The sound comes from Five Nights at Freddy's, the indie horror series created by Scott Cawthon and first released in 2014, where players survive as a night guard until 6 AM. Reaching that time ends the night, contrasting sharply with the FNAF jumpscare scream heard on failure. Clips of the chime spread through gameplay videos, streams and edits on YouTube and TikTok, and fans began using it outside the game as shorthand for barely making it through something stressful or exhausting.