Line #23 Main/CreepyChildrenSinging


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/SimonDark https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/creepy_children_chant.png]]]]
6
7	->''"Expensive horror films have more expensive theme tunes, like choirs of small children going, 'Aah-AAH-aah-aah-AAH-aah, I died tragically, la, la, la.'"''
8	-->-- '''Creator/SuzyEddieIzzard'''
9
10	[[AC:For added atmosphere, play the music from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=834MupNRhgo this track]] while reading on.]]
11
12	If a program or film wants to add fear to a scene one of the most creepy ways is to have a CreepyChild, or a whole creepy choir, singing somewhere in the distance or background, usually the tune is a mournful nursery rhyme. Sometimes it will seem like the characters can hear it and they may even call out, asking if anyone is there.
13
14	In Japanese works the PlaygroundSong ''Kagome, Kagome'' is a popular choice for this, due to its sinister-sounding lyrics. Said lyrics include the line "Who is now behind you?", which makes a perfect cue for a JumpScare.
15
16	Compare and contrast: IronicNurseryTune which is always something the characters can hear and is often said or sung by one of them. Compare OminousLatinChanting. Contrast CherubicChoir.
17	----
18	!!Examples:
19
20	[[foldercontrol]]
21
22	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
23	* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'': "My mother has killed me... my father is eating me... my brothers and sisters, sit under the table, picking up my bones! They'll bury them, under the cold marble stones[[MusicalisInterruptus ...]]"
24	* ''Manga/{{Amatsuki}}'' has a choir of children singing the creepy nursery rhyme "Toryanse" in a whisper when [[EldritchAbomination Yakou]] appears.
25	* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' features several eerie moments when Nausicaa as a child chanted [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbk6AKl0_cI this eerie little tune]], which is still quite ominous despite it being only "Na na na". If you fail to see why, consider that at the film climax, Nausicaa has more or less [[spoiler:become an avenging version of a MessianicArchetype; in the manga, it is [[DarkMessiah far, far worse]].]]
26	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' uses this in the Rebuild movies in the distressing scenes.
27	* Although no words can be made out, you can hear childlike vocalizing in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zAMJXZnJoY Nui Harime]]'s leitmotif in ''Anime/KillLaKill''. [[CuteAndPsycho She has this leitmotif for a very good reason.]]
28	* "Ake ni Somaru" from ''Anime/HellGirl'' starts with this, followed by creepy trance music. It did a damn good job of turning mundane, peaceful scenes (like a cityscape at sunset) into spooky panoramas.
29	* The track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8lERQBzb5k Pendulum]] from ''Literature/{{Shiki}}'' starts out innocently enough with a childlike chorus singing a La La La melody, only for it to slowly descend into darkness and madness as the tune shifts into a a much grimmer tone with the singing starting to sound less like innocent children and more like they are screaming the melody.
30	* Kara's theme in ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'' has these.
31	* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has quite a few, such as ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyQo6PeWOus Wo ist die Käse]]'' and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdXTqxTWxcM Noi! The Clara Dolls]]'' from [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion the followup movie]], most of them sung in GratuitousGerman.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Comic Books]]
35	* ''ComicBook/SimonDark'': The kids in Gotham Village sing about Simon coming after those who are "bad" while skipping rope. It's unclear if Simon named himself after their song or if the song was made about him, but given Beth's reaction the song and its singers are unsettling.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Fan Works]]
39	* ''Fanfic/IAmNotGoingThroughPubertyAgain'': Neji cowers terrified in a broom closet while listening to Hinata hum what appears to be a tuneless and heavily truncated version of ''Naruto Shippuden'''s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE_rdHckLDo second opening]] in Chapter 8.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
43	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', this trope is practically the whole soundtrack.
44	* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'', when the three lemurs wind up in Sonya the bear's supposedly empty train car. A creepy child-like "La la la" appears...but it turns out to be Mort. King Julien, who gets freaked out by the chanting, tells him to stop.
45	* In ''Anime/Pokemon3'', the Unown's PokemonSpeak often sounds like this, fitting their status as a HiveMind of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
49	* A trailer for ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has children creepily singing "I've Got No Strings" (from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'') as violent action plays on the screen... the last lines ominously spoken rather than sung by Ultron himself (James Spader).
50	* ''Film/DontLook'': The movie starts with a creepy girl's voice singing "Silent Night". [[spoiler:The voice is Nicole's when she was a kid.]]
51	* ''Film/TheInnocents'' has a few instances, plus a child's creepy poem recital for good measure.
52	* An iconic one from ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOf1AsaJWXY "Freddy's Coming For You"]]. The children are strongly implied to be spectres of Freddy's previous victims, as he often populates his nightmare world with them.
53	-->''"One, two, Freddy's coming for you...\
54	Three, four, better lock your door...\
55	Five, six, grab your crucifix....\
56	Seven, Eight, gonna stay up late...\
57	Nine, Ten, never sleep again."''
58	* Easily half of Creator/TimBurton's films (particularly those scored by Music/DannyElfman) tend to have this in the background somewhere.
59	* Pops up in ''Film/{{Scrooged}}'' as well, which Danny Elfman also scored.
60	* The opening of ''Film/ChildrenOfTheCorn1984'' depicts what happens to the town after the children murder all the adults through crayon drawings as a choir of children sing wordlessly.
61	* The opening credits of ''Film/{{Cooties}}'' feature the journey of a [[TheVirus tainted chicken nugget]] from slaughterhouse to cafeteria, with all the gory details... which would have been disturbing enough without a soundtrack consisting of [[OminousLatinChanting children chanting gibberish]], grinding synthesizers, and what can only be described as a ''sinister kazoo chorus''.
62	* ''Film/Poltergeist1982'' has a great one with "Carol Anne's Theme" (composed by Music/JerryGoldsmith), a semi-religious sounding lullaby that sounds very innocent and pure. Taken to a disturbing level in the ending credits [[LastNoteNightmare when the children laugh ominously]].
63	* In a creepy scene in ''Film/TheBirds'', schoolchildren sing the nonsense folk song "Risselty-Rosselty" while a mass of CreepyCrows slowly gather on an empty playground, waiting to attack them as soon as they leave. Subverted in that the children themselves are innocent victims, the creepiness coming from the context, suspense, and situation.
64	* Samara Morgan sings one herself in the 2002 adaptation of ''Literature/TheRing''.
65	-->''"Round we go, the world is spinning.\
66	When it stops, it's just beginning.\
67	Sun comes up, we laugh and we cry.\
68	Sun goes down, and then we all die..."''
69	* Not actually singing, but in ''Film/TheBadSeed1956'', Rhoda playing "Au Clair de la Lune" on the piano, especially [[spoiler:when Leroy is burning to death]].
70	* The opening theme to ''Film/PetSematary1989'' is this trope to a T.
71	* In the 2007 adaptation of ''Literature/HannibalRising'', the German children song "Ein Männlein steht im Walde" is a central theme that continues through the whole movie. The last scene shows young Hannibal marching off to his next kill while a creepy, high-pitched children's choir sings the song.
72	* ''Film/DeepRed'' has a creepy lullaby that serves as a background music for some of the creepiest moments.
73	* Modesty sings a creepy song about hunting witches in ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem''
74	* The opening sequence and end credits of ''Film/ABCsOfDeath2'' both feature children singing "La la la la" in an eerie manner.
75	* ''Film/JuDou'': After the horrifying ending when Tianbai kills Tianqing, followed by Ju Dou setting fire to the dye mill (and apparently immolating herself), the film ends with a freeze-frame of the burning mill, and a thoroughly creepy recording of children singing a Chinese nursery rhyme.
76	* ''Literature/{{Phantoms}}'': At one point during the 1998 film, the Ancient Enemy uses a child's voice to sing 'Jesus Loves Me.'
77	* ''Film/TheLastMetro'': A creepy children's choir singing what appears to be a Vichy France hymn sets an ominous mood when Bernard meets his LaResistance contact in a church. Sure enough, the contact is arrested.
78	* ''Film/{{M}}'' opens with an old lady scolding children for singing a song about the child murderer who's stalking the city.
79	-->''Just you wait, it won't be long''\
80	''The man in black will soon be here''\
81	''With his cleaver's blade so true''\
82	''He'll make mincemeat out of you!''
83	* ''Film/TowerOfTerror'': When Buzzy Crocker and his niece Anna pay a visit to HTH: The Hollywood Tower Hotel so Buzzy can get a phony tabloid picture of Anna dressed as Sally Shine for ''The National Inquisitor'', suspicious sounds send them exploring the resort's halls. They eventually hear the wandering spirit of the real Sally Shine, singing:
84	-->''It's raining, it's pouring\
85	The old man is snoring''
86	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YSPl8TPH1A The original theme]] for ''Film/TheAmityvilleHorror1979'' includes a childlike choir of "la la la"'s that just sound... [[NightmareFuel unsettling]].
87	* ''Film/MrJones2019'': Starving Ukrainian children surround Gareth and sing (with a dissonant calm tone) a creepy song about Stalin being the organizer of this tragedy, and people eating their children after turning mad because of starvation. They later reappear (with a extract of the same song) during a hallucination sequence. A few notes from the same song are heard ''again'' much later, during a scene where Gareth encounters children in his hometown in Wales
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Literature]]
91	* ''Literature/ImperialRadch'': The protagonist of ''Ancillary Justice'', the ArtificialIntelligence of a spaceship that operates planetside through MeatPuppet soldiers called ancillaries, hears some children playing a game and singing about them.
92	-->''One, two, my aunt told me''\
93	''Three, four, the corpse soldier''\
94	''Five, six, it'll shoot you in the eye''\
95	''Seven, eight, kill you dead''\
96	''Nine, ten, break it apart and put it back together''
97	* The Hungry Choir in ''Literature/{{Pale}}'' has a recurring tune sung by a group of bloody-mouthed children who are thinned from starvation. The participants in the Choir's ritual are required to sing along, and if they miss a verse the children take bites out of them; if the participants die then a waiflike replica of them will join the choir.
98	-->''A song for our supper,''\
99	''How shall we cut it,''\
100	''When we have no knife?''\
101	''With our teeth,''\
102	''And with our nails,''\
103	''Digging in,''\
104	''And singing out,''\
105	''How glad we are to dine.''
106	* ''Literature/TheGhostsOfSleath'': From an apparently empty building, a choir of children are heard to sing the hymn "Lord of the Dance."
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
110	* In ''Series/DarkShadows'', we hear Barnabas Collins' dead little sister Sarah long before we meet her. She sings "London Bridge" quietly, and occasionally plays a recorder.
111	* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been doing this since at least "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Trial of a Time Lord]]", in which the Doctor is hunted through a series of abandoned warehouses whilst Creepy Children sing Ring-a-Ring-o-Roses in the background. It isn't clear if he can hear or not. The new series uses it in the Series 6 episodes "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E9NightTerrors Night Terrors]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E12ClosingTime Closing Time]]", and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong The Wedding of River Song]]".
112	** During the Seventh Doctor's run, we have "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]", in which a little girl witnesses the Doctor and Ace arriving, before singing:
113	--->''Five, Six, Seven, Eight,\
114	There's a Doctor at the gate.''
115	** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow The Beast Below]]":
116	--->''A horse and a man, above, below\
117	One has a plan, but both must go\
118	Mile after mile, above, beneath\
119	One has a smile, the other has teeth\
120	Though the man might stop and say hello,\
121	Expect no love from the beast below''
122	** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E9NightTerrors Night Terrors]]":
123	--->''Tick tock, goes the clock\
124	And now, what shall we play?\
125	Tick tock, goes the clock\
126	Now summer's gone away''
127	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
128	-->''Can't even shout, can't even cry,\
129	The Gentlemen are coming by.\
130	Lookin' in windows, knockin' on doors,\
131	They need to take seven and they might take yours.\
132	Can't call to mom, can't say a word,\
133	You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard.''
134	* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
135	-->''Hail, hail, fire and snow\
136	Call the angel, we will go\
137	Far away, for to see\
138	Friendly angel come to me.''
139	** Also, the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E8Miri Miri]]" has unseen children singing standard schoolyard chants, to creepy effect.
140	* ''Franchise/{{Quatermass}}'':
141	-->''Huffety puffety Ringstone Round.\
142	If you lose your hat it will never be found,\
143	So pull up your britches right up to your chin,\
144	And fasten your cloak with a bright new pin,\
145	And when you are ready, then we can begin,\
146	Huffity, puffity puff!''
147	* Near the end of the second season of ''Series/VeronicaMars'', there's a closing-episode montage set to AlejandroEscovedo's "Falling Down Again", which features children singing in the chorus and laughing during the fade-out, playing in conjunction with the imagery of [[spoiler:Thumper chained to a urinal, struggling while the stadium is being demolished.]]
148	* The ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' episode "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" makes use of this at the beginning and throughout the episode, as children ominously sing the nursery rhyme.
149	* ''Series/StargateSG1'': The episode ''Grace'' has Major Carter wandering away from the X-303 Prometheus' bridge to investigate a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that seems to be coming from somewhere nearby. She doesn't find the source.
150	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E29NightmareAsAChild Nightmare as a Child]]", Helen Foley hears Markie creepily singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in her mind.
151	[[/folder]]
152
153	[[folder:Music]]
154	* Caïna uses a sample of a small child singing as BookEnds in the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88d-Aw2dVNQ "Willows and Whippoorwills"]].
155	* Decoded Feedback's "Death Control" opens with a child creepily singing "Ring Around the Rosies".
156	* The "we will watch them burn" FadeOut of {{Music/Suede}}'s "We Are The Pigs".
157	* Some performances of Gustav Mahler's "Das klagende Lied" have a boy sing the words of the slain brother when the flute is played.
158	* Music/{{Nightwish\|Band}}'s ''Imaginaerum'' album is full of this, particularly on "Scaretale."
159	* The fanmade ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA9dFZJtQWc "Daddy Discord"]] combines this trope with a VillainSong; for all her natural pony cuteness, Screwball quickly lands herself in CreepyChild territory as she sings of her unflinching desire to help [[MadGod her creator]] take vengeance for [[AndIMustScream his imprisonment]] [[TakenForGranite in stone]] by tearing the world apart through fear and chaos.
160	-->'''Screwball:''' '''Cause you... are my Daddy Discord... and I... am a piece of you.''
161	* Music/OingoBoingo's song ''Insanity'' features keyboardist Carl Graves's children chanting the bridge lyrics.
162	-->Like a wave we cannot see / washing over you and me / hiding here and hiding there / madness hiding everywhere
163	* Cygnus X's "Kinderlied Part 1", the AlbumIntroTrack of ''Hypermetrical''.
164	* Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" includes a distant boys' choir. The Latin texts the boys sing are entirely innocent, though the context is rarely innocent and at one point directly contradictory. The boys' slow singing of the "Hostias" over a dissonant organ/harmonium chord (up to the final line, "Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus" [[labelnote:Translation]]"That which was promised to Abraham and his seed"[[/labelnote]]) is intercut with the final line of Wilfred Owen's "Parable of the Old Man and the Young" (sung by the tenor and bass in an unrelated faster tempo), which holds Abraham responsible for killing "half the seed of Europe, one by one."
165	* A Russian children choir singing "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzF-JEZ1RMo Mutter]]" by Music/{{Rammstein}} becomes a creepy experience if you actually know what they are singing about.
166	* The "Pray For Us All" chorus towards the end of Music/CoheedAndCambria's song, "The Light and the Glass"
167	* The climax of The Dead Texan's "Glen's Goo" where we hear a children choir singing things like [[https://youtu.be/2VY27VH2KJw?t=195 "total capillary meltdown"]].
168	* In "These Are Our Children" by Music/IMonster, the main verses are sung by children. The somber and rather ominous tone gives a creepy feeling to the song, especially given vaguely lyrics such as "now you're cold on the floor". For added bonus, there is an OminousMusicBoxTune throughout.
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
172	* Wrestling/TheWyattFamily has used children as psychological weapons in their feuds, attempting to unnerve opponents by having one (or a chorus) sing the children's Christian song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and selling their characters as a psychopathic, bloodthirsty, ''Film/{{Deliverance}}''-type Satanic cult. This was used to great effect by Bray Wyatt and his "followers" in their 2014 feud with Wrestling/JohnCena.
173	[[/folder]]
174
175	[[folder:Religion]]
176	* The Bible has this passage, Jesus describing His current generation as creepy children singing: Matthew 11:16-17 "But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented."
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder:Theater]]
180	* Toby sings a creepy variation of "patty-cake" at the end of ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' after realizing Todd had killed Mrs. Lovett and then killing Todd himself. This is left out of [[Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet the Tim Burton movie]], in which Toby just silently walks away.
181	[[/folder]]
182
183	[[folder:Video Games]]
184	* Rightly found in ''VideoGame/ObsCure'', a choir of children sing about the light (the only thing that seriously harm the infected kids of the school).
185	* This trope is invoked in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' when the Warden explores a creepy orphanage rife with demons and ghosts.
186	--> One, two, Maric's run through\
187	Three four, the kingdom's at war\
188	Eight nine and now you die
189	* Strangely, subverted by Disney. The Beta for ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' was supposedly going to have this in the form of the iconic song ''It's A Small World'' playing backwards during the Gremlin Village level. According to Warren Spector, the launch version was supposed to have the lyrical version as the boss for the Clock Tower, but copyright reasons kept this from happening. One can assume this is why the song doesn't play backwards at any point in the game.
190	* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' features a rather ominous variant of TheDrunkenSailor known as "The Drunken Whaler".
191	* The tag children singing "Kagome, Kagome" around Miku in the first ''VideoGame/FatalFrameI'', and the handmaidens singing "Sleeping Priestess" in [[VideoGame/FatalFrameIII the third one]]. Especially effective with the handmaidens, since they are singing about skinning and impaling people in a monotone, almost entranced tone of voice.
192	* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVII'': The ghoul kids in Ooga Booga can often be caught singing creepy little rhymes whever they're not up to other mischief. This is especially evident during the game's climax, as the volcano gets ready to erupt and kill them all.
193	* At the end of the first Episode in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', Natsuhi, George, Jessica and Battler are taking refuge in Kinzo's study when [[EvilPhone the phone rings]]. When they answer the only voice they can hear is [[spoiler: [[CreepyChild Maria]] singing in the background]].
194	* In ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=834MupNRhgo Thresh the Chain Warden's]] {{leitmotif}} involves little children singing a [[IronicNurseryTune creepy nursery rhyme]] about how the rattling of Thresh's chains may be the last thing you hear.
195	-->''Cling, clang, go the chains''\
196	''Someone's out to find you''\
197	''Cling, clang, oh the chains''\
198	''The Warden's right behind you''\
199	\
200	''Cling, clang, go the chains''\
201	''There's no more time for fear''\
202	''Cling, clang, oh the chains''\
203	''The last sound that you'll'' '''''hear'''''.
204	* In ''VideoGame/PlagueInc'', a young boy can be heard singing 'Ring around a Rosy' in a slightly distorted voice, in reference to the theory that the song is an allegory to The Black Death.
205	* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' plays Jesus Loves Me over the credits when you beat it enough times, with a creepy distorted effect.
206	* In ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'' the young Aristocrats sing a creepy tune about a monster called 'Stray Dog' around a fire in the chapter Sir Peter, [[spoiler:shortly before Jennifer is forced to shove a rat-on-stick in Amanda's face]].
207	* In ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' the theme tune of the [[OptionalBoss Ba'als]] includes a segment of this in their {{Leitmotif}}. The bosses in question are [[EarlyBirdCameo Early-Bird Cameos]] for ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'', where the theme returns
208	* In ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation'', the final mission's theme Chandelier is mostly this with elements of CherubicChoir, for a very solemn and funereal atmosphere. Quite appropriate, [[spoiler:as the mission features a superweapon in an Arctic frozen sea bombarding the capital city of Emmeria]].
209	* Although Mihaly's granddaughters in ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' aren't creepy themselves, their singing is given a creepy context [[spoiler: in a cutscene before the final mission, with shots from the viewpoint of the [[AIIsACrapshoot "Zone of Endless" AI]], as well as automated factories preparing for a RobotWar.]]
210	* It's only in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVPONdZBh6s trailer]] of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'', but the first thing you hear is a chorus of children singing the main verse to ''London Bridge is Falling Down''. Very creepy, and also very fitting if you know the part about the nightwatchman...
211	--> Set a man to watch all night,
212	--> Watch all night, watch all night
213	--> Set a man to watch all night,
214	--> My fair lady...
215	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etrD70dMKBI The theme song of Hisako]], ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'''s resident [[OurGhostsAreDifferent onryu]], incorporates some childlike chanting to terrifying and badass effect.
216	* In ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' expansion pack ''Heart of Stone'' we [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4D5tWt1Axs hear some children singing]] about the Man of Glass. The children themselves are perfectly normal (and are actually present in the world rather than just part of the soundtrack), but the content of their song is decidedly creepy.
217	* Nu-13's new theme in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma'', titled ''Awakening the Chaos II'', uses a regular dramatic choir for most of the music. After about five minutes, though, it switches briefly to a group of small children singing the same riff in 'La la la la la la la...'. It fits the character very well, because Nu is mostly a KillerRobot but is occasionally also a PsychopathicManchild.
218	* One of the most legitimately unsettling moments in ''VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming'' is when you enter the playground for the first time and you hear the disembodied voices of children sing the first line of "Ring Around the Rosey". It's no less creepy when you hear the same disembodied voices laugh together on the way back, either. [[NothingIsScarier You never find any actual kids and nothing comes of this either]].
219	[[/folder]]
220
221	[[folder:Web Original]]
222	* RealTrailerFakeMovie [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z04M6NhkIKk 2016: The Movie]] ...not too far fetched horror movie take on every unnerving news story and meme of the year. At the very end, natch, a little girl's voice sings "Auld Lang Syne".
223	[[/folder]]
224
225	[[folder:Western Animation]]
226	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' used this trope in the episode "Ginger Kids".
227	* In the final episode of ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'', [[spoiler:while [[CheerfulChild Greg]] begins to turn into an Edelwood tree]], has Greg's vocals in two songs. First, in the second half of the Beast's VillainSong "Come Wayward Souls". Then is "Potatus Et Molassus", a DarkReprise of Greg's earlier song "Potatoes and Molasses", with Greg [[OminousLatinChanting singing in Latin]] (which ends with a line taken from the previous song).
228	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', Scrooge and his family venture to [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece Ithaquack]] where they face various challenges from [[JerkassGods Zeus]] who has a grudge against Scrooge. One of them involves Zeus summoning a siren (who has taken the appearance of a little girl) to hypnotize his son [[BoisterousBruiser Storkules]] to destroy the [=McDuck=] family against his will. Scrooge even lampshades this trope when the siren begins her song:
229	-->'''Scrooge:''' ''[to his nephews]'' Plug your ears! [[GenreSavvy No good ever came from a creepy child singing]]!
230	* One of the more infamous parts of ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' in the episode "Freaky Fred" has a choir repetitively and monotonously singing "la la la" as the titular barber shaves the hair off a terrified Courage.
231	* The ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "Lawnmower Dog" has, as a reference to the Nightmare on Elm Street example, a girl singing a nursery rhyme about a Freddy Krueger {{Expy}}. It uses the alphabet instead of numbers, doesn't rhyme particularly well, and skips G,H, and I. Even the monster hates it.
232	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CreepyChildrenSinging