When you need scary, otherworldly vibes<\/a> to sell your story, it’s time to put your soundtrack to work in the spookiest way possible. Let’s take a look at the goosebump-inducing instruments that composers turn to when it’s time get ghostly, some of which were employed in the creation of the horror-friendly royalty-free tracks in the playlist at the bottom of this post.<\/p>\n The shadows spread across the room as the sun sets outside the window. Your hero cautiously approaches the closed basement door, the wooden floor groaning with each step. He pauses and lets silence take the room. He reaches for the handle \u2014 suddenly, a harsh red light beams through the keyhole as a musical cue rises from beyond:<\/p>\n Meet the waterphone, one of Hollywood’s go-to musical tools for scoring things that go bump in the night. The nerve-racking noise created by this instrumental oddity is the very definition of eerie. Keen-eared listeners may have heard the waterphone’s metallic wailing in Poltergeist<\/em><\/a>, Let the Right One In<\/em><\/a>, Aliens<\/em><\/a>, and during pretty much every dramatic moment in every reality TV show ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n1. Waterphone<\/h3>\n