Screaming Pillar

Screaming Pillars are tall living pillar structures, which mostly serve as obstacles in the games they appear in. Usually, they are found asleep or overall inactive, until a certain movement or action alerts and wakes them up from their slumber. Screaming Pillars startle so suddenly that, on occasion, they might totter and fall on the ground, crushing any creature lying underneath them and remaining completely inert afterwards.

Appearance
Screaming Pillars resemble narrow stone totems, which display carved symbols. They are erected on semi-pyramidal stands, and feature cracks towards their bottom, pointing out their precarious state of standing upright. Their zigzag-shaped mouths, placed underneath two empty sockets which serve as eyes, are part of their facial features. A Screaming Pillar is adorned on each of its head's sides with feather tufts, which detach after the enemy has made a sudden movement.

Donkey Kong Country Returns / 3D
In Donkey Kong Country Returns and its enhanced port, Screaming Pillars can be encountered throughout the Jungle, Ruins, and Volcano areas, and are initially seen idle. If the Kongs approach these pillars, they awake with a scream and collapse onto the ground, potentially crushing any creature standing beneath them, including the Kongs; their feathers also fall off during their sudden awakening. Should a pillar fall onto the Kongs, they lose one heart from their health counter. The Kongs can destroy a Screaming Pillar by pounding its feeble head after it fell on the ground. Sometimes, Screaming Pillars might give out precious items, such as Banana Coins or even Puzzle Pieces, after getting destroyed.

Noteworthy is that Screaming Pillars react to the Kongs at different ranges. Some of them only topple if the Kongs are within very close range, such as in Wonky Waterway, while others are able to locate the primates further and then fall, as seen in Damp Dungeon. A level called Five Monkey Trial contains several Screaming Pillars which collapse regardless of the Kongs' close presence, and also instantly break upon hitting the ground without the heroes' intervention.

Enormous sub-species of Screaming Pillars, the Giant Pillars, are present in the levels Canopy Cannons and (exclusively to the Nintendo 3DS port) Crushin' Columns. Their scream is much louder and more intense, and they take out the Kongs completely when falling onto them.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Screaming Pillars, now referred to as Flaming Falling Totem Poles in the Prima guide, return in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Even though they act the same as in the predecessor, they now appear to be smoldering when idle, violently gushing flames from their hollow eyes and mouths when they react to the Kongs. As a result, their whole body appears blackened. Flaming Falling Totem Poles cool down after falling on the ground, leaving their bodies open to ground pounds and making the fire aspect a simple aesthetical trait.

They can only be seen lounging around in Scorch 'n' Torch, a level taking place in a savannah affected by a wildfire, which the enemies allude to. Just as Screaming Pillars from Donkey Kong Country Returns, Flaming Falling Totem Poles are able to crush enemies which happen to walk on their falling spot. This is suggested by how a single Flaming Falling Totem Pole destroys a stationary fire Archy at one point in the level.

Mario Kart series
Screaming Pillars return in Mario Kart 7 as obstacles on the DK Jungle racetrack. While usually dormant, they scream every once in a while, powerfully blowing air to push hanggliding players back. With the inclusion of DK Jungle as a retro track in Mario Kart 8, Screaming Pillars have been replaced with Giant Pillars, which seem to exhale smoke when making noises.

Super Smash Bros. series
In the E3 2013 trailer for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, Screaming Pillars can be seen very briefly in the background when Donkey Kong is first seen. They also appear in the Wii U version of the game itself as stage hazards on the Jungle Hijinxs stage, where they can be toppled by the playable characters so as to potentially fall over rival fighters.