Stranger Things Grandfather Clock

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About

The Stranger Things Grandfather Clock also known as Grandfather Clock Sound or Grandfather Clock TikTok refers to a trend on TikTok set to the sound of the grandfather clock chiming from Stranger Things season four. The majority of videos are jokes about how only the TikToker can see the clock, a reference to the show meaning they've been chosen for death by the season's antagonist Vecna. The trend began in late May 2022 on the day that Stranger Things season four premiered, going viral in June.

Origin

On May 27th, 2022, the first seven episodes of Stranger Things season four premiered on Netflix. In the show, the antagonist Vecna, a murderous humanoid monster from The Upside Down, starts killing people in Hawkins. Before he kills them, Vecna makes them experience nightmares and hallucinations about a moment from their life that haunts them. One common hallucination is a grandfather clock with an echoing chime. The chiming sound has been uploaded to YouTube^[1] numerous times (shown below).

On the same day, TikToker^[2] @marcusbtv posted a skit set to an original sound consisting of the grandfather clock ticking then chiming. The skit is captioned, "If I was in Stranger Things and heard 'The Clock,'" and shows the TikToker listening to the sound, then saying "Nope" and continuing to game, gaining over 215,000 views in just under two weeks (shown below).

Spread

The original sound for @marcusbtv's video was used over 6,500 times in the following month in skits referencing the grandfather clock hallucination in Stranger Things, mostly making jokes about how they can only see it. For example, on May 29th, 2022, TikToker^[3] @duhitstcon posted a video of a grandfather clock in the middle of his hallway to the sound, gaining over 2.1 million views in a week (shown below).

On June 2nd, TikToker^[4] @ella_j4yne posted a video of Big Ben to the sound captioned, "ayo can anyone else see this clock," gaining over 1.1 million views in six days (shown below, left). On June 3rd, TikToker^[5] @.mxntiix posted a video captioned, "POV u hear the clock," followed by his fingers flailing wildly as if breaking, a reference to the way Vecna kills people in the series, gaining over 1.6 million views in five days (shown below, right). On June 6th, HITC^[6] reported on the trend. On June 7th, Den of Geek^[7] and The Hollywood Reporter^[8] reported on it.