Getting The Most Out of Scream Time
I know a great scream when I hear one — and I’ve tried many places to get it right.
Trust me. When you’ve got your victim in the right place, the scream they make in it will reward you in spades.
Oh, did you come here thinking that this was a story about releasing your frustrations in a safe, therapeutic way?
(How selfish of you!)
You’re half right. It’s just that some of us use other people to make the sound. It’s just as therapeutic, so please continue reading to find out more.
The trunk of my car used to be my favourite spot to hear a scream — but I was young and dumb at the time — frankly, I’d never tried anywhere else, so how was I to know? And I wasn’t such an aural connoisseur back then. The business of concealing the attack was way more important than listening to someone scream.
I’d stuff a thick sock into their mouth and do my business but I never knew what I was missing.
One day, I took someone under a bridge. I hadn’t planned on the encounter. It was a spontaneous decision — and it was a real struggle getting the victim back to my car. My sock, the gaffer tape and the trunk of my car felt like they were a million miles away. That bitch screamed many times over. I thought I was done and caught for sure… and then I was surprised by what I heard in the air.
There were echoes. Oh, such delicious echoes. My god.
No, I wasn’t caught. No one heard a thing, but that sweet sound aroused me in ways too devious to describe. It had a lot to do with the bridge. Large concrete surfaces produced a sound bounce that elongated the scream and stirred my innards. It was absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t get the sensation out of my mind. It got me thinking: Are there better places than this to hear a blood-curdling scream?
After thirty years of experience, I feel it’s time to share with you my top five favourite screamy places of all.
- The desert. Obvious right? There’s no one out there to hear a scream. Its isolation allows a victim to run free. It’s a dry scream but you can enjoy way more scream time as you chase them down! Just take a shovel with you to finish it. Done!
- Two inches underwater. It’s a bubbly kind of scream, not as loud as the other but it has an interesting effect. It’d be great for those who’d like to be more creative with their kills and then use that water to silence their screamer.
- Upside down. The pitch changes. Yes, it does! Go figure! (Here’s a handy hint: Record a scream with the victim right side up and then compare it to an upside-down version. Yep, that’s a whole tone or two higher than before! Weird eh?)
- Pop a large bucket over the victim’s head and then listen to how their scream drops away. That’s because the victim’s ears get the sound before you do… and it’s bloody painful to them. It’s a wonderfully masochistic type of scream.
- A Cathedral. Oh my God, this has got to be it. This is where it all happens — it’s so stirring and the most heavenly way to experience a scream. It just rings and rings forever. Angels and Demons unite for a choral finish! Amen!
Now, I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results as I do, but what I offer here are the foundation stones on which to build your ideas. You can mix it up by using two or more of my suggestions in one scenario. For instance: Take a victim to a Cathedral and hold their head in the baptismal font. Bubbly screams with echo overlays is what I predict. (I haven’t done it myself but I can imagine the rewards would be worthy.)
What about strapping the victim to a vertical turntable in the middle of Nowhere Desert and then fixing a bucket to their head? You can sit back and listen to the ever-changing pitch as they go from right side up to upside down and back again. You can have fun finding ways to keep them screaming while figuring out what makes their pitch change.
What can keep them screaming, you ask?
Anything you like. It’s your kill.
-M
Originally published at https://michaelformanevil.substack.com.