Horror Sound Effects: 13 Scary Sound Libraries That'll Make Your Audience Scream And Shiver

Posted October 6, 2013 by Asbjoern Andersen in New sound effects libraries

Halloween is just around the corner, and the days are getting colder and darker here in Denmark.

So I dimmed the lights, sat down with a cup of the blackest coffee we have in the studio and picked out some of the libraries that would work particularly well for horror projects.

They’re great for those of you working on projects where you want to give your audience the chills – and perhaps make them jump a bit.

Oh, and at the end of this guide, I’ll tell you how you can make eight creepy horror sound effects yourself. But let’s start out with the 13 libraries first – here we go:

Eerie atmospheres

Drones & Mood Sound Effects Drones Play Track 40 sounds included $20

40 Two Minute Long Drones

Drones are essential for every sound designer and composer. Combine and layer Drones to add more depth, tension, and suspense to your track. Drones can act as a great background to any sci-fi scene and make your music more interesting.

Bonus:
This library includes the Suburb Rain SFX collection at no extra cost - featuring almost 50 minutes of rain recordings

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When you want to create an unsettling atmosphere, this library of 40 2-minute drones will come in handy – check out the demo and hear for yourself.

Shock Effects

Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects Impact Collection Play Track 304 sounds included $40

The Impact Collection is a library of 304 impacts, whooshes, swells, static, rises and zaps all designed with Trailers and Promos in mind.

These sounds were designed using anything I could hit, bang, rumble and smash. In the process I destroyed a couple tools and put a healthy dent in a spare refrigerator, not to mention the smashing of dozens of plates as well as my neighbor’s leftover ceramic tiles.

After recording all of my source material I got to work on building pre-made impacts in various ways as well as adding a healthy dose of plug-in abuse. My Genelecs may never be the same! Thanks for listening.

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Want to shock your audience? This collection features more than 300 sounds that will help you do just that.

Creatures

When you need some otherworldly creature sounds, Russell Gorsky’s aptly titled ‘Creatures’ library could be just the ticket. It features a total of 242 growls, hisses, roars, screeches.

Gore

Gore Sound Effects Gore Toolkit HD Play Track 798 sounds included $85

A collection of over 530 96k/24bit HD Gore sound effects that comes with an additional 262 48k/24bit sounds! Come and get your body damage galore. Punches, bone, blood, intestines, goops, splats, flesh movement, chewing, tearing, snapping, breaking, blade sounds… It’s BLOODY CARNAGE!

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Need blood-dripping sounds? The Gore Toolkit HD gives you almost 800 sounds total to work with – including sounds of punches, bone, blood, intestines, goops, splats, flesh movement, chewing, tearing, snapping and breaking.

Strange sounds

Drones & Mood Sound Effects LiquidMetal – Waterphone Play Track 263 sounds included
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$71

The LiquidMetal – Waterphone SFX pack contains a lot of great material for your next deep impact horror project, when you need eerie, suspenseful and deep sounds that bring the fear out in you and your audience.

We hit, rattled, bowed, snaped and swashed the real Waterphone – a unique instrument – for really formidable sounds.

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The Waterphone is a unique instrument – and it emits some very eerie and unsettling sounds. The Soundcatcher managed to record the original Waterphone in this library featuring 263 sounds.

Alone in the dark

Drones & Mood Sound Effects Kyma Ambiences – vol.1 Play Track 56 sounds included, 112 mins total From: $49

Kyma Ambiences [USO003] is the third sound effects bundle created by Matteo Milani.

The generation of these “Artificial Reality Ambiences” starts entirely in Symbolic Sound Kyma from the processing of white and pink noise by filtering – in the time/spectral domains – and convolving these sources with custom FM, additive, formant and granular synthesis.   The composition’s resource of sound material is drawn solely from these processed stochastic sound elements: coloured noise is a raw material already full of life and can be sculpted into a variety of temporal forms, movements and textures.

The interaction with Kyma was typical of a composer who explored a device’s potential for sound transformation like a musical instrument. The goal was to obtain an organic and acoustic quality using only a restricted sound source, in order to evoke real spatial characteristics attached to each invented sound.

The “Kyma Ambiences vol.1” sound effects collection is published @ 96kHz (native) – and is also available as dual-layer separated “Elements”, suitable for recombinant stratification, varispeed and spatial positioning in the surround field (for a total of 112 files @ 96kHz).

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If you’re looking to instill a feeling of desolation and loneliness, Matteo Milani has generated some truly strange soundscapes for you in his Kyma Ambiences library – check out the demo.

Screams

Horror Sound Effects Scream Collection Play Track 441 sounds included $25

Introducing the Scream Collection (A Tribute To Wilhelm). This library pays homage to the infamous Wilhelm Scream first heard in the film Distant Drums as well as dozens, if not hundreds, of other films. This compilation includes 441 vocal effects ranging from startled gasps to all out screams.

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Blood-curdling screams are of course a vital part of any horror project.

And in Bruce Bueckert’s Scream library, you get no fewer than 441 vocal sound recordings (screams + many other strange vocal sounds) to work with.

Blades

Cold Weapon Sound Effects Blades Play Track 260 sounds included $30

Blades is a collection of 54 audio files containing a whopping 260 individual audio clips. This collection gives you sheath sounds, blade scrapes, clanks, hits, schings, and yes, even scissors snipping. Best of all, if you need 10 sword hits in the scene, you only have to import one or two tracks.

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When your project calls for a bit of knife-wielding, David Fienup’s library has you covered.
His Blades library gives you sheath sounds, blade scrapes, clanks, hits, schings, and yes, even scissors snipping (!). A total of 260 sounds are included.

Smashing and breaking

Destruction & Impact Sounds The Abandoned School Play Track 172 sounds included $52

We recorded an old abandoned school and gained a lot of nice and very unique sound fx for your next sounddesign project. You’ll get up to 1.26 GB / 172 mono & stereo files, tagged (for trouble free use in your loved data base program) and carefully mastered in 24Bit/96kHz.

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Chances are that there’ll be some destruction going on in your project – and this library features 172 audio recordings of things breaking, recorded with natural ambiences at an abandoned school.

Odd strings

Drones & Mood Sound Effects Desolated Strings & Wood Play Track 272 sounds included $79

The Soundcatcher is proud to announce a new sound design library called “Desolated Strings & Wood“. The found Markneunkirchen Zither from Wernitzgruen was in a very poor condition. I collected it and wrecked it like there was no tomorrow.

You´ll get 272 stereo files (1.48GB total), tagged for trouble-free use in your favorite database program and carefully mastered in 24Bit/96kHz.

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The zither is capable of making some really odd noises – and this library features 800+ sounds in 88 files of stringy weirdness. Hear some of the examples in the demo above.

Creepy resonances

Horror Sound Effects The Metal Shelf Play Track 134 sounds included $20

This library features recordings of a metal shelf being shaken, slammed, scraped, and other torturous things.

In this library, you’ll find metal slams, moans, squeals, shakes, taps, and sounds of rocks being poured over it.

There are lots of nice resonant sounds filled clangorous textures. Great for creating creepy tones for suspense and tension.

This library was recorded with a Barcus Berry Contact Mic going into a Barcus Berry 4000 preamp and a Sound Devices 702.

Bonus:
This library includes the Suburb Rain SFX collection at no extra cost - featuring almost 50 minutes of rain recordings

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Sound designer Russell Gorsky managed to get a surprising number of creepy, resonant noises out of an old metal shelf. It sounds a lot scarier than it looks!

Scary squeals

Farm & Horse Sound Effects Pigs FX Play Track 246 sounds included $54

Terrifying squeals, grunts, barks, and sneeze from adult pigs weighing up to 400 lbs, and ambiences from the stables. The second part is recordings of smaller pigs (80 lbs) on the day they were picked up by truck to go you know where! The pigs knew exactly what was going on, which is represented in the sounds recorded.

Needless to say, this library has been ear wrecking to put together, but the reward is 246 single files of pure pigs.

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Ah, pigs – these creatures can emit some pretty horrific sounds indeed. Sound designer Mikkel Nielsen spent days on a farm recording terrifying squeals and grunts + ambience from the stables. Check out the demo to hear what he brought back with him.

Need more sounds?

If you need more sounds for your project, be sure to check out the many other sound libraries on A Sound Effect – click below to continue exploring:

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Hope you found something useful above! If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also create your own horrifying sound effects from scratch. Here are some ideas for doing just that, courtesy of David Filskov’s great list of sound effect ideas, and some clever sound designers:

How to create your own horror sounds

Bats flying

I used an umbrella opening and closing rapidly for the sound of bats flying one time… turned out great. I think I had to filter out some of the low frequency material, though.
-Tim Clarke

A pair of leather gloves flapped about is a good substitute for wings flapping when a bat takes off.
– Garry Taylor

Blood and guts being torn out

I know how to make a nice sound of blood and guts being torn out. Just make a milk pulp, put it into your mouth, and then try to say “Ghhhh”. Mix it with the end section of any water splash sample or add a sample where you’re moving out your hand from a bucket of water.
– Adam

Gore and squidge

Wet wash leather – fantastic for gore and squidge.
– Mark Estdale

Fruits! Especially tomatoes (for splatters) and potatoes (for wet crunchy sounds). Another classic is making a goo with eggs and dip rags and paper towels into them and play.
– Gustaf Grefberg

Rat shrieks

Pitched-up chickens.
– Ben Burtt

Up-pitched kittens. Especially the screechy ones.
– Gustaf Grefberg

Stone coffin opening

Slide off the top of a toilet tank.
– Ben Burtt

Spirits screaming

Dolphin and sea-lion cries, other animal screams and human vocalizations.
– Ben Burtt

Tentacles, sliding

Get a few day’s worth of stubble on your face. Go somewhere real quiet and record running your hand and arm under your chin – it mixes in nice with the hairs on your arm. Or as I just found out, get a mouse mat with a rubberized or cloth surface and rub that under your chin :-) To further this idea maybe put some shaving gel on and take a credit card and lightly rub it across? That way you get bristly with a bit of slime.
– Dave Sullivan

Having just eaten a bowl of macaroni and cheese shells, I have to say it’s the most convincing tentacle sound I’ve ever heard. It also made the bowl harder to finish :-)
– Jay Semerad

Vocalization of monster

Metal pressed against dry ice.
– Paul Arnold

Slide a straw up or down in a McDonald’s large drink plastic lid. Try pitching it down and stretching it – and voilá! McZilla.
– Max Hodges

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A Sound Effect gives you easy access to an absolutely huge sound effects catalog from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement - a few highlights:

Creature Sound Effects Zombie – The World’s Largest Zombie Library Play Track 20000 sounds included, 1369 mins total From: $199

The Zombie Apocalypse has arrived, and the virus is spreading fast. This comprehensive sound library features 20,000 high quality zombie sounds, making it the most complete zombie sound collection ever released.

Expert Vocalizations
In today’s films and video games, zombies have four distinct vocal archetypes. The renowned creature voice talents from The Monster Factory have expertly performed all these vocalizations, covering every genre of zombie imaginable—from the fast-paced, ultra-rabid freshly infected to the slow, hauntingly wailing undead. Our team has been trusted by AAA video game companies for over 15 years, contributing creature vocalizations to games like Star Wars Outlaws, Dead by Daylight, Until Dawn, Hellblade 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and many more. Their expertise in creating immersive audio nightmares is highly sought-after in the industry.

More Actions and Variations
Unlike typical sound libraries that limit diversity by offering only a few choices, Zombie Apocalypse delivers a wider range of actions and variations. With more options for nuanced performances, you can ensure that the sounds match every movement and action of your characters. The Zombie Apocalypse library covers a wide range of actions and intensity level, including:

• Breathing, Walking, Running
• Idle, Detection, Attacks
• Pain & Death sequences
• Biting, Chewing, Choking, and much more!

For the full list of actions, click here.

Voice Layering Options
For greater customization, we recorded each action with a consistent phonetic script, ensuring that different voice techniques can be perfectly layered together. You can mix 2, 3, or even 4 different voice techniques, giving you endless possibilities to create unique zombie sounds or even non-zombie creatures. Though designed primarily for zombies, this library’s layering capabilities make it versatile enough to design an array of creatures and monsters. It’s the most flexible collection of creature vocalizations available.

Distant Microphone Recording
While recording, we used a second Sanken CO-100K microphone positioned 3 meters away from the first, adding depth and nuance to the recordings. These distant microphone audio files will help you create richer ambiances, ensuring that not all zombies sound the same or come from the same distance.

Unparalleled Level of Audio Quality for Unparalleled Level of Terror
Recorded at Tone Studio in Montreal by James Duhamel, the Zombie Apocalypse library offers pristine audio fidelity with a 192 kHz/24-bit sample rate. This, combined with the talents of trusted voice actors and the increased variety of actions and variations, the layering option to keep your listeners immersed and on edge, makes Zombie Apocalypse the most complete and unique sound library on the market. If it is not the first zombie sound library you have bought, this one will definitely be your last.

Rich Metadata Embedded
Every file comes with UCS naming and detailed metadata, including file descriptions and keywords, ensuring that you can quickly find the right sounds for your project.

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Destruction & Impact Sounds Rocks Play Track 700+ sounds included $38

The ROCKS Library is a collection of more than 700 designed rock and stone sound effects, ready to use.
From single stone impacts to large heavy collapsing rocks, avalanches, rockslides sounds, rolling and falling stones, debris sounds….

Originally recorded at 192 kHz with two Sennheiser MKH8040, a Sanken CO-100K and a Sound devices Mixpre 6. Delivered at 96Khz.

Each sound file has been carefully named and tagged for easy search in Soundminer and is Universal Category System (UCS) compliant.

(see the full track list below).

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Rock / Stone Sound Effects Rocks Momentum Play Track 1100+ sounds included
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$37

The Rocks Momentum sound effects library gets you more than 1100 sounds of rocks, bricks, wood logs, stones, impacting on different surfaces, rolling, being scraped one against the other and so on. The library was recorded in the Italian alps, and in Inverness, Scotland. Defective construction materials were used for the recording of bricks, roofing tiles, cement blocks etc.

Bonus: Two extra libraries included for free: This library also includes two additional releases from Mattia Cellotto - for free: Crunch Mode delivers 230 crunchy sounds made with a variety of vegetables, fresh bread, pizza crust and a selection of frozen goods. The Borax Experiment gets you 158 squishy, gory, slimy and gooey sounds.

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Explore the full, unique collection here

Latest sound effects libraries:

Environments & Ambiences Geophonic Sound Effects Play Track 98+ sounds included, 32 mins total $15

This audio library features low-frequency drones, powerful impacts, metallic scrapes, resonant vibrations, and other rare audio textures.
All sounds were recorded using the LOM Geofón, a device that captures low-frequency surface vibrations that conventional microphones cannot detect.

The recordings were made with the TASCAM Portacapture X8 at 192 kHz/32 bit, ensuring maximum detail and sound quality.

50 %

OFF

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Environments & Ambiences Southeast Asia Play Track 147 sounds included, 225 mins total $32.50

A field-recorded collection from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand capturing the sounds of tropical environments, urban life, transport and religious sites.
Southeast Asia includes jungle ambiences, heavy monsoon rains, street markets and traditional ceremonies.

Last September, I spent 3 weeks vacationing in Southeast Asia, visiting Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
During my stay, I recorded everything I thought could be characteristic of those cultures: from tropical to urban environments, religious ceremonies and places of worship, modes of transportation (from boats to tuk-tuks), spoken language, monsoon rain, etc.

The recordings are situational, meaning I didn’t prepare anything before starting to record. If I found myself in a location that seemed suitable, I simply pressed REC.
I used my Tascam DR100 MK3 or the Zoom F6 with a pair of Line Audio OM1 omnidirectional microphones

Audio files are 96kHz/24 Bit. Cleaned and edited for professional use, with UCS naming and full metadata.

50 %

OFF

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Ambisonic Sound Effects Ambisonic Walla, Public Places Play Track 52+ sounds included, 172 mins total $21

Walla, public places recorded in ambisonic B-format (ambix) and binaural.
Including some actions like walking, running around mic etc.
Recorded with Sennheiser Ambeo VR microphone and Sound Devices recorder. See the track list for additional info.

The download contains each recording in B-format (RAW-4ch.) and as Binaural Stereo files. The audio preview is binaural and should be listened to with headphones. All files are tagged with Metadata.

9 %

OFF

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Environments & Ambiences South African Walla Play Track 21 sounds included, 33 mins total $50

This authentic South African Walla library will give any production a true sense of South African flavour with a variety of voices and languages.

Featuring in-studio recordings with all South African cast, for a real South African feel without the distractions of exterior noise. These organic crowd murmurs, ambient dialogues, and background chatter reflect a variety of local languages, dialects, and cultural settings, making them perfect for film, TV, games, and immersive audio experiences. Elevate your sound design with the unmistakable authenticity of South African walla!

23 %

OFF

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Cold Weapon Sound Effects Anime Weapon Play Track 681 sounds included, 21 mins total $99

Anime Weapon Sound Effects – 681 Stylized Sounds for Your Game!

Bring your game to life with 681 high-quality anime weapon sound effects, carefully designed for easy implementation in any project. Whether you’re crafting an anime RPG, action-packed hack-and-slash, or futuristic mecha shooter, this sound pack delivers everything you need to create satisfying and immersive combat audio.

Each weapon type comes with game-ready, clearly named files, making it simple to drop them into your project and features variations from light to heavy, critical, and epic, giving you full control over intensity and impact:

🔹 Swords & Spears – Swings, swooshes, impact hits, and special skills
🔹 Bows – String draw, arrow release, and impact sounds
🔹 Lasers & Mecha – Power-up charges, shots, impacts, and skill effects
🔹 Guns – Designed anime-style gunshots with skill variations

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