The Wilhelm Scream

The Wilhelm scream is a film and television stock sound effect that has been used in more than 300 movies, beginning in 1951 for the film Distant drums. The scream is often used when someone is shot, falls from a great height, or is thrown from an explosion.

Most likely voiced by actor and singer Sheb Wooley, the sound is named after Private Wilhelm, a character in The Charge at Feather River, a 1953 western in which the character gets shot with an arrow. This was its first use from the Warner Bros. stock sound library, although The Charge at Feather River is believed to have been the third movie to use the effect.

The effect gained new popularity (its use often becoming an in-joke) after it was used in Star-Wars, the Indiana Jones series, Disney cartoons and many other blockbuster films as well as many television programs, video games, and podcasts.