History Main / TheCrocIsTicking

* Played with on ''GetSmart'', "Ship of Spies": A [=KAOS=] informer is killed just before giving Max some important information. The only clue: the killer made an unusual "clip-clop" sound. They investigate and end up on the eponymous ship where it turns out just about everyone makes that clip-clop sound - a woman with castanets, a man with a peg leg, etc.

* Supposedly, Gan Ning (of the [[RomanceOfTheThreeKingoms Three Kingdoms]] period) wore bells on his waist sash to frighten his enemies.

* In the ''Videogame/{{TheLegendOfZelda}}'' games, sometimes the room will be too dark and you won't see a ReDead, until you hear it's [[HellIsThatNoise scream]].

[[AC:Literature]]
* Captain Hook's crocodile nemesis is the TropeNamer.
* The BeastFable called ''The Bell and the Cat'' or ''The Mice in Council'' discusses a plan to [[InvokedTrope put a bell on a cat]] so the mice will hear it coming. Averted because none of the mice is brave enough to actually install the bell.
* In ''[[{{Nightside}} Hex And The City]]'', the RealityWarper Madman is preceded around the city by his own personal soundtrack, which is helpful to people who want to stay the hell away from him.
* In ''Sewer, Gas & Electric'', a sewer-dwelling mutant shark eats a tunnel worker whose new digital watch plays ''Bolero''. Its next appearance is heralded by the sound.

* An episode of {{Seinfeld}} has Elaine using this technique by giving a container of Tic-Tacs to an employee who sneaks up on her in inconvenient situations.

[[AC:Film]]
* In ''JurassicPark III'', the ''Spinosaurus'' eats a man who's carrying a satellite phone. The phone is later heard ringing just before it attacks, and again from a gigantic pile of dinosaur poop.
* In ''{{Tremors}} 2'', one of the Graboids eats a radio that's blaring music, which is then heard from underground before it reappears.
** Although inaudible to the human ear, the vibration of an approaching Graboid can be detected by seismometers in the films and the series.

[[AC:Video Games]]
* In ''{{Persona}} 3'', if you stay on one level of Tartarus for too long, you will face having the Reaper spawn. You're able to tell he's close by the sound of chains coming from his direction.
* Throughout the ''SilentHill'' games, the protagonists have radioes which emit static whenever monsters are near--though it's never clear when exactly will they pop up.
* All ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' monsters make their own distinct noises that warn you when they're near. Of all monster noises, though, the most dreaded is the Creeper's hiss. This is because Creepers don't hiss (or make ANY noise, for that matter) until they're right next to you, and they only hiss for a second and a half before they explode. [[hottip:*:The reason for this has to do with how a Creeper explodes. Creepers blow themselves up by burning gunpowder inside their bodies, and the hissing noise is actually the sound of the gunpowder igniting. The Creeper will only light the gunpowder on fire when it's right next to you, because that's the only way the explosion will do any damage.]] So when you hear a Creeper's hiss, you usually only have time to think "OhCrap" before the Creeper detonates and kills or severely injures you.
-->sssssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS-*BOOM*

* All ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' monsters make their own distinct noises that warn you when they're near. Of all monster noises, though, the most dreaded is the Creeper's hiss (implied to be made by gunpowder burning inside them). This is because Creepers don't hiss (or make ANY noise, for that matter) until they're right next to you, and they only hiss for a second and a half before they explode. So when you hear a Creeper's hiss, you usually only have time to think "OhCrap" before the Creeper explodes and kills or severely injures you.

* All ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' monsters make their own distinct noises that warn you when they're near. Of all monster noises, though, the most dreaded is the Creeper's hiss. This is because Creepers don't hiss (or make ANY noise, for that matter) until they're right next to you, and they only hiss for a second and a half before they explode. So when you hear a Creeper's hiss, you usually only have time to think "OhCrap" before the Creeper explodes and kills or severely injures you.

* Creepers in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' hiss for a second and a half before exploding.

** Although inaudible to the human ear, the vibration of an approaching Graboid can be detected by seismometers in some of the films and the series.

[[AC:Film]]

AC:Anime and Manga

AC:Comic books

AC:LiveActionTV

AC:Literature

AC:Film

AC:Western Animation

AC:Video Games

AC:Other

* In ''Sewer, Gas & Electric'', a sewer-dwelling mutant shark eats a tunnel worker whose new digital watch plays ''Bolero''. Its next appearance is heralded by the sound.
* In ''JurassicPark III'', the ''Spinosaurus'' eats a man who's carrying a satellite phone. The phone is later heard ringing just before it attacks, and again from a gigantic pile of dinosaur poop.
* In ''{{Tremors}} 2'', one of the Graboids eats a radio that's blaring music, which is then heard from underground before it reappears.

* Played with on ''GetSmart'', "Ship of Spies": A [=KAOS=] informer is killed just before giving Max some important information. The only clue: the killer made an unusual "clip-clop" sound. They investigate and end up on the eponymous ship where it turns out just about everyone makes that clip-clop sound - a woman with castanets, a man with a peg leg, etc.

* In ''BatmanArkhamAsylum'', Killer Croc alludes to the Trope Namer, making ticking noises.
* Zaraki Kenpaichi in ''{{Bleach}}'', arguably a predator, deliberately put bells on his hair to invoke this trope.
* The {{Clockpunk}} monsters of ''Series/DoctorWho'''s "The Girl in the Fireplace" make ticking noises as they move, and break the mechanical clocks around them so people won't notice that it's ''them'' ticking rather than a nearby timepiece.
** In the Christmas special "A Christmas Carol", a [[FlyingSeafoodSpecial flying shark]] bites off the tip of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. He later detects that the missing part is coming closer, just before the shark attacks him and a young boy.
* In ''[[{{Nightside}} Hex And The City]]'', the RealityWarper Madman is preceded around the city by his own personal soundtrack, which is helpful to people who want to stay the hell away from him.
* Throughout the ''SilentHill'' games, the protagonists have radioes which emit static whenever monsters are near--though it's never clear when exactly will they pop up.
* An episode of {{Seinfeld}} has Elaine using this technique by giving a container of Tic-Tacs to an employee who sneaks up on her in inconvenient situations.

** In the ''DoctorWho'' special "A Christmas Carol", a [[FlyingSeafoodSpecial flying shark]] bites off the tip of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. He later detects that the missing part is coming closer, just before the shark attacks him and a young boy.

* In the ''DoctorWho'' special "A Christmas Carol", a [[FlyingSeafoodSpecial flying shark]] bites off the tip of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. He later detects that the missing part is coming closer, just before the shark attacks him and a young boy.

--> '''Woman 1:''' "Don't open that coffin! It's ticking"
--> '''Woman 2 (with stake and hammer, over coffin):''' "I have to! This coffin isn't going to open itself!"
--> '''Dracula (flinging open coffin and emerging):''' "BLUUUUAAAH!"
--> (explosion, as advertised)

* An episode of [[Seinfeld]] has Elaine using this technique by giving a container of Tic-Tacs to an employee who sneaks up on her in inconvenient situations.

* The {{Clockpunk}} monsters of ''DoctorWho'''s "The Girl in the Fireplace" make ticking noises as they move, and break the mechanical clocks around them so people won't notice that it's ''them'' ticking rather than a nearby timepiece.

Examples:

* In ''[[{{Nightside}} Hex And The City]]'', the RealityWarper Madman is preceded around the city by his own personal soundtrack, which is helpful to people who want to stay the hell away from him.