A Quick Confession.
It's a silly one, sort of, but nevertheless:
Air raid sirens scare the shit out of me.
I don't really have a reason to. The first time I ever heard one was in the Doctor Who episode 'The Empty Child', because it's set during the Blitz in London. I adore most of that episode (Hot guys? Check. Innuendo? Double Check! Excellent Scary Moffat-y goodness? JESUS H. CHRIST IN A CHICKEN BASKET YES), but when that eerie sound came on, it felt like a hand had reached out and seized my heart. It made the ep's atmosphere scarier, to me. It was like Death's song. Generally, I've only heard it in a fictional context: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the trailer to Glorious 39. So why should I be scared of it? I've never had to go through a bombing in my life.
I've had my fair share of sirens: fire and tornado sirens I became desensitized to through years of inane, disorganized drills (for a while in high school, someone was pulling the fire alarm at least twice a week), and more recently, a flash flood one. But none of them terrified me like the raid siren.
I've done some thinking about it, and I think it must be the pairing of tones in the siren. Being a musician, I'm a bit sensitive to the tunefulness of nonmusical objects (in high school, I would debate with my buddies about whether the bell was a Bb or B natural- LOLZ MUSIC NERD). I'd have to listen to the siren again (something I'd rather not do) and then sit down at a piano to figure it out, but that must be it. That odd interval and the chromatic glissando... just unnerving. Something to get me into the Halloween spirit, I guess.
Air raid sirens scare the shit out of me.
I don't really have a reason to. The first time I ever heard one was in the Doctor Who episode 'The Empty Child', because it's set during the Blitz in London. I adore most of that episode (Hot guys? Check. Innuendo? Double Check! Excellent Scary Moffat-y goodness? JESUS H. CHRIST IN A CHICKEN BASKET YES), but when that eerie sound came on, it felt like a hand had reached out and seized my heart. It made the ep's atmosphere scarier, to me. It was like Death's song. Generally, I've only heard it in a fictional context: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the trailer to Glorious 39. So why should I be scared of it? I've never had to go through a bombing in my life.
I've had my fair share of sirens: fire and tornado sirens I became desensitized to through years of inane, disorganized drills (for a while in high school, someone was pulling the fire alarm at least twice a week), and more recently, a flash flood one. But none of them terrified me like the raid siren.
I've done some thinking about it, and I think it must be the pairing of tones in the siren. Being a musician, I'm a bit sensitive to the tunefulness of nonmusical objects (in high school, I would debate with my buddies about whether the bell was a Bb or B natural- LOLZ MUSIC NERD). I'd have to listen to the siren again (something I'd rather not do) and then sit down at a piano to figure it out, but that must be it. That odd interval and the chromatic glissando... just unnerving. Something to get me into the Halloween spirit, I guess.