• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Experts recreate one of the scariest noises in history that sounds like a ‘scream of a thousand corpses’

Home> Community> Weird

Updated 16:33 26 May 2024 GMT+1Published 16:34 26 May 2024 GMT+1

Experts recreate one of the scariest noises in history that sounds like a ‘scream of a thousand corpses’

Hear it if you dare...

Joe Harker

Joe Harker

Experts decided that one of the most terrifying noises ever heard by a human needed replicating - even if it sounds like the 'scream of a thousand corpses'.

Those zany brainiacs just can't help themselves, they hear an utterly terrifying noise and decide that it must be replicated and studied, even if it is genuinely scary.

The noise is produced by something called the Aztec Death Whistle, which was found in 1999, when archaeologists discovered the remains of a sacrificial victim holding a number of musical instruments.

Advert

One of these was a skull shaped whistle, which produced a sound like howling wind when it was tested.

Since the skeleton was discovered inside a temple dedicated to the Aztec god Ehecatl, who is associated with the wind, it's thought that the original death whistle was meant to invoke this force of nature through sound.

The noise a modern-day replica creates is quite terrifying. (Getty Stock Photo)
The noise a modern-day replica creates is quite terrifying. (Getty Stock Photo)

However, when a team of experts 3D printed a replica of the whistle, they found that it produced a much more unsettling sound.

It either sounded like the most howling wind in the world, but give it a listen in the video below and tell me that doesn't sound like some poor soul screaming in their last moments.

Advert

It's genuinely quite an unsettling sound which really does sound like someone screaming in utter terror, and the fear factor is only heightened by the fact that it was discovered clutched in the hands of a sacrificial victim.

The Aztecs were already a rather scary civilisation, what with their penchant for human sacrifice, so even if the original artefact was supposed to sound like the wind, it's little surprise the recreation of the instrument was named the 'death whistle'.

What the Aztecs themselves used it for is unknown, but the fact that it was buried with a sacrificial victim may help shine a light on it.

It's like a whistle, only exceptionally terrifying. (Tanner Pearson/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
It's like a whistle, only exceptionally terrifying. (Tanner Pearson/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

There are also other suggestions that Aztec soldiers would blow their whistles in unison for intimidation, but an instrument that would have sounded like the wind being buried with a sacrificial victim in a temple dedicated to the Aztec's god of wind has more meat on the bones as a theory.

Advert

As for what the recreation sounds like, YouTuber James Orgill played the sounds and it really did evoke the noise of someone screaming, so if you're going to watch make sure you do it somewhere with headphones.

You have been warned:

The Aztec Death Whistle's recreated sound, which is so much more like someone screaming, has been used to scare people away from time to time.

Footage of a man and his dog responding to the screaming noise was picked up by a doorbell camera, causing them to run off.

Advert

The wonders of modern technology clashing with historical scary noises.

Featured Image Credit: Getty stock / Tanner Pearson/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Topics: Weird, History

Joe Harker
Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

X

@MrJoeHarker

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

a day ago
  • a day ago

    Every time Melania Trump has sparked 'body double' conspiracy as recent clip reignites theory

    Some people are convinced she's not the real Melania

    Community
  • a day ago

    Melania and Donald Trump both responded to 'body double' conspiracy as recent clip reignites theory

    Will the real First Lady please stand up

    Community
  • a day ago

    Melania Trump ‘body double’ conspiracy theory sparked after people spot what she did at parade

    The great Melania Trump conspiracy theory lives on

    Community
  • a day ago

    Son of man who shot his brother’s karate instructor live on TV shares important detail 40 years later

    Gary Plauché waited in disguise before shooting Jeffrey Doucet

    Community
  • One of the worst torture methods in history involves being 'licked to death' by a goat
  • Simulation shows brutal execution method involving an elephant that is ‘one of the worst deaths in history’
  • The simple but horrific heretic fork torture method that is ‘one of the worst ways to die’ in history
  • Experts reveal 'truth' behind horrific device thought to be 'most painful torture method' of all time