Dead men don't startle. I would say that this goes way beyond startle to awesome and frightening. Thousands of humans disintegrated, some leaving no trace, some leaving a shadow on the ground. Others literally having the life sucked out of them. Thousands more left with a slow painful sickness until death and some living for several months/years with debilitating illness. For those that lived, they would never go home again because there was no home. Good info and it certainly gets one's attention. Dramatic, swift and painful. Mankind has done other things that have been less dramatic, slow, but even more painful.
