Screamer Wiki:Throughout the Years

Here, you can learn about notable screamers by each year. For a list of all screamers on the wiki, go to the Screamer Library. To view this page in a simple timeline, go to the Basic Timeline This timeline only contains  notable  moments, not all moments of each year. Click on the year/decade to view all screamers and shock sites released in that time frame.

1970s
What is said to be the first modern day screamer ever, Monkey on Their Backs, was aired on TV as a PSA on the topic of anti-heroin. Though not deliberately, it can be said to have kickstarted a myriad of videos, gifs and games under the names of 'screamers'.

1980s
After the anti-heroin PSA in the 70s, there was a wave of shock videos being used as PSAs and ads on TV. They typically contained gore and other disturbing imagery, such as Dumb Animals and Faroe Islands.

Also, during this time, footage of Budd Dwyer's suicide was recorded. It wasn't until the rise of the internet that this footage was shown worldwide on sites such as Liveleak and YouTube.

1990
In this decade, the first ever screamer software was released onto Amiga computers, dubbed NightMare. This software would load an image of a skull every 5 minutes alongside a scream; possibly the pioneer for screamer videos today.

More gorey PSAs were broadcasted, such as Tigers.

1997
1997 saw a spike in screamers / shock videos.

This year saw the world's first shock site, rotten.com, go live.

As with 1990 and earlier, PSAs such as The Chase were broadcasted, and ads, such as Teletoon at Night Bumper were put onto TV during this time.

1999
1999 saw many infamous sites be put onto the internet. Examples are albinoblacksheep.com and x-rider.com.

Also in this year, the first actual screamer game was released to the public. The game in question being Frau1.exe, a Trojan virus.

This year, PSAs seemed to vanish from TV.

2000
The third millenium is when screamers became more and more active, especially the late 2000s, early 2010s.

The first year of the 2000s saw more applications; such as ikaru.exe and McDonalds.exe and more shock sites such as Happypuppies.net, Ogrish.com and Skinny Dipping.

2001
One of the most famous screamers of all time, and one to pioneer the future of screamers and jumpscares; What's Wrong? was released this year. This screamer was the first to use the famous image of a pale woman with black eyes and her hands on her face. Many other screamers were made in future years in the style first seen here. The screamer was made by Jeremy Winterrowd, who also created a site, Winterrowd.com, that year where he can host his creations.

Other sites, such as Rate My Poo were launched this year.

2002
Before 2002, screamers were all spaced out throught their respective year, and there were very little. But 2002 saw a huge increase of screamers and shock sites, many done in the style of Jeremy Winterrowd, such as Clock Crew Quiz and Color. Nickelodeon made their own screamer similar to Winterrowd's, called Black Licorice. A creater similar to Jeremy, Liquid Generation, saw their debut this year too, and went on to create many games which he dubbed "Sabotages". These games couldn't be called screamers, more surprising.

This year saw gifs enter the screamer scene, with additions to the screamer family such as blue.gif.

As with previous years, many shock sites made their way online, such as the famous Lemon Party site.

The first ever internet widespread screamer, Kikia, debuted this year and possibly drove the idea of screamers worldwide.

2003
After a grand year for screamers, 2003 saw a slight dip in the frequency of screamers posted online. Screamers similar to Liquid Generation and Winterrowd still surfaced, such as Meinzwilling and Night Vision. Liquid Generation continued to create sabotages, such as Celebrity I.Q. Test and his beyond well known When Will I/You Die?.

A shock site potentially parodying Lemon Party called Lime Rave was uploaded.

This year was the first year to result in many people being cautious on the internet, as "trojans" started to rise. (i.e, Scary Tic-Tac-Toe and Small Scary Flash)

2004
Simply put, 2004 was a huge year for screamers.

The most well known screamers of all time were released this year, including The Maze while the infamous K-fee commercials were all recorded and ready to air on TV.

The previously mentioned maze game saw sequels spawn, like Maze Game 2 and Maze Game 3. Alongside these maze games, their own site, playscarymazegame.net, was launched.

The ability to create screamers was opened to more people with games such as Garry's Mod being released. The famous picture of Regan MacNeil was introduced this year and was already all over the internet.

More shock sites were launched such as Jiztini.com and many, many games were released.

2005
Similar to how 2004 was a huge year for screamers, 2005 was a huge year for shock sites.

Many famous shock sites such as Bottleguy.com, Fuck.org and Heyya.org were launched. Mr Hands also saw its release this year. It became easier to broadcast your screamers thanks to the launch of YouTube this year.

Multiple new games were released, as with previous years, including The Never Ending Level Game and a huge quanitity of sequels to The Maze.

The previously mentioned K-fee commercials were aired on TV this year and so was the French ad for Resident Evil 4.

Other screamers released this year, such as AV Test.

2006
2006 saw a huge amount of screamers drop. Most notably Ghost Caught on Tape.

The website Liveleak was launched this year as an easy place to upload gore and shock videos.

A surprising amount of "hidden message" videos were released this year, such as Britney Spears Hidden Message, Jingle Bells Reversed and Silent Message.

The well known video, Saddam Hussein Execution, was released in 2006 by VenerableDread, who became very active this year and went on to create Cuffi Advert.

Optical Illusions also saw it's launch this year.

2007
The infamous Japanese screamer game site, lomando.com was posted live this year, and what is said to be the pioneer of shock videos, 2 Girls 1 Cup, was released, which was the basis for a generation of unbelieveably disturbing videos had begun, with videos such as 3 guys 1 hammer publicating.

The shock site Offended was released to the internet and a plethera of screamers and shock sites saw their rise. Nearly 100 screamers have been said to launch in 2007, making it the most active year yet.

Screamers making out to be images where you must identify an issue launched this year, such as What doesn't belong in this picture? and What's Wrong With This Picture? by CMCinema.

2008
Akin to how 2004 was a huge year for screamers and 2005 was a huge year for shock sites, 2008 was a huge year for disturbing videos.

A list of disturbing videos released in 2008 include 2 Kids 1 Sandbox, Jarsquatter and 4 Girls fingerpaint.

This was the first year to see over 100 screamers be released.

The UK saw a fire safety PSA release, released by Fire Kills.

Leatherface saw his debut as a screamer image this year, being as famous as Regan. This reign as a screamer would not last long, however.

2009
More shock videos were released such as 1 Priest 1 Nun, 1 Guy 1 Screwdriver, and the shock site 1 Guy 2 Spoons.

Due to his death, Michael Jackson became the basis of many screamer videos this year, such as 1000 Faces of Michael Jackson, Micheal Jackson scary pop up and the well known Proof of Michael Jackson's Ghost.

Simple screamers rose this year with videos like S|Find the Girl.

Poochee and Pansy Episode 1 was released and so was Countdown.

Real Demons Caught On Tape was uploaded to YouTube this year. The number of screamers released started to dip from this year onwards.

2010
Entering the 2010s, two gifs of 3D versions of retro video game characters became victims to the screamer makeover, 3D NES Mario and 3D Mega Man.

The famous shock game Can Your Pet? was released this year and many "red dot" games and videos became public, such as Find the Red Dot, The Red Dot Game and Stare at the red dot.

Justin Bieber became the subject of many screamers this year, with screamers such as Justin Bieber Scary Pop Up, Find Justin Bieber and Save Justin Bieber.

G-Major videos became famous this year with releases such as WGBH Boston Logo In G Major. The number of screamers a year continued to dip.

2011
Generic screamer videos were released in 2011.

The shock site Cheesypeas.net became public.

As an April Fools' prank, Minecraft launched it's "Steve.co" service.

The British YouTube series Don't Hug Me I'm Scared begun.

2012
The gif Fukouna Shoujo 03 begun circulating the internet.

YouTubers decided to join in on making screamers, such as Quirkology, who made The Test, and Matthew Santoro, who made Halloween.

The compilation video 9 Screamers all at once was released onto YouTube, and videos such as Man in the Mirror and Life Changes were published

2013
Smosh hit 10 million subscribers, and celebrated with a video which contained a screamer.

Ads such as the Autoway Tires Commercial and promos for The Heart, She Holler.

The famous game Bongcheon-Dong Ghost was released and the episode of Brain Games 'Don't Be Afraid' was aired on TV.

You will not believe how deep this hole is!!! released this year.

2014
MS.Ghost.TV and CrazyMarc666 rose to become a famous screamer video creater, releasing videos such as Scary Ghost Screamer Video to Scare ! and SCARY POP UP - SCARY GHOST VIDEO !!.

Five Nights at Freddy's was released onto Gamejolt and Steam, and became infamous for it's jumpscares. It's sequel, Five Night's at Freddy's 2, was also released this year.

YouTubers Nice Peter and EpicLLOYD released an episode of their famous series, Epic Rap Battles of History, Jack the Ripper vs Hannibal Lecter.

International screamers started to become popular.

2015
The famous Squirrel in a mouse trap video was released online and Try Not to Get Scared challenges started to become popular.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3 and 4 were released.

I HATE YOU.EXE and other 'exe' games became public.

2016
Sr Pelo celebrated halloween by releasing Mokey's Show: Halloween.

Omsj dropped online.

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared ended on June 19th.

Screamers started to become very similar and begun to "dry up" this year.

2017
Angry Video Game Nerd episode 150, Polybius, was released as the show's 2017 Halloween special, and featured two screamers at the end.

Many now deleted still image screamers became public such as What's The Matter With This Picture?.

Many more exe games were released, such as Zalgo.exe, Essence.exe, Windows 11.EXE and Untitled.exe. The number of screamers released continued to drop still.

2018
Memes became a place to host screamers with the 'void glitch' meme (Example; YOU HAVE MERE SECONDS TO LIVE)

Clardge (MJC03) started to create screamer games on Scratch, starting with Fishing Collection!!.

An odd spike in Spongebob Squarepants screamers begun with Look at this picture for 25 seconds and you will see SpongeBob and Patrick! and A peaceful ride through town.

2019
O g a b u g a and O g a b u g a 2 released.

Clardge stopped making screamer games after the release of Quiz Night with the Scratch Cat!, and Scratch screamer games rose to popularity with entries such as Funny Face (Scratch Version), Scratch Cat Quiz! etc.

Memes continued to host screamers with Moto Moto meme.