History BrownNote / WebOriginal

* {{Parodied|Trope}} (we hope!) by Creator/TheCynicalBrit, who once jokingly remarked that "Website/YouTube comments gave [him] cancer."

** The "full version" of the Creepypasta video WebOriginal/MereanaMordegardGlesgorv is said to drive the viewer to insanity.

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'':

** The "full version" of the Creepypasta video "Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv" is said to drive the viewer to insanity.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has so many that it [[BrownNote/SCPFoundation has its own page]].

* ''Website/GoodbyeStrangersAndTheFearfulFrontier'': Many of the eponymous Strangers have effects on people simply by being in their presence. For instance, contact with the gazedrene causes a spike in violence and aggression around it, and those who live with the quiet simdroni will grow more and more antisocial until they lose their ability to communicate altogether.

* ''Literature/{{Brennus}}'': The story arc ''Shrouded In Dread'' was all about the New Lenston heroes fightin a villain calling herself Hastur (she named herself after the literary character), whose power caused anyone who saw her face to go violently insane, undergo ''really'' nasty BodyHorror, and eventually die painfully. They manage to fight her anyway with some high-tech goggles, but not before she causes a ''lot'' of death and destruction. It was on of the darkest story lines in a story that's [[CrapsackWorld not exactly all that optimistic to begin with]].
* Parodied in ''WebVideo/CollegeSaga'', where singing a corny song was the only possibility to defeat the ''Chocolate Tree''.
* The CreepyPasta Smile.jpg, an image of a dog that causes the viewer to have bizarre nightmares. In case you're wondering what it looks like and are resistant to the ShmuckBait, it's a picture of a husky with demonic eyes and a photoshopped grin on it's face. Said nightmares involve the dog telling you to spread the word, meaning that you have to send it to someone else in order to stop the nightmares.
* The "full version" of the Creepypasta video "Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv" is said to drive the viewer to insanity.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' theme tune to WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic. He called the resulting brain tumor "Pork Chop".

* In ''WebVideo/KidTimeStorytime'', this is parodied in the video for ''Once Upon a Zzz''. Corny and Hooty try to read the title but fall asleep, so Maleficent thinks it's black magic.
* Roko's basilisk -- the idea of a superintelligent AI in the future that retroactively punishes those who knew of its existence and did nothing to help it come to fruition (''you'', dear Troper) -- is a rather esoteric example originating on Blog/LessWrong. A RealLife example to some futurists and singularitarians, leading to it being banned from Less Wrong's forums.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npk61XnYU-4 The Onion Reviews]] ''Film/{{Gravity}}''" begins with the revelation that the film drives anyone who watches it AxeCrazy, which the reviewer demonstrates by, amongst other insane behaviour, stripping off his shirt and expressing a desire to eat the lead actors alive. It ends with him attacking and murdering the cameraman.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has so many that it [[BrownNote/SCPFoundation has its own page.]]
* In H-M Brown's ''{{WebOriginal/Shell}}'', using some type of filtration method like a peep hole or a television to see the EldritchAbomination, will still lead you to madness.
* [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos The Slender Man's]] presence causes AlienGeometries, an IncurableCoughOfDeath, LaserGuidedAmnesia, insanity, [[ProperlyParanoid paranoia]] and [[DrivenToSuicide death of the suicidal variety,]] assuming He (or one of his [[MoreThanMindControl proxies]]) doesn't kill you himself.

* In ''Star Harbor Nights'', a close-up look at the insanity causing molecule in Rhyme's blood at just the right angle causes viewers to scream until they pass out.
* Many of the eponymous creatures in Website/{{STRANGERS}} have effects on people simply by being in their presence. For instance, contact with the gazedrene causes a spike in violence and aggression around it, and those who live with the quiet simdroni will grow more and more antisocial until they loose their ability to communicate altogether.
* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse,'':

** Jericho's wardrobe. In order to distract people from his teammates' inhuman appearances, he deliberately wears clothing so garish, mis-matched, and ugly that it can cause those who see him to be nauseated. He's even weaponized the effect: his 'undershirt of doom' once stopped two armed mercenaries in their tracks.
* Parodied (we hope!) by [[Creator/TheCynicalBrit Totalbiscuit]], who once jokingly remarked that "Website/YouTube comments gave [him] cancer."

* The CreepyPasta Smile.jpg, an image of a dog that causes the viewer to have bizarre nightmares.
** In case you're wondering what it looks like and are resistant to the ShmuckBait, it's a picture of a husky with demonic eyes and a photoshopped grin on it's face. Said nightmares involve the dog telling you to spread the word, meaning that you have to send it to someone else in order to stop the nightmares.

** Thus providing (cold) comfort to fans of [[Creator/DavidLangford Langford]] and his ''basilisks''. In fact, ''Orion's Arm'' also features the [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/480e9702f277a Medusa Fractal]]. [-A hypothetical mathematical figure which... sets up a feedback loop in the brain... sending them into a permanent catatonic state. It is also sometimes referred to as a "flatline fractal" or (after the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_set Julia set]] it is said to resemble) ''"[[BrainFood the brain-eating basilisk]]"''.-]

* An EasterEgg in the ''WebAnimation/SonicShorts'' collection volume 2 features an extremely terrifying version of the Tails Doll that allegedly causes grown men to scream like a little girl. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vDfmM0_8XE Watch at your risk!]]
** And then, he comes back in the fifth one. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxHzTCUsblg Enjoy!]]

* Many of the eponymous creatures in [[Website/{{STRANGERS}} S T R A N G E R S]] have effects on people simply by being in their presence. For instance, contact with the gazedrene causes a spike in violence and aggression around it, and those who live with the quiet simdroni will grow more and more antisocial until they loose their ability to communicate altogether.
* In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, sonic weapons are common, but ones which cause serious injury (as opposed to disorientation or nausea) are illegal in most places because they aren't directional and cause too much collateral damage.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has so many that it [[BrownNote/SCPFoundation has its own page.]]
* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'':
** [[http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oaeg-view-article&egart_uid=480ea52d4ae86 Neuro-fractal patterns]] can induce all sorts of reactions from calmness to nausea. In some places fractals that promote immune health are used to prevent populations from getting sick.
** Thus providing (cold) comfort to fans of [[Creator/DavidLangford Langford]] and his ''basilisks''. In fact, ''Orion's Arm'' also features the [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/480e9702f277a Medusa Fractal]]. [-A hypothetical mathematical figure which... sets up a feedback loop in the brain... sending them into a permanent catatonic state. It is also sometimes referred to as a "flatline fractal" or (after the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_set Julia set]] it is said to resemble) ''"[[BrainFood the brain-eating basilisk]]"''.-]
* Episode three of ''Podcast/TheBlackTapes'' podcast is about the Unsound. It's supposed to be the sound of an Archdemon beckoning the listener to invite it into their world, and anyone who listens to it is supposed to die within a year.
* ''Website/TheOnion'':
** [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-study-too-frightening-to-release,619/ "New Study Too Frightening To Release"]]. A scientific study whose contents must be suppressed or the knowledge within would likely cause "the total breakdown of societal order, including the abandonment of the current political and economic system, rioting, looting, mass suicide and, quite possibly, global thermonuclear war." The head of the team investigating then killed himself, and many of the other researchers "cannot be accounted for".
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npk61XnYU-4 The Onion Reviews]] ''Film/{{Gravity}}''" begins with the revelation that the film drives anyone who watches it AxeCrazy, which the reviewer demonstrates by, amongst other insane behaviour, stripping off his shirt and expressing a desire to eat the lead actors alive. It ends with him attacking and murdering the cameraman.
* In ''Star Harbor Nights'', a close-up look at the insanity causing molecule in Rhyme's blood at just the right angle causes viewers to scream until they pass out.
* An EasterEgg in the ''WebAnimation/SonicShorts'' collection volume 2 features an extremely terrifying version of the Tails Doll that allegedly causes grown men to scream like a little girl. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vDfmM0_8XE Watch at your risk!]]
** And then, he comes back in the fifth one. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxHzTCUsblg Enjoy!]]

* In H-M Brown's ''{{WebOriginal/Shell}}'', using some type of filtration method like a peep hole or a television to see the EldritchAbomination, will still lead you to madness.

* The Choir from ''Franchise/TheFearMythos'' can distort sounds...and make them shatter glass, rupture eardrums, and ''hemorrhage people's brains''. Luckily, most of the time they seem content to simply [[DrivenToSuicide drive you to suicide]], but if you piss them off...

* Many of the eponymous creatures in [[Website/{{STRANGERS}} S T R A N G E R S]] have effects on people simply by being in their presence. For instance, contact with the gazedrene causes a spike in violence and aggression around it, and those who live with the quiet simdroni will grow more and more antisocial until they loose their ability to communicate altogether.
* Roko's basilisk - the idea of a superintelligent AI in the future that retroactively punishes those who knew of its existence and did nothing to help it come to fruition (''you'', dear Troper) - is a rather esoteric example originating on Blog/LessWrong. A RealLife example to some futurists and singularitarians, leading to it being banned from Less Wrong's forums.
* [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos The Slender Man's]] presence causes AlienGeometries, an IncurableCoughOfDeath, LaserGuidedAmnesia, insanity, [[ProperlyParanoid paranoia]] and [[DrivenToSuicide death of the suicidal variety,]] assuming He (or one of his [[MoreThanMindControl proxies]]) doesn't kill you himself.
* In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, sonic weapons are common, but ones which cause serious injury (as opposed to disorientation or nausea) are illegal in most places because they aren't directional and cause too much collateral damage.
** Jericho's wardrobe. In order to distract people from his teammates' inhuman appearances, he deliberately wears clothing so garish, mis-matched, and ugly that it can cause those who see him to be nauseated. He's even weaponized the effect: his 'undershirt of doom' once stopped two armed mercenaries in their tracks.

* In ''WebVideo/KidTimeStorytime'', this is parodied in the video for ''Once Upon a Zzz''. Corny and Hooty try to read the title but fall asleep, so Maleficent thinks it's black magic.

* From ''Website/TheOnion'': [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-study-too-frightening-to-release,619/ "New Study Too Frightening To Release"]]. A scientific study whose contents must be suppressed or the knowledge within would likely cause "the total breakdown of societal order, including the abandonment of the current political and economic system, rioting, looting, mass suicide and, quite possibly, global thermonuclear war." The head of the team investigating then killed himself, and many of the other researchers "cannot be accounted for".

* Parodied (we hope!) by [[Creator/TheCynicalBrit Totalbiscuit]], who once jokingly remarked that "Website/YouTube comments gave [him] cancer."

* ''Podcast/TheMessage'': The titular Message is one. It's [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou included in the podcast]] before anyone figures it out, but it doesn't always take effect.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has enough of these to call them "cognitohazards" -- a syndrome or behavior that can be transmitted by means of sensorial information, such as pictures and sounds. It becomes a "memetic hazard" if the person affected can reproduce the Brown Note so that it spreads to other people, or an "infohazard" if it can be spread through a simple statement about it. Mind affecting Brown Notes can often be cured by the application of LaserGuidedAmnesia.
** A "Langford-Berryman Memetic Kill Agent" triggers a fatal neurally-induced heart attack in any "un-innoculated" personnel trying to view the SCP-001 entry. [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-001 Try your luck here]].
** [[http://scp-wiki.net/scp-224 SCP-224 ("Grandfather Clock")]]. When the clock chimes, anyone in range of the sound will undergo RapidAging.
** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-298 SCP-298]] is an OminousPipeOrgan that causes the blood of anyone who hears it to be expelled from their body and gain the consistency of cellulose, and paralyzes them to stop them from escaping. Believed to be entirely [[ThePowerOfRock sonic]] in nature, as people who can't hear it are not affected. Active noise cancellation technology, however, is only partially effective, so deafness may not be as effective as soundproofing. Also if the organ is used for parts, organs repaired with those parts may start to take on diluted forms of the originals' powers...
** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-332 SCP-332]] is a marching band that plays every 48 hours, or when someone gets too close. People hearing the band play will be overtaken by an intense desire to acquire an instrument and join the band, or pretend to play an instrument if they cannot find one, and play until they pass out from exhaustion and are subsequently trampled by the band members.
** Perhaps the most dangerous is [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-370 SCP-370]]. The ''first'' victim had to actually look at the thing - that's all it takes - but it's ''so'' contagious that knowing too much about what it looks like or what happens to the infected is enough to become infected. Finding out what could and couldn't be safely known of it was something that happened ''[[KillEmAll the hard way]]'' to its discoverers. Some of those infected cannot help trying to give out information that will spread the effect and even secretly edit documents previously thought harmless, though of course precautions are taken against this.[[note]]≌⊙♆☣♉︎℥Ω[[/note]] Because of this, we are absolutely positively ''mostly'' sure reading the SCP writeup won't affect you, and therefore ''almost'' sure the words you're reading ''right now'' do not mean that YouAreAlreadyDead.
*** The object itself is a key. That is the '''only''' thing safe to know about what it looks like. If you learn anything else about it you are infected.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-413 SCP-413 ("Endless Garage")]]. SCP-413 gives off a low-frequency sound inside itself that harms human navigation abilities, balance and short term memory. Prolonged exposure can cause nausea, dizziness, vomiting, vertigo, anxiety and claustrophobia. Luckily, the effect will wear off after the victim leaves SCP-413.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-571 SCP-571 ("Self-Propagating Infectious Pattern")]]. Observing this pattern causes the unlucky victim to have a complusion to draw the aforementioned pattern, using any methods available, up to and including [[CouldntFindAPen their own blood.]] Once the victim copies it, they urge other people to look at their work, triggering the cycle again. The site that contains it is in an isolated location, since a population of a massive size becoming infected could cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. One of the worst parts about it is that the anomalous effect occurs in ''the pattern itself,'' not just the medium it's on, which means that [[ParanoiaFuel anyone can scribble down a random pattern of lines and get infected.]]
** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-628 SCP-628 ("Flute Copse")]]. A grove of hollow sycamore trees with their tops broken off, they can play music like an organ when the wind blows. Their music includes infrasound (AKA subsonics) that can cause disorientation and the emotions of fear, awe, sorrow and anxiety in those listening to it.
** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-632 SCP-632]] is a species of spider. The combination of the sight of them, the feel of them crawling on your skin and smelling the chemicals they emit will cause baby versions of the spiders ''[[BodyHorror to grow in your brain]]''.
** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-701 SCP-701]] is a play very reminiscent of ''Literature/TheKingInYellow''. There's a 37% chance that the audience watching/listening to the play will go insane and start violently rioting. In a small number of cases the insanity is permanent.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1098 SCP-1098]] is an infectious {{Smurfing}} word. English speakers who hear or read the word will gradually have all of the vocabulary replaced with the word.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1127 SCP-1127]] is a collection of short films that all permanently alter the minds of any who view them:
*** ''Were Clowns Always Yellow?'', a film where a [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] MonsterClown rants at viewers for several minutes about humour, interspersed with him executing people. After watching the film, viewers will find disturbing things funny, and funny things disturbing. [[note]]For example, subjects will look at autopsy photos, graphic war footage and videos of public suicide as utterly hilarious, while one D-Class had to be physically restrained when shown an episode of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.[[/note]]
*** ''Crazy Where? You Are'', a film where a little girl slowly dismembers her teddy bear with a knife while ranting about how violence is the answer. It turns people into hyper-sociopaths who often engage in injuring others out of "curiosity", and usually have to be outright terminated after exposure because they pose too great a risk to others.
*** ''All? Comes With Yesterday'', a film where a woman wearing a Victorian gown and a metallic mask which is [[FacialHorror stitched onto her face]] narrates over images of machinery and other artifacts, reciting random words and at one point [[MadnessMantra repeating the word "liar" over and over]]. Viewers develop an extreme phobia of pretty much anything man-made, especially technology, and have to be institutionalised.
*** ''Why Are You Crying?'', a film where a leather-clad man narrates over pornography and sexual imagery. Any viewers lose all interest in pornography and develop obsessions with various creepy, harmful, and criminal paraphilias.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1875 SCP-1875]] sends emails [[spoiler:and modifies incident reports]] with these. [[spoiler:Considering [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the]] [[AndIMustScream situation]], it's quite understandable]].
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2927 SCP-2927 ("Soundspots")]]. SCP-2927 is two tones generated at 75 dB at frequencies of 16.8 kHz and 27 Hz. Anyone who listens to them suffers from [[SupernaturalFearInducer dread and unease]], which get stronger the closer the person gets to the source of the sound. Anyone who approaches within two meters will permanently experience night terrors, insomnia and a [[SupernaturalFearInducer strong fear of prolonged noises]].