J.M. Barrie’s Swiss Trychels

Origin
A trychel is a large cowbell traditionally used in Switzerland, and is comprised of several sheets of metal hammered together. At one point good trychel were rare and coveted items, and there is lore of how a lost shepherd in a mountain was offered by a beautiful fairy a gift of either a bag of gold coins, a trychel, or the fairy herself; the young man chose the trychel. Whether these bells originated from that trychel is unknown, but it would certainly explain how they got their power.

What is known is that during his honeymoon in Switzerland in 1894, a Scottish author named James Matthew Barrie picked them up along with a St. Bernard puppy as a gift for his new wife. This author would eventually write a famous play and then novel ten years later, using both the dog and the bells as inspiration, but the bells themselves inspired Barrie in ways that are untold in biographies.

This directly inspired Barrie’s story of “Peter Pan” and the animated Disney movie.

Effects
These trychels, when shaken, make those who hear the chimes have a very small emotional capacity, feeling emotions with reckless abandonment and unable to wrest feelings under control. While they were used as sound effects during Barrie's aforementioned play, a flash of bright light can diminish their effects, as Barrie inadvertently showed while portraying a character as a ball of reflected light on stage.