Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Updated yet again for the Halloween season; a montage of the second most well-known sound effect in the entertainment industry (next to the Wilhelm Scream), the Castle Thunder, as seen on this site...
hollywoodlostandfound.net/sound/castlethunder.html
I had to re-upload this a few times because of an editing mistake I made in the software's timeline.
In the animation world, this sound was typically associated with Disney and Hanna-Barbera. By 1988, Castle Thunder began to be phased out by most movie, TV and animation studios, however some cartoons in the 1990s onward continue to use it (especially anything that Pomann Sound and Hacienda Post/Sabre Media Studios does sound editing on, or certain reboots of older properties). This montage is a continuing work-in-progress and will be replaced with an updated version sometime in the future.
For those curious, I've compiled a list of the cartoon clips used here:
docs.google.com/document/d/1hvUK08xTm7El8yzSWie2v7c1cHZbR4AGQ4GZeeI0MG0/edit?usp=sharing
A BIG thank you to the Sound Effects Wiki for helping me find some of these clips!
NOTE: I chose to not include SpongeBob SquarePants, even though the pre-2005 episodes used Castle Thunder, using all the clips of it would take up too much room; same reason why "Hey Arnold!" isn't here. I was also surprised to hear "The Simpsons" start using it as of Season 34! Usually, the show uses a thunderclap that sounds like the old Warner Bros. gunshot sound effect. I'm guessing it's another instance of the show's more experimental approach under Matt Selman's tenure as showrunner and under Disney's ownership (especially since Disney used to use Castle Thunder a lot).
All clips ™ and © by their respective owners; FAIR USE!
Updated yet again for the Halloween season; a montage of the second most well-known sound effect in the entertainment industry (next to the Wilhelm Scream), the Castle Thunder, as seen on this site...
hollywoodlostandfound.net/sound/castlethunder.html
I had to re-upload this a few times because of an editing mistake I made in the software's timeline.
In the animation world, this sound was typically associated with Disney and Hanna-Barbera. By 1988, Castle Thunder began to be phased out by most movie, TV and animation studios, however some cartoons in the 1990s onward continue to use it (especially anything that Pomann Sound and Hacienda Post/Sabre Media Studios does sound editing on, or certain reboots of older properties). This montage is a continuing work-in-progress and will be replaced with an updated version sometime in the future.
For those curious, I've compiled a list of the cartoon clips used here:
docs.google.com/document/d/1hvUK08xTm7El8yzSWie2v7c1cHZbR4AGQ4GZeeI0MG0/edit?usp=sharing
A BIG thank you to the Sound Effects Wiki for helping me find some of these clips!
NOTE: I chose to not include SpongeBob SquarePants, even though the pre-2005 episodes used Castle Thunder, using all the clips of it would take up too much room; same reason why "Hey Arnold!" isn't here. I was also surprised to hear "The Simpsons" start using it as of Season 34! Usually, the show uses a thunderclap that sounds like the old Warner Bros. gunshot sound effect. I'm guessing it's another instance of the show's more experimental approach under Matt Selman's tenure as showrunner and under Disney's ownership (especially since Disney used to use Castle Thunder a lot).
All clips ™ and © by their respective owners; FAIR USE!
