History Main / BrownNoteBeing

* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'': The game doesn't let you get a good look at the monsters, ever, because just looking at them drops your sanity meter and [[InterfaceScrew causes the screen to blur]]... and [[FromBadToWorse makes them notice you]]. This has a NothingIsScarier effect, but it is justified since viewing the monsters drains a game character's sanity. The main monster is the Shadow, an EldritchAbomination on a mission, don't touch even touch the MeatMoss it leaves behind on its trail. Other sanity draining creatures are the otherworldly, water-dwelling Kaernk.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/TheVentureBrosS2E5TwentyYearsToMidnight Twenty Years to Midnight]]", an alien appears in the form of Rusty Venture's dead father Jonas to come and kill the Grand Galactic Inquisitor. When Rusty complains that this was traumatizing because he thought he actually ''was'' Jonas, the alien displays [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith his incomprehensible true form]], horrifying everyone and causing Sally Impossible's mentally challenged cousin, Ned, to crap his pants.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'': In a meta sense, The Spot, due to his new role as a TranshumanAbomination. He looks like a literal stain on reality.

** In one issue of ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', a boy discovers he has an uncontrollable mutant ability to vaporize all organic life that comes near him. After he kills his family, his girlfriend and over 265 other people, Wolverine (who is immune because of his [[GoodThingICanHeal healing factor]]) is forced to kill him.

''Pam took a peek at [[{{Characters/SupernaturalCastiel}} him]] and her eyes burned out of her skull, and you want to have a face-to-face?"''

* In ''Manga/ChainsawMan'', at one point the main cast is [[spoiler: [[DraggedOffToHell sent to Hell]]]], where they encounter the [[spoiler: Darkness Devil]], whose mere presence is so unsettling to the fiends and devils in the party that they start sweating, panicking and one even asks for "permission to kill themselves" from their superior.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': Before Rogue learned how to control her power, touching her skin would cause loss of memories, life, or decreased mutant powers. A non-mutant boy named Cody was put in a permanent coma after their first kiss.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

** The [[Characters/DoctorWhoWeepingAngels Weeping Angels]] are an inversion of this trope, since humans looking at them causes the monster to turn to stone. Downplayed since the stone effect is temporary.
** [[Characters/DoctorWhoTheSilence The Silence]] are creatures whose presence causes amnesia, are a subversion, and downplayed as you forget them as soon as you look away.
* ''Series/TheMunsters'': FrankensteinsMonster Herman Munster is so hideous that most people flee in panic at the merest sight of him. To a lesser extent, this is true of the rest of his family (except [[TheTeamNormal Marilyn).]] Mercifully, none of the Munsters [[SelectiveObliviousness ever seem to recognize that this is happening,]] and go about their lives as if nothing were wrong (except poor Marilyn, who assumes it's ''her fault).''

*** Many freaks within the Carnival were cursed and twisted by the presence of [[Characters/{{Ravenloft}} Isolde]], the mysterious lord of the Carnival, due to the curse placed on her when she was drawn into the Demiplane of Dread.
*** [[Characters/{{Ravenloft}} Desmond LaRouche]] was cursed into becoming half a flesh golem. Those seeing his face must do a fear check to see whether they fall into terror.
*** [[Characters/RavenloftDarklords Ivana Boritsi and her Ermordenung]], in Borca, have [[PoisonousPerson poisonous touch]].

* The kunekune mentioned in the Anime and Mythology folders appears as a rare enemy in ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight''. With a jump scare, no less.
* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': The CosmicHorrorStory setting has preserving sanity from stress as a major game mechanic. Bosses such as the [[Characters/DarkestDungeonMonsters Shambler]] will cause stress just by existing. Others stress through the senses, like the voice of the [[Characters/DarkestDungeonMonsters Shrieker]] crows. Even one of the Hero classes, [[Characters/DarkestDungeonHeroesAToF The Abomination]], causes stress to his teammates unintentionally upon transforming.

* ''VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII'' allows you to temporarily become one of these with the Force power Deadly Sight. Anything you are looking at on screen begins to take damage as you hear sizzling noises and smoke pours off of their bodies.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': Darth Nihilus is a wound in the Force whose mere presence drains the life out of everything around him. His own men are shown to have transformed into discolored zombies as a result of being near him for a long period of time. In addition, he talks using BlackSpeech and his voice is physically painful to listen to.

** Encountering [[Characters/PokemonGenerationIVFamilies Darkrai]] will leave the observer plagued by nightmares, possibly for months. Story development later shows that this is unintentional. Darkrai comes with an {{inverted|Trope}} counterpart called Cresselia, whose presence causes happy dreams, and their feathers act as a [[MagicAntidote magic antidote]] to Darkrai's nightmares.

* Weaponized in ''Videogame/FistOfTheNorthStarKensRage'' where one of Jagi's [[LimitBreak Signature Moves]] is to lift his helmet and expose his mutilated face, which can kill and mangle enemies caught in it's range.

[[folder:Visual Novel]]
* ''VisualNovel/SayaNoUta'': The true form of Saya causes insanity upon sight. It is never certain what type of creature is Saya.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', a couple of Ben's aliens seem to have this property: [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghostfreak]] in the first series could open his "skin" and terrify even [[MonsterClown Zombozo]] with his appearance. But that turns out to be nothing compared to the apparent eldritch horror that is Toepick's face.

* WesternAnimation/PepeLePew the skunk's unbearable stench follows him everywhere he goes, causing even the strongest and bravest to flee from him in horror. Fortunately for Pepé (and unfortunately for everyone else), 99% of the time he's [[SelectiveObliviousness completely oblivious]] to this fact.

* In ''Manga/ChainsawMan'', at one point the main cast is [[spoiler: [[DraggedOffToHell sent to Hell]]]] where they encounter the [[spoiler: Darkness Devil]] whose mere presence is so unsettling to them that they start sweating, panicking and one even asks for "permission to kill themselves" from their superior.

** The Season 4 premiere "[[Recap/SupernaturalS04E01LazarusRising Lazurus Rising]]" revolves around trying to identify the creature who resurrected Dean. A psychic trying to view it had her eyes burned out just glimpsing its face. It turned out that the brown note was a side-effect of the creature's nature and not intentional. [[spoiler:The creature in question was Castiel, an AngelicAbomination, but not a hostile one. He usually uses a willing vessel to avoid having this effect on humans]].

''Pam took a peek at him and her eyes burned out of her skull, and you want to have a face-to-face?"''

* The anime anthology ''Anime/{{Memories}}'' features one short titled ''Stink Bomb'', wherein a man unwittingly turns himself into [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin precisely that]] -- every living creature that gets near him, due to the gas his body is emitting, promptly dies. It's played for BlackComedy, as he can't understand what's going on and why everyone is trying to stop him.

** Blanks are this to psykers, who see them as a "hole in the Warp", and ordinary people generally feel disturbed in their presence (although depending on the source, a blank is either a person born without a soul, or just a person with a mutation that gives some humans psychic powers). Necron Pariahs have a similar effect, inspiring horror and dread in living beings.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/TheVentureBrosS2E5TwentyYearsToMidnight Twenty Years to Midnight]]", an alien appears in the form of Rusty Venture's dead father Jonas to come and kill the Grand Galactic Inquisitor. When Rusty complains that this was traumatizing because he thought he actually ''was'' Jonas, the Inquisitor displays [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith his incomprehensible true form]], horrifying everyone and causing Sally Impossible's mentally challenged cousin, Ned, to crap his pants.

** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1128 SCP-1128]] is a particularly dangerous example, as simply knowing it’s full appearance is enough to make it capable of pulling you into its realm and eating you whenever you come into contact with water.
** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2662 SCP-2662]] is a {{Cthulhumanoid}} who makes a small percentage of people who spend time around him become his mad cultists. He finds it ''really'' annoying.

* Ash Ponies in [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/58529/the-ash The Ash]] don't just look ugly and disease ridden to normal ponies, it takes considerable effort to even look at them without feeling fear and disgust. Rarity is nearly DrivenToMadness after trying to make a dress inspired by their appearance because the part of her brain responsible for dress ideas won't let her forget an idea until she can complete at least one dress based on it forces her to think about how they look all the time.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': Darth Nihilus is a wound in the Force whose mere presence drains the life out of everything around him. His own men are shown to have transformed into discolored zombies as a result of being near him for a long period of time. In addition, he talks using BlackSpeech and his voice is physically painful is listen to.

* The very first threat the main characters encounter in ''LightNovel/OthersidePicnic'' is the kunekune, [[https://www.kowabana.net/2017/12/10/kunekune/ a creature from several net-based horror stories]] that will cause madness in anyone who looks directly at it. The thing is, the only way to defeat the kunekune involves "recognizing" it, meaning Sorawo ''has'' to stare at it directly for an extended period of time. She's able to survive because she has Toriko with her, but Sorawo comes close to losing her mind, sputtering gibberish as [[spoiler: a fungus-like "foreign body" starts growing out of her face.]]

* In ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', proximity to the White Queen immediately evokes worshipful mania, with longer-lasting permanent insanity of various types. Only one human is completely immune to it, no-one knows why, and he spends his whole life trying to keep her out of the human world.

* ''TabletopGame/TheOneRing'': The Nazgûl are {{Undead Abomination}}s whose presence acts like potent UnholyGround, forcing everyone nearby to pass a Corruption test or [[FaintInShock pass out]] and gain a [[KarmaMeter Shadow Point]]. On a CriticalFailure, the unconsciousness lasts for days and can be fatal.

One sight or sound from this creature [[TakenForGranite turns you to stone]], [[DiseaseBleach whitens your hair]], [[RapidAging ages you]], leaves you paralyzed, blind, obsessed, [[GoMadFromTheRevelation insane]], suicidal, or [[DeadlyGaze dead]]. Your eyeballs burst into flame, your eye color changes, or some other change to pupil or iris. Whatever the BrownNote effect is, it must be automatic, not a spell, device, or voluntary power. This trope is OlderThanFeudalism, since it appears in the Myth/ClassicalMythology (example: OurSirensAreDifferent) of the Greeks and Romans, and also Literature/TheBible (example: AngelicAbomination).

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with the legendary [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-682 SCP-682 ("The Hard-To-Destroy Reptile")]]. It's a bizarre lizard-like creature and OmnicidalManiac with a single desperate urge: [[KillEmAll kill every single human it sees.]] Why? Because ''we'' are Brown Note Beings to him: human beings inspire such utter, uncontrollable horror and disgust in 682 that completely obliterating them is the only way he can feel even slightly better.

* The anime anthology Memories by Osamu Tezuka features one short called Stink Bomb, wherein a man unwittingly turns himself into [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin precisely that]] - anyone who gets near him, due to the gas his body is emitting, promptly dies.

* ''Anime/{{Memories}}'': In ''Stink Bomb'', this is played for BlackComedy, as the main character has unwittingly become this and obliviously causes the death of every living creature that gets near him. He's a walking Cloudkill spell and can't understand what's going on and why everyone is trying to stop him.

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with the legendary [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-682 SCP-682 ("The Hard-To-Destroy Reptile")]]. It's a bizarre lizard-like creature and OmnicidalManiac with a single desperate urge: [[KillEmAll kill every single human it sees.]] Why? Because ''we'' are Brown Note Beings to him: human beings inspire such utter, uncontrollable horror and disgust in 682 that utterly obliterating them is the only way he can feel even slightly better.

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with the legendary [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-682 SCP-682 ("The Hard-To-Destroy Reptile"). It's a bizarre lizard-like creature and OmnicidalManiac with a single desperate urge: [[KillEmAll kill every single human it sees.]] Why? Because ''we'' are Brown Note Beings to him: human beings inspire such utter, uncontrollable horror and disgust in 682 that utterly obliterating them is the only way he can feel even slightly better.