Wilhelm Scream

The “Wilhelm scream” is a stock sound effect that has become one of the most famous noises in film and pop-culture history. It was recorded in 1951 for the movie Distant Drums (released in France as Les Aventures du capitaine Wyatt), most likely performed by actor and musician Sheb Wooley in a scene where a soldier is dragged underwater by an alligator.

Archived in the Warner Bros. sound library, the effect was later nicknamed “Wilhelm” after a soldier in the Western The Charge at Feather River (1953) who lets out the same scream when he is hit by an arrow.

Sound designer Ben Burtt turned it into an industry in-joke by reusing it throughout the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, and from there it spread into hundreds of other movies, TV shows, trailers, video games and internet videos.

Today, sound editors, film nerds, gamers and meme creators love to drop this iconic one-second scream into their projects as a running gag – this file gives you a clean, ready-to-use version of that legendary sound.