped across the ceiling like metal on bone.”

• Link sound to memory or trauma. A song that triggers a breakdown. A laugh that echoes from the past.

• Use silence as contrast. Cut the noise, then slam it back with impact.

And don’t forget—fictional sounds can be just as iconic as visual monsters.

Final Thoughts: Horror Is What You Hear When the Lights Go Out

While horror is often thought of as a visual genre, it’s time we recognize that sound—real or imagined—is just as powerful. It’s the half-heard whisper in a hallway, the sudden silence in a forest, the warped nursery rhyme echoing from nowhere.

As horror writers and fans, we should embrace the strange, sonic side of terror. Because once you start listening closely… horror gets a whole lot louder.

Be sure to get a copy of my latest tale of horror, a cult horror tale called The Given, out now.

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