History Main / TerribleTicking

* In the series 3 finale of ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Master claims to have gone insane from hearing the sound of drums in his head all the time.

* "Stop the ringing" was Tantor's repeated phrase in an episode of Disney's ''Tarzan''. The trading post had installed a long-range radio tower, and something in the equipment was generating an ultrasonic noise that was doing this to Tantor ''et al''. The humans couldn't hear it, but it was driving the animals nuts for miles.

* Season 3 of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had the telepath variant.
* The song "All Along the Watchtower" does this to four [[spoiler:Cylons]] at the end of ''BattlestarGalactica's'' third season.

* The beeping that Freddy hears in the back of his head in the iGoToJapan episode on {{iCarly}}. He doesn't know it, but the beeping is the tracking device in action that Mrs. Benson had implanted in his head when he was a baby.

* In a ''JudgeDredd'' strip paying {{Homage}} to ''TheTellTaleHeart'', a jealous man who murders and, literally, steals the heart from the lover of a woman whom he adores from afar is driven insane by the sound of his victim's still-beating heart, which he then decides to get rid of by returning the body part to the woman in person (and, consequently, completely freaking her out).

* ''Cromartie High School'' had a chapter of the manga, also adapted into the anime, which completely centered on the ''entire school'' trying to figure out what one song stuck in Hayashida's head was.

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* Mr. Heckles on ''{{Friends}}''. It must be noted that the level of noise isn't in in his head, it's more of a case of MalevolentArchitecture creating absolutely teethgrinding acoustics.

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* The beeping that Freddy hears in the back of his head in the iGoToJapn episode on {{iCarly}}. He doesn't know it, but the beeping is the tracking device in action that Mrs. Benson had implanted in his head when he was a baby.

->-- '''The Master''', ''DoctorWho'', "Last of the Time Lords"

* Inverted in the ''DoctorWho'' novel ''The Clockwise Man'' - everyone could hear the ticking ''except'' Repple.

* In the series 3 finale of ''DoctorWho'', the Master claims to have gone insane from hearing the sound of drums in his head all the time.

* [[{{Ptitlex0je8m2x}} There's a drumming noise inside my head / And it starts when you're around / I swear that you could hear it, it makes such an almighty sound]]
** [[{{Ptitlex0je8m2x}} As I move my feet towards your body / I can hear this beat / It fills my head / And it gets louder and louder]]

* In one of the short stories from StephenKing's ''Everything's Eventual'', a maître d’hôtel flips out and starts killing people, while shrieking about a barking dog that only he can hear.

* When the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]] of ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' descend on a world, they cast a "shadow in the [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Warp]]" before them strong enough to incapacitate or [[YourHeadASplode kill]] any nearby psykers: "They are coming! I feel them scratching inside my mind, scratching, screaming, roaring, so many – so, so many voices. They’re coming for us – flesh and blood, body and soul!" Since psykers are the key to interstellar travel and communication, a planet under Tyranid attack is effectively isolated and thoroughly boned.

** [[FlorenceAndTheMachine As I move my feet towards your body / I can hear this beat / It fills my head / And it gets louder and louder]]

* [[FlorenceAndTheMachine There's a drumming noise inside my head / And it starts when you're around / I swear that you could hear it, it makes such an almighty sound]]

** [[FlorenceAndTheMachine As I move my feet towards your body / I can hear this beat/ And it gets louder and louder]]

* [[{{ptitlex0je8m2x}} There's a drumming noise inside my head / And it starts when you're around / I swear that you could hear it, it makes such an almighty sound]]

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-->''"Will it stop Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?"''
-->-- '''The Master''', ''DoctorWho'', "Last of the Time Lords"

* [[{{Yu-Gi-Oh}} Yami Yugi]] gives this as a punishment to the watch thief and the bad karaoke singer after they lose shadow games to him.

Compare BrownNote (where anyone can hear the sound) and OutDamnedSpot (the visual version of this trope).

* Mao from CodeGeass has ''both'' of the telepath variations.

* In HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi, it's not uncommon for one of the characters to start hearing footsteps, or occasionally a [[HearingVoices voice]] saying "I'm sorry" over and over. This is usually a sign that that said character is about to go off the deep end. Most of the time someone ends up dead. [[spoiler:Much to the unhappiness of the being that was making the footsteps and apologizing.]]

* [[YuGiOh Yugi]] gives this as a [[DisproportionateRetribution punishment]] to the watch thief and the bad karaoke singer after they lose shadow games to him.

* Aquaphobic villainess Queen Tsarmina of the {{Redwall}} series is driven to insanity by the sound of dripping water, which her minions [[ItsProbablyNothing assume are the normal noises from the underground lake]]. [[spoiler:Subverted in that it's not her imagination; the good guys have dammed the river and are causing said lake to overflow and slowly flood the castle.]] Also, in the same series, Gabool the Wild is kept awake by the sound of a stolen church-bell in his hall ringing on its own, though on one occasion it's not his imagination; his drunken followers throw apples at the bell while he's out of the room.

* A water faucet in the 50's Donald Duck short ''Drip Dippy Donald'', and an alarm clock in the MouseWorks-era ''Hickory Dickory Mickey''.

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* That [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/166521 Bananaphone Flash video]].