Good day to honor the 'Aaaah!'

You’ve heard the sound effect a hundred times.

It’s been used in the “Indiana Jones” films, as well as in cartoons, video games and many, many television shows.

It sounds like “Aaaah!” and lasts about a second, usually associated with a fellow falling off a cliff or being eaten alive by a tyrannosaurus Rex. One of the Stormtroopers made the noise when Luke Skywalker shot him off a ledge in a “Star Wars” scene.

It’s called the “Wilhelm scream” in honor of Pvt. Wilhelm, a character who was shot in the thigh with an arrow in the 1953 Western “The Charge at Feather River.” Wikipedia tells us the stock sound effect has been used in an estimated 400 films and TV shows since 1951.

There’s a YouTube video that includes almost 3 minutes of great examples.

Google it.

Today is a good day to honor the Wilhelm scream because it’s Sheb Wooley’s birthday.

Wooley is best known for the song “Purple People Eater” and for his role as scout Pete Nolan in the “Rawhide” television series. But he is also believed to be the voice of the Wilhelm scream.

Sound designer Ben Burtt — involved with “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “E.T.” and many other popular films — has incorporated the scream into several of his movies. He researched its history and determined Wooley is almost certainly the voice of the original.

Wooley, 82 when he died in 2003, never specifically took credit for the Wilhelm scream, but he was known to joke about his success at “screaming and dying” in his long list of movie credits.

Something else you might not know about Sheb Wooley — born 98 years ago today, on April 10, 1921 — is that he had multiple connections to eastern New Mexico.

Newspaper archives show he once co-owned a farm north of Portales, performed at Clovis’ Marshall Junior High in 1964 and 1965 and spent about six weeks in Tucumcari filming episodes of the “Rawhide” television show in 1959.

During a visit to his Roosevelt County farm in 1964, Wooley recalled his first interview for an acting job.

“I want to be a movie star,” he told an agent.

“Can you act?” the agent responded.

“Of course I can,” he said. “Can’t everybody?”

The proof is in the “Aaaah!”

David Stevens writes about regional history for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]