This Taco Bell Video Is Haunting the Internet

By Michael Hein

Who would have thought that one of the latest terrors to strike the internet would involve Taco Bell. While you might be thinking we might be referring to some sort of unearthed kitchen nightmare at one of the chain's locations, we aren't. This terror has to do with Taco Bell's signature bell chime from advertisements. Originally uploaded a video game channel called Irridium, there's video titled "1 hour of silence randomly interrupted by the Taco Bell noise" that has been haunting people online. Believe it or not, there's not much more to explain beyond that.

The video is exactly 60 minutes long and shows the purple Taco Bell logo against a black background for the duration. It is dead silent, but with the constant threat that a Taco Bell sound bite will play at any moment. When it finally comes, it's the simple clanging of a bell present in all the fast food chan's advertising. The original uploader recommends playing it in the background during a video chat on Discord, disguised by a music bot to further confuse guests.

Commenters have reported their successes with this prank, and with plenty of others. Some have opened the video in its own tab and forgotten about it, only to be terrified by the sudden sound minutes later. Others have sat watching the timer tick by, their heart rate inexplicably elevated by the anticipation.

"Listening to this is scarier than any horror game," one commenter wrote. "You never know when the Taco Bell noise is coming, you just have to sit in silence filled with suspense. Truly horrifying." Another person added: "Two and a half minutes in I'm literally shaking and crying this is terrifying," while a third person added: "I had this playing in my background by accident, and kept wondering where the sound was from. Truly horrifying."

It turns out that this versatile video is just a small part of a burgeoning genre of prank videos on YouTube. In the recommendations on the side of the screen, some of the other videos included "One Hour of Silence Broken only by Random E sound effects," accompanied by the EA Games logo, as well as one called "1 Hour of Silence occasionally broken by 21st century humor sound effects," with an image of an Among Us video game character as the thumbnail.

Videos like this have many uses in-person and online, but they seem to have been created specifically for use on Discord. The app is popular among video game players and streamers and can be used for instant messaging, voice calls and video chats all in groups of various sizes. It allows a music bot to be added to a chat room so that all the users are hearing the same music, but a video like this throws an easy jump scare into the mix. So far, it doesn't seem like Taco Bell has officially commented on its part in this trend.

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