In Edgar Allan Poe's short story, Masque of the Red Death, a prince that ruled over a land aflicted by a strange plague invited a thousand of this friends to live in his castle to avoid contagion.
After six months of seclusion, the prince threw a masked ball to entretain his friends. During the party, every hour, the guest heard the bells of an ebony clock located in one of the prince's suites.
The clock's sound was deep and had a very peculiar tone. And, whenever it struck, everyone in the castle would stop what they were doing. The guests grew nervous, pale, confused and scared.
After the echoes had finished, the guests would relax and say that next time they would not be afected by the clock's bells, but each time, the same reaction was produced.