History Main / FrightDeathtrap

* Mixed with [[spoiler:Elevator Failure]] in the first ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' OAV. [[spoiler:The BornLucky Shinji Nagumo tampers with a lift at his workplace to make it plummet ''several stories'' down and stop at the VERY last moment. As a result, Nagumo gets a broken arm... and his boss dies of a heart attack, putting him in the direct succession for his seat.]]

* The plot of the Mexican movie ''El miedo no and en burro'' (Fear Doesn't Ride a Donkey), starring La India Maria (Maria the Indian) revolves around this. Maria had been working as a live in maid in the mansion of a wealthy matriarch, who considered Maria her confidant, and the matriarch's freeloading relatives. When the Matriarch died, the relatives kicked Maria off the estate, and made her take the matriarch's beloved dog with her. They then rush to the lawyer's office to collect their inheritance, only for the lawyer to tell them that the matriarch [[InadequateInheritor considered them too self entered and greedy]] and [[PassedOverInheritance left them nothing]], with [[PetHeir her fortune going to her little dog]], and Maria acting as its regent. The relatives then ask Maria to go to a vacation house out of town, where they scheme to scare Maria to death, so they can get a hold of the dog, and the fortune. HilarityEnsues.

* The '''Run to your doom''' variety is used frequently in ''Film/YoungSherlockHolmes'', as several elder gentlemen [[spoiler:who pissed off the wrong Egyptian cult as younger men]] are drugged with blow-darts, causing them to see terrifying hallucinations and run into traffic, leap out 3rd story windows, etc.

* ''Series/Charmed1998'': In one episode, a [[MonsterOfTheWeek demon]] who appears every 1300 years, kills his victims randomly by creating their fears into reality which make them frightened to death.

* In "The Killer" - the first episode of the '80s revival of ''Series/MissionImpossible'' - Drake does this to Tom Copperfield; shooting him with a hallucinogenic drug that causes him to think that he is on fire. In a panic, he throws himself off the balcony of the penthouse.

* ''Series/NightGallery'' episode "The Ghost of Sorworth Place". A ghost appears near the top of a flight of stairs. A man pursuing the ghost tries to grab it but falls through it and down the flight of stairs, breaking his neck.

This isn't anywhere near foolproof, of course, and runs the risk that failing to scare the victim into a Fright Deathtrap puts the thwarted murderer out in the open. [[IWouldSayIfICouldSay If he could die a second time]], a ghost might die of shame at being as ineffective as a PeekABogeyman. The would-be victim now knows someone (or thing) is out to get them. ...Unless the would-be murderer used a [[CatScare spring-loaded cat as the scare.]] Then again, maybe the murderer was going for [[ParanoiaFuel a long-term frightfest...]]

* The western horror short story ''Mr. Kennedys Bones'' has a scene that combines this trope with a BatmanGambit (as it could have gone poorly). Thr VillainProtagonist rides up to the prospecting claim of Zeke [=McMasters=], one of the mob who lynched his former partner in crime Mr. Kennedy (the two murdered dozens of travelers for both their money and their bodies, which they sold to a medical school) several years ago. He puts the mummified body of Kennedy (which he’s kept for all those years) in the front seat of his wagon with him to invoke this trope. Sure enough when Zeke sees them he’s horrified and flees into his mine screaming. He screams so loud that the vibrations cause the mines flimsy support beams to give way, burying Zeke in a cave-in.

* In the Golden Age, ''heroes'' occasionally did this, although usually unintentionally. The original ComicBook/GreenLantern (Alan Scott) terrified a villain into confessing [[spoiler:that he had masterminded blowing up the bridge that Scott had designed, killing everyone on board the test train except Scott]] - and then the villain drops dead of a heart attack.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' mini-series ''The Legend Of The Batman'', it's revealed he's accidentally done this twice. The first time is when he confronts Joe Chill, revealing his identity to him. In a panic, he runs and confronts his cohorts, who shoot him when they realized ''he'''s the reason Batman exists. The second time is when Batman decides to confront the mobster who ordered Joe to murder the Waynes. Having no other costume except his father's Halloween costume, he wears that to confront the mobster and, his memory being jogged by it, the mobster runs right into a semi thinking that the ghost of Thomas Wayne had arrived.

* The '''Run to your doom''' variety is used frequently in ''Film/YoungSherlockHolmes'', as several elder gentlemen [[spoiler:who pissed off the wrong Egyptian cult as younger men]] are drugged with blow-darts, causing them to see terrifying hallucinations and run into traffic, leap out 3rd story windows, etc.
* In the film ''Film/{{Deathtrap}}'' (adapted from the play by Ira Levin) [[spoiler:wife Myra Bruhl]] is literally frightened to death after witnessing a staged murder victim return from their grave. [[spoiler:She]] collapses from a fatal heart attack, and the conspirators shake hands over the body. There's an ongoing attempt to induce an earlier heart attack in the lead up to the 'murder' itself. The husband looks like he's going to commit murder, releases the tension with a JustJokingJustification, then suddenly chokes his victim to death.
* In ''Film/TheTingler'', the theater owner's mute wife is frightened to death while alone in their apartment - hints suggest it may have been the work of [[spoiler:coroner Creator/VincentPrice who may have 'medicated' her with LSD to get a 'scared to death' subject for his work]] but it turned out to be the work of [[spoiler:her husband, caught red-handed with the spook show props that killed her.]]

* In ''Film/CurseOfTheHeadlessHorseman'', one of the hippie chicks is spooked by the Horseman and somehow runs in front of a campervan that is the only moving vehicle in the whole carpark. Another one dies, seemingly of heart failure, when she encounters the Horseman while tripping on acid.
* Used ''unintentionally'' in ''Film/ChildsPlay3''. As Chucky is about to attack his next victim with a knife, [[ScreamingWarrior yelling a battle cry]] with his face looking like it's covered in blood (actually lipstick), his would-be elderly victim is so scared he has a fatal heart attack and is scared stiff. Chucky's actually ''upset'' he didn't get to stab the guy.
-->'''Chucky:''' Oh, you've gotta be ''fucking'' kidding me...
* The plot of the Mexican movie ''El miedo no and en burro'' (Fear Doesn't Ride a Donkey), starring La India Maria (Maria the Indian) revolves around this. Maria had been working as a live in maid in the mansion of a wealthy matriarch, who considered Maria her confidant, and the matriarch's freeloading relatives. When the Matriarch died, the relatives kicked Maria off the estate, and made her take the matriarch's beloved dog with her. They then rush to the lawyer's office to collect their inheritance, only for the lawyer to tell them that the matriarch [[InadequateInheritor considered them too self entered and greedy]] and [[PassedOverInheritance left them nothing]], with [[PetHeir her fortune going to her little dog]], and Maria acting as its regent. The relatives then ask Maria to go to a vacation house out of town, where they scheme to scare Maria to death, so they can get a hold of the dog, and the fortune. HilarityEnsues.

* A "Deer in the headlights" variant happens in ''Literature/TheTellTaleHeart'', where the protagonist jump-scares his victim and freezes him with fear long enough to suffocate him with a pillow.
* [[spoiler:A young Lord Vetinari]] does this to Lord Winder in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}''. The ProperlyParanoid Winder is expecting to be poisoned or otherwise assassinated, and his nerves are so on edge that the sight of an Assassin walking calmly towards him while everyone else at the party does nothing is enough to cause him to die of fright. In this particular case, the assailant could have killed the victim with conventional means, but it just happened that they didn't need to.
* How Sir Charles Baskerville was killed in ''[[Literature/SherlockHolmes The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'' (by the scared stiff variant). Though an accidental victim, Seldon was killed by the deadly fall variant.

* ''Series/NightGallery'' episode "The Ghost of Sorworth Place". A ghost appears near the top of a flight of stairs. A man pursuing the ghost tries to grab it but falls through it and down the flight of stairs, breaking his neck.
* Attempted in one episode of ''Series/RandallAndHopkirkDeceased'' by a ghost villain, who appeared in the middle of the road while his target was driving. But his target knew he was a ghost and just drove straight through him.
* The Scared Stiff variant is attempted in an episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', where someone wants to keep the Worlds Oldest Man from reaching his next birthday.

* ''Superior Court'': An episode of the 1980s courtroom drama saw a young man tried for first-degree murder after his grandmother died of a massive, fright-induced heart attack. The prosecutors alleged he and an accomplice used the knowledge of her weak heart during a robbery to enforce the Scared Stiff variant, while the defense said no physical evidence was left behind and that it could not be definitively proven her heart attack was a direct result of her grandson’s actions. The judge disagreed and found the defendant guilty of first-degree murder.

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': "Deadly Silents" used the 'Scared Stiff' version. The villains set up several stunts (a suitcase full of snakes, leaving him ChainedToARailway, etc.) to attempt to trigger a fatal heart attack in an elderly silent movie star.
* ''Series/WhodunnitUK'': In "Future Imperfect", the VictimOfTheWeek is murdered when the travel tape he was supposed to experiencing is swapped for a tape of a tiger attacking, triggering a heart attack.

* One episode of the ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' TV series features a GoldDigger who attempts to make use of her husband's heart condition to scare him to death with a [[ScoobyDooHoax ghost story]]. When he proves sturdier than she thought, she shoots him and uses the ghost story to make it look as though she is being deliberately frightened by someone else.

* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': The 'Run to Your Doom' version happens in "Hounded" when Charles Baskerville is struck by a truck while fleeing from what a witness describes as a huge glowing animal.

* ''Series/Charmed1998'': In one episode, a [[MonsterOfTheWeek demon]] who appears every 1300 years, kills his victims randomly by creating their fears into reality which make them frightened to death.
* ''Series/DeadMansGun'': In "Buryin' Sam", Sam--who has a weak heart--dies of a heart attack when his beleaguered assistant disguises himself as Sam's business partner, whom Sam had murdered earlier.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Fear is one of the StandardStatusEffects that does no damage by itself, but a few dungeon bosses count as this trope: they fear the {{Player Character}}s, making them run around at random so that they risk running into a group of unengaged mobs and aggroing them. Onyxia is the most notorious for this, as her lair contains two pens with whelp eggs, which players who are feared run into and are overcome by whelps.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', Sims can be scared to death by ghosts if their needs are low when the ghost scares them. This is particularly common with pregnant Sims since they often already have low needs due to pregnancy.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Ghost in the Machines" has Bender (as a disembodied software ghost) attempt this on Fry as part of a deal with the Robot Devil.

* [[spoiler:A young Lord Vetinari]] does this to Lord Winder in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}''. The ProperlyParanoid Winder is expecting to be poisoned or otherwise assassinated, and his nerves are so on edge that the sight of an Assassin walking calmly towards him while everyone else at the party does nothing is enough to cause him to die of fright.

** A "Scared Stiff" variant occurs in "Wireless." An old lady's nephew buys her a new radio through which she begins hearing the voice of her deceased husband telling her he will "come for her" at a set day and time. She decides to FaceDeathWithDignity, and prepares a few documents on that day and time--a letter to a society that studies supernatural events, and a new will leaving everything to her nephew. When the time arrives, a figure that looks identical to her husband walks through the door, causing the woman (who has an unspecified heart disease) to die of shock/fright/an arrhythmia. [[spoiler: It turns out that the "husband" was actually her nephew pulling a ScoobyDooHoax with the help of some hidden wires and a chest of old clothes he found in the attic; he had many unpaid debts and was after her money. But he ends up HoistByHisOwnPetard: his aunt was holding the new will when he entered the room in his disguise and dropped it in her panic--directly into the fireplace, destroying it and thus making her existing will, which left everything to a distant relative, the only active one. And just to add insult to injury, the family doctor reveals that the aunt's heart condition was actually far worse than anyone suspected--she would have died of natural causes in six weeks. The nephew realizes that it was AllForNothing, as he's lost any chance of escaping his debtors and will end up in prison for the unpaid sums.]]

** In ''The Case of the Constant Suicides'', everyone who stayed in a certain room in a castle for a night would wind up falling down to their deaths from the dangerous balcony, as if something scared them into attempting to escape. There was nothing special in the room aside from a box with a cage door such as might be used to carry a small animal that had been brought in recently and left under the bed -- but which people had looked into and found it to be empty. [[spoiler:Actually it wasn't empty, but contained something nearly invisible -- carbon dioxide ice, which would [[start to vaporize ArtisticLicensePhysics as the temperature got lower at night,]] leaving the occupant of the room unable to breathe and cause them to panic for some air.]]

* Mixed with [[spoiler:ElevatorFailure]] in the first ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' OAV. [[spoiler:The BornLucky Shinji Nagumo tampers with a lift at his workplace to make it plummet ''several stores'' down and stop at the VERY last moment. As a result, Nagumo gets a broken arm... and his boss dies of a heart attack, putting him in the direct succession for his seat.]]

* In one story, a young woman discovers that her new husband is a SerialKiller who has murdered at least three previous brides. Furthermore, she learns that she is next on the list, and that he plans to kill her that very night. In a desperate bid to keep herself alive, she starts telling him that ''she'' is a BlackWidow who specializes in poison. It's all a hoax, but her husband is so taken with the tale, and so convinced that she actually put poison in his coffee, that he dies of sheer fright and the power of suggestion.

** In "The Blue Geranium" from ''Literature/TheThirteenProblems'', a woman is told by a fortune teller, "Beware the full moon. The blue primrose means warning, the blue hollyhock means danger, the blue geranium means death." At the next full moon, one of the primroses on her wallpaper turns blue, and at the full moon after that, one of the hollyhocks turns blue. The woman dies of a heart attack on the night of the third full moon, with the implication being that she was frightened to death by the threat. [[spoiler:She was actually poisoned by her nurse, who switched her bottle of smelling salts with cyanide crystals. The nurse set up the whole blue flowers motif as camouflage.]]
** In "The Case of the Caretaker," a woman dies when her ''horse'' is frightened by the aforementioned caretaker, causing the animal to rear and the woman to fall off. [[spoiler:Here again, the horse hadn't been frightened but rather had been shot by a BB gun. And the woman died from poison rather than from the fall.]]
** A "Scared Stiff" variant occurs in "Wireless." An old lady's nephew buys her a new radio through which she begins hearing the voice of her deceased husband telling her he will "come for her" at a set day and time. At that day and time, a man who looks like her husband enters through the front door, causing the woman (who has an unspecified heart disease) to die of shock/fright/an arrhythmia. [[spoiler:The man turns out to be [[ScoobyDooHoax her nephew, who had been manipulating and speaking through the radio the whole time]] and killed her for the money she had willed to him.]]

This isn't anywhere near foolproof, of course, and runs the risk that failing to scare the victim into a Fright Deathtrap puts the thwarted murderer out in the open. [[IWouldSayIfICouldSay If he could die a second time]], a ghost might die of shame at being as ineffective as a PeekABogeyman. The would-be victim now knows someone (or thing) is out to get them. ...Unless the would-be murderer used a [[CatScare spring-loaded cat as the scare.]] Then again, maybe the murderer was going for [[ParanoiaFuel a long-term frightfest...]]\\

MurderIsTheBestSolution; sadly, it's not always practical or possible to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim simply shoot the target]]. Either because they want to avoid being incriminated in the murder or have no corporeal body, the murderer will use a Fright Deathtrap to figuratively and literally scare someone to death. The Fright Deathtrap consists of scaring someone at just the right moment so they end up dead in circumstances that Occam's Razor will imply was an accident rather than foul play or the supernatural.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' mini-series ''The Legend Of The Batman'', it's revealed he's accidentally done this twice. The first time is when he confronts Joe Chill, revealing his identity to him. In a panic, he runs and confronts his cohorts, who shoot him when they realized ''he'''s the reason Batman exists. The second time is when Batman decides to confront the mobster who ordered Joe to murder the Waynes. Having no other costume except his father's halloween costume, he wears that to confront the mobster and, his memory being jogged by it, the mobster runs right into a semi thinking that the ghost of Thomas Wayne had arrived.

* The 'Run to Your Doom' version is used in the opening of the ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' episode "Sweethearts". The VictimOfTheWeek is suffering terrifying hallucinations that cause her to run onto a bridge and into the path of car. She might have survived, but the monster shows up to finish her off.
* In "The Killer" - the first episode of the 80s revival of ''Series/MissionImpossible'' - Drake does this to Tom Copperfield; shooting him with a hallucinogenic drug that causes him to think that he is on fire. In panic, he throws himself off the balcony of the penthouse.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Fear is one of the StandardStatusEffects that does no damage by itself, but a few dungeon bosses count as this trope: they fear the {{Player Character}}s, making them run around at random, so that they risk running into a group of unengaged mobs and aggroing them. Onyxia is the most notorious for this, as her lair contains two pens with whelp eggs, which players who are feared run into and are overcome by whelps.
* The Elysian Box in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox'' seems to function this way. Rumors surrounding the box say that it kills all who dare open it, and the game begins with the death of Layton's old mentor while investigating the rumors [[spoiler:it turns out that the box's "power" actually comes from the victim being exposed to a type of fume that causes the inhaler to be highly susceptible to suggestion to the point of perceiving whatever he thinks might be in the room as actually being there. Schrader actually recovers from his death at the end, but it's speculated that he may have been one of the lucky ones who wasn't say, chased out of a tenth story window by the imaginary thirty foot python lurking in the box, much like the ''Film/YoungSherlockHolmes'' example]].
* Specimen 1 from ''VideoGame/SpookysJumpScareMansion'' is simply a group of cardbord cutouts of cute-faced creatures that jump out with a ScareChord. By themselves they are harmless asides from making the character stop for a brief moment (and giving the titular jump scares to the player) but as the game progresses and the player finds [[KnightOfCerebus the other specimens]], Specimen 1's jumpscares become more effective as a deer-in-the-headlights style trap. According to the in-game profile, Specimen 1 has killed 4 people via heart attack.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', Sims can be scared to death by ghosts if their needs are low when the ghost scares them. This is particularly common with pregnant Sims, since they often already have low needs due to pregnancy.

* The ''Mickey [=MouseWorks=]'' short "How to Haunt a House", which subsequently aired as part of ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'': At the beginning, we hear Goofy getting hit by a car so that he can be a ghost and demonstrate how to haunt a house, with WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck as the hauntee. After many amusing attempts that end in failure, he finally succeeds in scaring Donald, who runs out the door, is also hit by a car, and comes back inside as a rather angry ghost.

** A "Scared Stiff" version occurs in "Wireless." An old lady's nephew buys her a new radio through which she begins hearing the voice of her deceased husband telling her he will "come for her" at a set day and time. At that day and time, a man who looks like her husband enters through the front door, causing the woman (who has an unspecified heart disease) to die of shock/fright/an arrhythmia. [[spoiler:The man turns out to be her nephew, who had been manipulating and speaking through the radio the whole time and killed her for the money she had willed to him.]]

** In "Wireless," an old lady's nephew buys her a new radio through which she begins hearing the voice of her deceased husband telling her he will "come for her" at a set day and time. At that day and time, a man who looks like her husband enters through the front door, causing the woman (who has an unspecified heart disease) to die of shock/fright/an arrhythmia. [[spoiler:The man turns out to be her nephew, who had been manipulating and speaking through the radio the whole time and killed her for the money she had willed to him.]]

** In "Wireless," an old lady's nephew buys her a new radio, through which she begins hearing the voice of her deceased husband, telling her he will "come for her" at a set day and time. At that day and time, a man who looks like her husband enters through the front door, causing the woman (who has some unspecified heart disease) to die of shock/fright/an arrhythmia. [[spoiler:The man turns out to be her nephew, who had been manipulating and speaking through the radio the whole time and killed her to claim his inheritance. He gets his share of KarmicJustice, though.]]

** In ''The Case of the Constant Suicides'', everyone who stayed in a certain room in a castle for a night would wind up falling down to their deaths from the dangerous balcony, as if something scared them into attempting to escape. There was nothing special in the room aside from a box with a cage door such as might be used to carry a small animal that had been brought in recently and left under the bed -- but which people had looked into and found it to be empty. [[spoiler:Actually it wasn't empty, but contained something nearly invisible -- carbon dioxide ice, which would start to vaporize as the temperature got lower at night, leaving the occupant of the room unable to breathe and cause them to panic for some air.]]

* Used ''unintentionally'' in ''Film/ChildsPlay3''. As Chuckie is about to attack his next victim with a knife, [[ScreamingWarrior yelling a battle cry]] with his face looking like it's covered in blood (actually lipstick), his would-be elderly victim is so scared he has a fatal heart attack and is scared stiff. Chuckie's actually ''upset'' he didn't get to stab the guy.
-->'''Chuckie:''' Oh you gotta be ''fucking'' kidding me!

* Used ''unintentionally'' in ''Film/ChildsPlayThree''. As Chuckie is about to attack his next victim with a knife, [[ScreamingWarrior yelling a battle cry]] with his face looking like it's covered in blood (actually lipstick), his would-be elderly victim is so scared he has a fatal heart attack and is scared stiff. Chuckie's actually ''upset'' he didn't get to stab the guy.

** In ''The Case of the Constant Suicides'', everyone who stayed in a certain room in a castle for a night would wind up falling down to their deaths from the dangerous balcony, as if something scared them into attempting to escape. There was nothing special in the room aside from a box with a cage door such as might be used to carry a small animal that had been brought in recently and left under the bed -- but which people had looked into and found it to be empty. [[spoiler:Actually it wasn't empty, but contained something nearly invisible -- carbon dioxide ice, which would start to vaporize as the temperature got lower at night, leaving the occupant of the room unable to breath and cause them to panic for some air.]]
** In ''He Who Whispers'', just after it has been suggested that one of the characters is a vampire and was able to commit a previous impossible murder by flying, a shot is heard, and one character is found in her bed scared so badly she has nearly died (and is incapable of explaining what has happened, of course). She's holding a gun and appears to have shot at something ouside the window, which is, of course, so far above the ground and inaccessible that only something flying could have been behind it. [[spoiler:The would-be-murderer -- who would have succeeded if he had had the right, much more sensitive target instead of the wrong person in the dark -- had in fact been in the room with the victim, pressed a gun to her head in the dark, and whispered to her a long time about how he was going to shoot her -- then fired the other gun he had towards the window, expecting her to die of shock when she thought she was being shot, but with it looking like she fired the gun herself.]]