Brown Note: Difference between revisions

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* {{spoiler|Hakko}} from ''[[Canaan]]'' has the ability to kill people with her voice, but whenever she speaks or sings it sounds perfectly normal. The audience only hears how she perceives her voice ''herself'', rather than the people affected by it.

* ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka De|Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou]]'' at one point has the heroine put into a coma by the cursed kin; due to the extra string, the music produced by said instrument caused disorder in the souls of whoever heard it, killing them. Exorcising the ghost of the first victim who continued playing and causing deaths still required a specific person to play the kin and die in the process. {{spoiler|Eisen finds a way around it by playing the kin under water, reducing the sound to a non-lethal strength -- and he still gets injured by it.}}

* The powerful human and crow [[Youkai|tengu]] of ''Japan Tengu Party Illustrated'' have only one real weakness: {{spoiler|seeing a "real" tengu, a large seemingly flightless bird causes instant [[De Power|DePowering]]. This is due to the tengu's view that they are unique supernatural beings, and discovering that their legend is based on a real animal completely shatters their powers.}}

* The powerful human and crow [[Youkai|tengu]] of ''Japan Tengu Party Illustrated'' have only one real weakness: {{spoiler|seeing a "real" tengu, a large seemingly flightless bird causes instant [[De-Power|DePowering]]. This is due to the tengu's view that they are unique supernatural beings, and discovering that their legend is based on a real animal completely shatters their powers.}}

* In ''[[Naruto (Anime)|Naruto]]'', the character Tayuya has one of these: Her weapon of choice is a flute, with which she can control these three creepy puppet corpses. Specific notes cause them to move in certain ways, one in particular causes the corpses to emit chakra devouring soul.. mouth worm things. However, her real kicker comes in the form of a melody, which simply hearing causes the victim to fall into an illusion in which they appear to be strung up by wires as the skin melts off their bones.

* In one chapter of ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', Keroro manages to disable Natsumi by [[Take Our Word for It|whispering something in her ear]]. Fuyuki later asks Natsumi what he said to her, but Natsumi only replies "[[Medium Awareness|Do you want to get this book banned?]]"

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* An image similar to Langford's "basilisk" was used in the [[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]] novel ''Before Dishonor''.

* The short story ''Von Goom's Gambit'' featured a mathematician who became the world champion chess player "by default" when he discovered a certain arrangement of pieces on the board which formed an image that would short out the brain of anyone who saw it from the opposing player's perspective. Effects of the gambit included; causing some to go blind, driving others insane, and in one instance even turning all of those who saw the gambit at one tournament to turn to stone.

** Some [[Post Cyber Punk]] writers who've used the concept have [[Shout Out|acknowledged]] Langford as inspiration: [[Greg Egan]] calls it the "Langford Mind-Erasing Fractal Basilisk"; [[Ken MacLeod]] has the "Langford Visual Hack"; and [[Charles Stross]] has "neural wetware-crashing Langford fractals" and the "Langford Death Parrot". (MacLeod also has his narrator claim it's completely impossible, but now the ''idea'' of it is out there people feel they have to take precautions, concluding "What kind of twisted mind ''starts'' these things?")

** Some [[Post Cyber Punk]] writers who've used the concept have [[Shout-Out|acknowledged]] Langford as inspiration: [[Greg Egan]] calls it the "Langford Mind-Erasing Fractal Basilisk"; [[Ken MacLeod]] has the "Langford Visual Hack"; and [[Charles Stross]] has "neural wetware-crashing Langford fractals" and the "Langford Death Parrot". (MacLeod also has his narrator claim it's completely impossible, but now the ''idea'' of it is out there people feel they have to take precautions, concluding "What kind of twisted mind ''starts'' these things?")

* [[HP Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]] created the fictional black magic tome, the ''Al Azif'' aka ''Noise of Demons'' by the "mad poet" Abdul Alhazred. It was written under the influence of some pretty heavy, although unspecified, drugs; among other things. It ''is'' supposed to cause or trigger madness in the careless reader.

** Almost everything in Lovecraft's stories is described as being just a little bit harmful to sanity. He must have been fascinated by the idea of things so horrifying and/or alien they're inherently upsetting. Besides of all the [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] and other [[Ultimate Evil|Ultimate Evils]] you really don't want [[Take Our Word for It|to look at too closely]], there are things such as Pickman's paintings, of which the tamer ones caused an uproar when displayed, while the ones he didn't show everyone were enough to make a jaded and prepared onlooker scream in terror.

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** ''Everything's Eventual'' revolves around a man who can make people kill themselves by sending them a seemingly random pattern of symbols and a word that is significant to their life over email.

** ''[[IT]]'', the sight of the title monster's [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form|true form]] causes whoever views it to go completely insane.

* The scrimshaw Turtle in ''[[The Dark Tower|Dark Tower VI]]'', a [[Clingy MacGuffin|Clingy Artifact]] which posesses whoever sees it in a ''good'' way, hypnotizing them and leaving a chain of forgetful, happy people in its wake. The turtle is possibly a [[Shout Out]] to [[Jorge Luis Borges|Borges]] above, given its presumably divine origins.

* The scrimshaw Turtle in ''[[The Dark Tower|Dark Tower VI]]'', a [[Clingy MacGuffin|Clingy Artifact]] which posesses whoever sees it in a ''good'' way, hypnotizing them and leaving a chain of forgetful, happy people in its wake. The turtle is possibly a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Jorge Luis Borges|Borges]] above, given its presumably divine origins.

** The [[Artifact of Doom|"Black Thirteen"]] crystal ball from the ''[[Dark Tower]]'' series has similar effects from an evil perspective. Left alone, it would kill everyone it comes in contact with by causing them to kill or commit suicide and/or [[Speak of the Devil|release the Beast into the world]]. Fortunately, the heroes, who are [[I'm Not Afraid of You|pressed for time]], decide to leave it in a long-term storage locker {{spoiler|under the World Trade Center}}.

* The {{color|blue|house}}, particularly the deeper parts of it (such as the Grand Hall and the Spiral Staircase), in ''[[House of Leaves]]''. Some would argue that ''[[Tome of Eldritch Lore|the book itself]]'' is a [[Real Life]] [[Brown Note]]. Seriously, it's that strange. It has managed to cause [http://www.houseofleaves.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1759&highlight=dreams+ inspired nightmares].

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* In ''Dream Park'', an industrial spy steals samples of 'neutral scent', an odor that causes a person's pre-existing emotions to become hyperintense. Too strong an exposure can make people lose all control of their fear, anger, lust, etc.

** It's actually odd that more examples of smell don't exist, since it's been suggested that smell is the fundamental sense, and is crucial to memory-retention in most creatures.

* The [[Love Is in The Air|"Ultimate Perfume"]] crafted by the protagonist in ''[[Perfume (Literature)|Perfume]]'', a deformed man with a [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway|heightened sense of smell]]. It's a pheromone {{spoiler|made from the dead bodies of women he's killed,}} capable of seducing anyone. When he finally puts it on, it causes all the random passerby around him [[More Than Mind Control|to love him so much]] that {{spoiler|they tear him apart limb from limb and devour him}}.

* The [[Love Is in The Air|"Ultimate Perfume"]] crafted by the protagonist in ''[[Perfume (Literature)|Perfume]]'', a deformed man with a [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|heightened sense of smell]]. It's a pheromone {{spoiler|made from the dead bodies of women he's killed,}} capable of seducing anyone. When he finally puts it on, it causes all the random passerby around him [[More Than Mind Control|to love him so much]] that {{spoiler|they tear him apart limb from limb and devour him}}.

* [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s Talents are susceptible to a "sting-pzzt" sensation whenever they're near Hivers or anything built by Hivers. Not really harmful, but as it's described as a constant metallic, acidic "smell" (for want of a better term; it's actually a psychic sensation), it tends to make them very irritable.

* Johnnie Rico's first encounter with a Bug from ''[[Starship Troopers (Literature)|Starship Troopers]]'' drives him into a panicked state that he doesn't snap out of until well after he's [[No Kill Like Overkill|overkilled]] it. The neodogs deployed in the first encounter with the Bugs apparently are also driven nuts, as they reflexively suicide-bomb the Bugs as soon as they come into contact with them. Johnnie gets used to it, though, and mentions that later batches of neodogs are trained to overcome this instinct.

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* The British ''Mythbusters'' knockoff ''Brainiac'' also "tested" the Brown Note, but they claimed it ''worked.'' On the other hand, Brainiac's unprofessionalism stems not from a preference for showing the two goofiest personalities injuring themselves to showing their scientific scrupulosity, but from their not testing anything more than once and faking results if reality proves less than accommodating. In this case, they stuffed their victim in the porta-john with a speaker; when the test was over, the host (but '''not the camera''') looked into the john and said, "We're going to need a bucket." Take that as you will.

* The comedy series ''Upright Citizens Brigade'' featured sketches involving the "Bucket of Truth", a plastic bucket which would supposedly force anyone who looked into it to face some undefined, horrifying truth, driving them mad (and thus lowering the price of a home that included it); the only one immune to its insanity-creating effect was a detective so jaded and cynical that his reaction was "Don't you think I know that!?!"

* In ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]],'' the Master was forced to stare into the time vortex as a child and was driven mad by the sound of drums calling him to war. This sound has been running through his head without a break for close to a millennium now. It preys on him so much that {{spoiler|the last time he died, his last words were "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming, will it stop?"}}

* In ''[[Doctor Who]],'' the Master was forced to stare into the time vortex as a child and was driven mad by the sound of drums calling him to war. This sound has been running through his head without a break for close to a millennium now. It preys on him so much that {{spoiler|the last time he died, his last words were "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming, will it stop?"}}

** We find out in ''The End of Time'' that {{spoiler|the sound is actually a signal sent back from the Time War by the future Time Lords. That's right, the ''Time Lords'' did this to him. The Master is ''not'' happy.}}

** In ''Fury from the Deep'', {{spoiler|[[Distressed Damsel|Victoria Waterfield's screaming]] defeats the weed monster.}}

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* Regarding the [[Beach Boys]], one of the things that made Brian Wilson reluctant to finish ''"Smile"'' was a fear that he had created a [[Brown Note]] entirely by ''accident''. He and his musicians had recorded [[wikipedia:Mrs. O%27Leary%27s Cow %28song%29|a very creepy instrumental called either]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LI-KazTKw8 "Fire" or "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"]; to get the atmosphere in the studio right, they had worn toy fireman's helmets and lit a firepot to emit smoke. The very night of the recording session, a building down the street caught fire and burned to the ground; someone later mentioned to Brian that an unusual number of fires were breaking out in Los Angeles [[Long Hot Summer|that summer]]. The coincidence struck Brian as extremely creepy, and he became hesitant about working on the album.

** This prompted him to not release the album for 35 years and bury the original tracks in the vaults in a fit of panic, refusing to finish the album until 2004. Some other tracks of the original song were destroyed. Brian Wilson went into seclusion for decades, fearing that his hallucination-induced music would cause more fires. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LI-KazTKw8 Listen to it here].

* "The Elephant's Foot", a formation of reactor core lava in Chernobyl<ref>so-named because it is shaped like an [[Eldritch Abomination]], apparently.</ref> which was so radioactive, just ''looking at it'' [http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bf822b7d3b8e.gif would kill you on the spot]. Like the classical Medusa, a heroic Russian physicist risked his life to [[To Hell and Back|journey into the bowels of the reactor]] to take pictures and find out what was going on down there; he had to use ''a mirror'' to take pictures of it from the adjoining hallway. Why did he "[[But Thou Must|volunteer]]" to do this? Because (a) he was [[Badass Grandpa|old enough not to worry]] about inevitably dying of cancer from background exposure (which he did later; [[Heroic Sacrifice|they all did]]) and (b) the robot they sent to take photos of the reactor core lava had its ''[[Phlebotinum Overload|circuits fried due to radiation]]'', while a human could move quickly through the same hallway as long as he did not look into the open doorway itself.

* "The Elephant's Foot", a formation of reactor core lava in Chernobyl<ref>so-named because it is shaped like an [[Eldritch Abomination]], apparently.</ref> which was so radioactive, just ''looking at it'' [http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bf822b7d3b8e.gif would kill you on the spot]. Like the classical Medusa, a heroic Russian physicist risked his life to [[To Hell and Back|journey into the bowels of the reactor]] to take pictures and find out what was going on down there; he had to use ''a mirror'' to take pictures of it from the adjoining hallway. Why did he "[[But Thou Must!|volunteer]]" to do this? Because (a) he was [[Badass Grandpa|old enough not to worry]] about inevitably dying of cancer from background exposure (which he did later; [[Heroic Sacrifice|they all did]]) and (b) the robot they sent to take photos of the reactor core lava had its ''[[Phlebotinum Overload|circuits fried due to radiation]]'', while a human could move quickly through the same hallway as long as he did not look into the open doorway itself.

** A person able to actually see critical fissionable material up close will die a horrible death, although all they will see is a glimmer of (deadly) light, along with a weird buzzing. (Note that the light ''itself'' is deadly, as it contains gamma rays.)

** [[STALKER|We finally learn the truth about the Wish Granter!]]

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** There's been speculation that local infrasound resonance might be responsible for many places appearing to be "haunted." In a few experiments, soundwaves around 18 Hz were directed into people's eyes, as the human eye has a resonance frequency somewhere around 18 Hz. Most reported physical discomfort, and a few had mild visual hallucinations (flashing lights, {{color|green|green}} spots, etc). [[Schmuck Bait|Try it, it's fun]].

** Given that our early hominid ancestors would've only experienced infrasound when something very, ''very'' big and dangerous (e.g. an elephant, hippo or rhino) was vocalizing nearby, it makes sense that we ''would'' find the associated tactile sensations unnerving.

* Likewise, high frequency sound is usually considered to be highly annoying and painful to those who can hear it. Since the ability to hear higher frequencies fades as one gets older, a British engineer once created a [[Child Hater|"teenager repellent"]]: a little thingamajig that creates a loud high frequency blast, which annoys and scares away anyone that can hear the sound, and that usually means anyone under 30 years. In an ironic twist of fate, this "anti-teenager" weapon was reversed, and turned into an "anti-adult" weapon: a high frequency ringtone that allows teenagers to listen to their phones in the classroom, without the giving-away buzz of a vibrating phone, safe from the usually 40-something ears of their teachers.

* Likewise, high frequency sound is usually considered to be highly annoying and painful to those who can hear it. Since the ability to hear higher frequencies fades as one gets older, a British engineer once created a [[Child-Hater|"teenager repellent"]]: a little thingamajig that creates a loud high frequency blast, which annoys and scares away anyone that can hear the sound, and that usually means anyone under 30 years. In an ironic twist of fate, this "anti-teenager" weapon was reversed, and turned into an "anti-adult" weapon: a high frequency ringtone that allows teenagers to listen to their phones in the classroom, without the giving-away buzz of a vibrating phone, safe from the usually 40-something ears of their teachers.

** This "teenager repellent" is in use in downtown D.C., at the Gallery Place metro station. There have been frequent congregations of teens at that metro station, and in an effort to curtain the fighting which often breaks out, they have installed [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/31/AR2010083105777.html the mosquito].

** Sadly, while this idea was first presented as an "adult-proof" ringtone, any number of teenagers discovered, to their sorrow, that it really isn't. Some people in their thirties can hear it just fine. While it is true that, in general, the older you get the harder it is to hear, there is no single point after which no one can hear it, and before which, everyone can. It depends on the degree of deterioration of that person's hearing. Since most modern youth listen to music at pretty high volumes, they'll soon stop hearing that ringtone.

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[[Category:Lovecraftian Tropes]]

[[Category:Bathroom Tropes]]

[[Category:Brown Note]]

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