It’s okay to vent once in a while. It’s highly recommended. Keeping things bottled up indefinitely has a lasting negative effect on our mental and physical health.
But I’m not here to talk about that.
I’m here to misdirect you and mention something about our victim’s screams instead. This is about the screams they make while we’re working our special magic on them. I want a safe place to promote a healthy and creative exploration of scream development so people like me can make use of the time we have with our screamy guests when they are with us.
Let’s face it, the screams eventually do run out.
There’s a difference in screams. Trust me. When you’ve got the right victim in the right place, the scream they make will reward you in ways you’ve yet to discover! I know great screams when I hear them — and I’ve tried many ways to perfect them. It’s about creative pairing and a little ingenuity.
Oh, did you come here thinking this was a story about releasing your frustrations in a safe, therapeutic way? (How selfish and silly of you!) You’re half right. Some of us use other people to make the sound. But the outcome is the same. We feel much better for what we do.
The trunk of my car was the first and original spot I’d hear screams — but I was young and dumb — frankly, I’d never tried anywhere else to know the difference. I wasn’t such an aural connoisseur and childish arrogance kept my mind closed to the possibilities. The business of concealing the attack was way more important to me. I’d stuff a thick sock in their mouths while looking over my shoulder. I never knew what I was missing when it came to sounds!
One day, I took someone under a bridge. I hadn’t planned the encounter — and it was a struggle getting the victim back to the car. My sock, gaffa tape and trunk felt like they were a million miles away. The bitch screamed many times and then I was surprised by what I heard while dragging her back to my car. There were strange echoes all around me. That echoing sound aroused me — totally surprising. Of course, it had a lot to do with the bridge. Those large concrete surfaces produced a sound bounce that elongated the scream and multiplied it. It was absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t get the sensation out of my mind. It got me thinking: Are there better places to hear a blood-curdling scream than the trunk of my car or under a random bridge?
After thirty years of experience, I feel it’s the right time to share my top five favourite screamy places of all.
- The desert. Obvious right? Its isolation saves us all. It’s a great beginners place. You can take your time and wear your victim down. That aside, the open atmosphere leaves the sound of a scream nice and dry. It’s raw and pure, just as God intended!
- Two inches underwater. It’s a bubbly kind of scream, not as loud as you’d think but the effect is interesting. It’s for those water bunnies who’d like to be more creative with their kills and don’t mind getting wet when they do it.
- The inverted-victim-scream. The pitch changes. Yes, it does! Go figure! Why does that happen? Who would think of doing that anyway? And you’re very welcome for the idea.
- An empty bucket. Pop a large bucket over the victim’s head while they’re screaming and then listen to how the volume drops. That’s because the victim’s ears are the first ones to get the sound and it’s bloody painful. Watch their body flinch at the pain they give themselves. It’s a wonderfully masochistic type of scream.
- A Cathedral. Oh my God, this is it. This is where it all happens — so stirring. It’s the most heavenly way to experience screams. It just rings on forever. Imagine a demon twisting the arm of an angel and then shoving it up an orifice of your choosing — that’s the kind of sound you’d get. Forget about the bridge scenario. Go straight to Church and wallow in the surround sound of a scream delivered in a Holy Cathedral.
Now, I can’t guarantee you’ll get the same results as I do, but what I offer here are 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-sized cave and hold their head under two inches of water. Bubbly screams with some echo overlays is what I predict. (I haven’t done it myself (yet) but I can imagine the rewards would be worth investigating.)
What about inverting the victim on a vertical turntable in the middle of Nowhere Desert and then fixing a bucket to its head? If the turntable rotates by way of a small motor, 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 causes the pitch to change.
What keeps them screaming, you ask?
Anything you like.
Happy hunting.