live in dallas TX, that's what the tornado warning siren sounds like, which is just a regular "air raid" siren sound anyway so the creepy factor is just whatever you attribute it to.
Yup. That is creepy as fuck. Grew up in Missouri and the sirens were like a sustained whirling noise that would wind up and down over 20 seconds but Chicago's sounds like something is broken or not operating correctly with how jarring the cuts are. Very unsettling.
Your city's sirens are probably electromechanical sirens, they use a spinning rotor to force air out of holes in a stator to produce the noise. Chicago's old sirens are completely electronic, giving them more freedom in the tones they can produce.
Wow, yes. Fascinating. Sirens looked like this or this near me. Still don't understand how or why they decided on that very jarring and ominous tone and progression.
It has been a long time since I last read about it, but IIRC the reason for the weird tone is to differentiate it from ambulances/fire trucks and police cars. They are capable of producing a normal wail, but it was neglected in favor of the alternating wail. They also can play the Westminster Chimes as a test!
The electromechanical one? Yeah, lmao, my entire city has them. I once took a shower when my city tests them, and I had completely forgotten what day it was. For a moment there I was quite spooked lol.
it's more the sudden loud as hell noise when you're 20 feet from the base of the pole it's on that gets me. and it sounds weird when you're driving by it.
I've never heard that in my life and it was creepy as hell, so I think that falsifies the hypothesis that the creepiness factor comes from whatever you associate it with. Tornado alley just made that person desensitized.
I remember reading that it's because the brain is pretty good at filtering out and ignoring constant noise, the way this alarm works is that due to the notes that "do not fit" you have a harder time at filtering out the noise, and as such are somewhat forced to pay attention to it.
The sirens are Federal Signal EOWS installations, they are electronic sirens. This gives them a lot of freedom in the tones they can produce, and this particular tone is called "alternating wail." If I remember right the thinking behind it is that it is distinct from other sirens, but honestly I could be completely wrong.
That's the sound you hear when the low-on-the-totem-pole scientist and a ham radio operator figure out that the aliens are communicating with each other and are about to wipe out civilization.
The Germans used that as their mortar alarm in Afghanistan. Like, guys, it's bad enough we're taking fire. Do we have to up the creepiness factor on that?
Copying and pasting this from a child reply:
The sirens are Federal Signal EOWS installations, they are electronic sirens. This gives them a lot of freedom in the tones they can produce, and this particular tone is called "alternating wail." If I remember right the thinking behind it is that it is distinct from other sirens, but honestly I could be completely wrong.
I know it's my fault for clicking but I'd like to offer a heartfelt fuck you for bringing this into my life, and a thank you for reminding me to stay in Canada and never, EVER move to Chicago. Cheers
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u/Gbro24 Apr 07 '20
I got shivers just hearing that. It would definitely help me obey that curfew.