These Creepy Photos From History Will Send Chills Through You
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what kind of words would you be able to say when you see an image you simply cannot explain? Throughout history, we’ve been riddled with photographs that are hauntingly shocking or just downright hard to explain.

While some of these pictures are real, others are a bit more questionable when it comes to their authenticity. Real or not, these images never fail to send chills down our spines. Take a look at some of them.
Nooses Over the Dining Table
Dining is supposed to be a pleasurable experience for everyone, but would you still have the appetite to eat a delicious meal when there’s a noose hanging just above where you’re seated?

We don’t know if the people who sat at this dinner table were able to eat properly, but we bet they weren’t able to do so. In 1946, General Henry “Hap” Arnold set out a dining table for the accused at Nuremberg with each chair having a noose installed. It seems like this dinner party was simply “to die for.”
Someone's Behind You
Although we’re alone most of the time, some people cannot help but feel like someone’s always standing right behind them, just watching their every move. This photo of Gloria Vanderbilt might just be the perfect description of how these people feel.

Although this picture may be quite sinister, it’s actually more innocent than it looks. Standing behind Vanderbilt is the fashion designer Geoffrey Beene for Vogue. We don’t know if this was intentional or just a spooky accident. Either way, it’s unsettling to look at.
A Spirit Among Us
Sometimes, photos capture not just reality, but also the supernatural. We may not like it at times, but some energies are just too strong that their presence bleeds into our world. In the case of this couple, a ghostly face can be seen inside their vehicle as their photo was being taken.

As it turns out, it is supposed to be their deceased son. Taken by William Hope, this photo is, in fact, a hoax. Back in the day, many bereaved people were desperate to find even just a glimpse of their loved ones, so Hope thought of manipulating his photographs to present to these grieving people. Eventually, his ploy was exposed.
Mother Dearest
While other ghostly photos are fake, some turn out to be as real as it gets. This man was being photographed as he was driving on his way to visit the grave of his wife's mother. When they saw the photograph, they were stunned to find another person with him in the car.

The scarier part is that they recognized the person to be his wife’s deceased mother. For many years, this picture has been creeping out people from all over the world. Many have examined this image and ascertained that it has not been tampered with.
Complete Isolation
Being sick with a grave illness is already depressing as it is, but it can be even more depressing when you have to be isolated from everyone else to prevent them from getting infected. This is the case for people who were suffering from smallpox in 1983.

In Catherine-de-Barnes Isolation Hospital, a special “room” was designed just for them to keep them from spreading the disease to healthier people. Imagine being locked in one of these box-like rooms nowadays to keep your illness from spreading, what would you do?
Mourning Scene
The technology wasn’t so advanced in the past, so photos with spiritual entities in them are easy to believe. This photo, again taken by William Hope, has the face of a ghostly being in between two people who were mourning for a deceased man.

Hope, again, superimposed another image onto this photograph to make it appear as if the spirit of the deceased person is with them. Although it’s not a real spiritual entity in the image, it’s still pretty scary.
Special Guest
Some animals, such as wolves or sheep, are more associated with the devil than others, especially if they're black in color. Naturally, we can't help but feel spooked out upon seeing a photo of a black sheep sitting in a rather human-like form among human beings.

While some people might find this cute, the lack of color in this image just gives it an extra touch of creepiness. In reality, though, this is just an innocent photo of Mrs. Maud Lee and her daughter Pat, who are both farmers, while they're enjoying a nice cup of tea at their farmhouse with their pet lamb, Betty. Whatever you tell us, we're still creeped out by this photo.
Hotel for Ghosts
In many countries, people bury their deceased loved ones below the ground or cremate them and take their ashes at home or scatter them in different places. For some Chinese communities though, they place their dearly departed in “ghost hotels.”

According to Chinese tradition, the body of a deceased person can be buried in a location that was meaningful to them when they were still alive. However, there’s a specific auspicious date for the body to be buried. Sometimes, this date takes years to come, so the person’s body is temporarily stored in a ghost hotel, such as the one shown in this photo.
Hanging Around
There are moments when your eye tricks your mind into seeing things that could send you running miles away, such as this photograph. At first glance, you might end up screaming thinking that two people have been hanging lifeless on this clothesline.

If you look again though, you would see that it’s actually just two clothes being dried but are hung in a scary way. This just goes to show that we shouldn’t react immediately to the things we see.
Trick or Treat
Nowadays, we cannot deny the fact that kids who go trick or treating are simply adorable. With their cute costumes and cheerful laughter, they turn Halloween into a season to be happy about instead of a season to fear.

Back in the days though, Halloween is literally scary, thanks in part to the creepy costumes that children used to wear. Most of them look so realistic that you may end up getting scared and handing over the candy to them at once.
Belphégor
There are times when actors are so in character that viewers end up believing their act. One such dedicated actor is Juliette Gréco. In 1965, she starred as the phantom Belphégor in the French television miniseries of the same name.

Throughout the show, she had to wear the mask of the demon Belphégor, who was haunting the halls of the Louvre. If you ask us, her dedication to the role along with her skill in acting gave way to a good show and a convincing performance that will haunt us for years to come.
Above Ground
We can all agree that there’s nothing scarier than being all alone in a graveyard. But what’s scarier is being all alone in a graveyard where the caskets are not buried and have no bodies inside.

If you take a closer look at this image, you’ll see that there are three empty coffins situated next to each other above ground. As for the location of the bodies, we’re not sure if we want to find out or just leave them be wherever they are.
Tomb of Capuchin Monks
There’s a reason why we bury the dearly departed below the ground. It’s because seeing the body of a deceased person is just too difficult to bear. However, the Capuchin monks might disagree with you.

Deep beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini on the Via Veneto near Piazza Barberini in Rome, Italy lies the skeletal remains of 3,700 bodies of Capuchin friars. These skeletal remains are used as the church’s decor, not as a macabre display for devout Catholics, but as a reminder that life on Earth is swift.
Haunted Locomotive
Like graveyards, wreckages are equally terrifying, perhaps even scarier due to the negative events that occurred there. There have been countless stories of people seeing ghosts in sites where there have been accidents, and the wreck of Tithorea is not an exception.

Not much is known about what happened to this train on its last day. What people do know is that it used to be a grand train, until it was involved in an accident. Now, it remains as a haunting graveyard with secrets it cannot disclose.
The Specter of Newby Church
There are plenty of photos on the Internet with spirits in them, and many of them turn out to be real. One of the scariest ghosts caught on camera is The Specter of Newby Church. Now, churches are religious places, but it’s really not surprising to see a paranormal entity there since it’s also a place where the deceased are blessed before being laid to their final resting place.

In this photo, you’ll see a figure apparently screaming out of fear. Many are skeptical about the authenticity of this photo, but Reverend K.F. Lord, the person who took the photo, maintained that it wasn’t tampered with in any way.
Religious Icons
Like we said, just because something is holy doesn’t mean it’s not scary. Thanks to some horror films, we’ve automatically associated holy places with demons and evil spirits. There’s really just something unsettling about religious icons, such as this supposedly angelic statue of an angel (or perhaps a young Jesus Christ).

At first glance, it looks as if it’s going to capture the woman, Pat Langenderfer. Apparently, though, this photo was taken in her home in Yugoslavia where people have seen apparitions. If you’re asking apparitions of what though, that we cannot answer.
Memento Mori
When you first see this photo, you’d immediately think it’s a classy portrait of a family in the Victorian era. Upon knowing the story behind this image though, you’ll learn it’s much darker than that. In reality, this image is called a “memento mori,” which literally means "remember you must die."

That’s because the daughter, whose blank stare seems quite odd, is actually already deceased when this photo was taken. Post-mortem photography became common in Victorian England since photography was rare, and the passing of a family member was often the first time a family considered taking a portrait. It’s kind of sad when you think about the fact that you might not live to even see your photograph taken.
Pale Trio
We don’t know about you, but the longer we stare into this photo, the scarier it gets. In this image, you can see three women with pale white faces staring into the camera as if ready to attack at any moment.

Although it looks quite scary, this is just a picture of three models standing in a tiled bathroom at the Hotel Lutetia, Paris, wearing ensembles by Karl Lagerfeld. This photo begs us to ask the question, why are vintage pictures so scary to look at in the first place?
The Mummy
It really is scary looking at a deceased person face to face, but don’t be fooled because this photo is not even an image of a person who has passed away. It’s actually a picture of the actor Boris Karloff in the 1932 motion picture The Mummy.

Prosthetics back then were really convincing as opposed to the computer animation we use today. This image just goes to show that prosthetics was more than just a costume, but it’s also a work of art.
St. John The Baptist's Church
Imagine having to walk all alone on the road at night with a bunch of gravestones on the side. People who lived during the 1960s at King Street in London wouldn’t have to imagine that scenario since they got to experience it first-hand.

The gravestones you see in this photo are actual gravestones lining the pathway going to St. John the Baptist's Church. If you’re someone who likes to go to church to pray during those times, then all you needed to do was pray hard not to see anything not of this world as you make your way to the house of God.
Shelf of Human Skulls
For as long as anyone can remember, a war has been going on in Rwanda, specifically between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes. The war in Rwanda has taken the lives of countless people, and it has left remnants that will last for many years to come.

In this photo, a child looks at the skeletal remains of some 25,000 Tutsis and some Hutus who became casualties of the war. It’s scary to imagine the spirits of these people still roaming around, crying out for justice, but it’s even scarier to see a child as young as this one being exposed to the harshness of reality.
Haunted House Party
Some people really just love the adrenaline rush they get from listening to scary stories or even visiting haunted places, which is why these youngsters decided to just throw a house party in a haunted house in the hopes of seeing a presence from the other side.

Just looking at the worn-out paint in the old house and the sinister vibes of the surroundings, we’re pretty sure that a few of them saw something they were looking for but didn’t necessarily want to see.
Combermere Abbey
We really wouldn’t know what would happen to us once we cross over to the afterlife. Some people have theories but none of us can really be sure unless we’re already there. Many people claim that spirits wander off thinking they’re still alive during the first few moments they’re gone, but some say they can linger on for a long time.

This photo captured by Sybell Corbet at Combermere Abbey seems to prove that the first theory is correct since it was taken at the same time that Lord Combermere's funeral was taking place four miles away. The apparition sitting on the chair is said to be the spirit of Lord Combermere himself.
Thief of Souls
Many people who have escaped the clutches of death have claimed that they saw a bright light at the end of a long tunnel. This image, perhaps, could give us a sneak peek of whatever it is they saw when they briefly crossed over to the afterlife.

Seen here are the figures of human-like beings standing at the end of a dark pathway, waiting perhaps for the soul of someone who just passed away. Whatever they may be, we will all soon find out what waits for us on the other side.
Scary Trophies
There are certain parts of our world that remain unexplored. Many of these are inhabited by tribes who have no notion of religion and technology. For one, a lot of these tribes managed to preserve their old ways due to the fact that they don’t want anyone to change them.

Some people have attempted to do so but just ended up losing their lives. These human skulls are just some of the trophies collected by the Naga tribe, from Nagaland in Assam, India. As you can see, they don’t just dispose of the bodies of their enemies, but they show them off to those who want to cross them.
Holy or Unholy
This is another proof of how damaging the war in Rwanda has been. This photo of a human skull that lay scattered among benches inside the church in Nyamata, Rwanda, where 25,000 Tutsis were massacred.

Even in a place such as a church, people in Rwanda were unable to find a sanctuary due to the violence of the war that went on in their homeland. These photos remain as a stark reminder that nothing good ever comes from waging war.
Fear
There’s nothing scarier than looking at an image and wondering what’s going on. This photo, titled fear, taken by Henry Peach Robinson in 1860 depicts a young girl seemingly startled and awaken from a deep sleep by an unknown presence in her room.

If you look closely at her expression, you can see the terrified look she has as she looks to one corner of the room. As much as we want to know what caused this expression of hers, let’s just leave it to our imaginations.
Unwanted Experiment
In many movies, we’ve seen people being experimented on all in the name of science. But in each of these scenarios, the person being subjected to the experiment always turns out to be tortured in some kind of way. Now, what we’re talking about happens in the movies but can you imagine what it would be like if it happens in real life?

Well, you’d be shocked to know that back in the day, experiments were carried out using live human subjects. This is just one of the many experiments conducted by French neurologist Duchenne de Boulogne, who pioneered research into the electrical stimulation of muscles. He used photography to accurately illustrate his findings. You don’t need us to tell you just how terrifying this one looks.
Stags Heads
We think it’s safe to say that many people are familiar with animal sacrifices, often for a sinister cause. That is why seeing this type of photo containing the skeletal remains of animals can be quite unsettling, even if it turns out to be taken for aesthetic purposes.

This photo taken by Horatio Ross in 1856 features the heads of stags mounted on a wall as if serving as a warning rather than decorations. The careless placement of the heads suggests that these animal heads weren’t placed there to be admired by visitors.
Atom Bomb Testing
There are times when you don’t even need paranormal entities to feel scared. This unsettling photo of a mannequin family being used as test subjects for an atomic bomb blast shows just how macabre war and science can get.

As you can see, this photo was taken just seconds before the atomic blast hit the living room of this non-living family, as evident by the curling of the blinds. We bet you’re trying to imagine what it would be like to be in their shoes no matter how much you refuse to do so.
Seance
For the longest time, seances have been done by people who still want to communicate with their dearly departed loved ones who have left them unexpectedly. Whether they are real or not, many people believe them out of pure desperation and superstition.

While there’s no solid proof that these seances are effective, there are some who claim they are a hundred percent real based on photographs alone. In this photo, you can see a group of people in the middle of a seance with a floating musical instrument behind them which apparently proves that a spirit is with them in the room.
Rapunzel
Although there are no ghosts or spirits in this photo, it passes off as one of the creepiest pictures in history due to the oddities of the subjects captured in the image. Not only do they all look alike and have a blank expression on their faces, but they also have strangely long hair growing out of their heads.

Then again, this photo was actually used as a promotional material to sell hair tonic in America. The group of women pictured here is the Sutherland sisters singing group.
Murderer's Scrawl
It’s terrifying enough to find out that there are murderers out there just waiting to make a move on their next victim, but it’s even scarier to think that the said fugitive is confident that the authorities won’t be able to catch them.

This is the case for William Heirens, or more commonly known as The Lipstick Killer. Heirens scribbled this chilling message on the wall of his victim in Chicago using lipstick, hence his alias. The criminal passed away in 2012, making him the longest-serving prisoner in the world.
Doll Hospital
We bet many people around the world are afraid of dolls. Although it’s meant to be the perfect toy for young girls all over the world, we can’t help but feel scared of dolls since they’re almost always the subject of many horror movies.

While dolls that are perfectly intact are already scary as they are, imagine having to deal with hundreds of antique dolls that are missing some limbs. There’s one place in Italy which houses these kinds of dolls. Known as the “Doll Hospital,” the Ospedale delle Bambole is a place where antique dolls are given new life.
Apple Bobbing
There really are just some photos that can send chills down your spine without even having a scary element in it. This photo of a girl bobbing for apples on Halloween can easily give any person the heebie-jeebies thanks to its lighting and the weird grin on the girl’s face.

Really though, it’s just an innocent old photo of a girl trying to get as many apples as possible as a game, but you can’t blame us for feeling creeped out upon looking at it.
The Corn Field
Another seemingly innocent photo, this picture of a family hanging out in the middle of a dark cornfield can make anyone run in terror. Maybe we’re just overanalyzing it, but it feels as if they have a sinister agenda judging by the look on their faces.

The blurred image of one of the people in this picture makes it even scarier to look at. We don’t even know why they decided to gather in a cornfield at night, and we’re not really sure if we truly want to find out why.
Dark Park
Sometimes, people find comfort in being alone, but we feel like no one would feel any type of comfort once they walk alone in a park as creepy as this one.

Taken in the 1930s, this photo of the park benches in Leicester Square in London, England makes it the perfect setting for a major horror film wherein an evil spirit would suddenly chase the protagonist. The thin fog even suggests that something dark is about to happen anytime soon, just like in the movies.
Playing with Dolls
Another spooky combination that horror movies have exploited for many years is dolls and children. In a typical horror film, the doll would be the vessel that the evil spirit would use to lure in the human child in an attempt to claim their innocent soul and the soul of their loved ones.

Naturally, seeing kids play with dolls in real life can be quite rattling. Although it can be adorable for some, images such as this one can also be frightening for others.
Mr. President
One of the most popular questions that have been asked to us is “if you could meet someone famous who is already gone, who would it be?” Abraham Lincoln would probably be one of the top results. If you were around in the 1870s, then you might have just had the chance to take a photograph with him, with the help of William Mumler.

This photo shows the widow of Abraham Lincoln, Mary Lincoln with none other than the spirit of her deceased husband behind her. Though many people accused Mumler of fraud, no one has really been able to debunk the methods he used in taking “spirit photographs.”
Let Me Out
Sculptures are one of the most beautiful works of art aside from paintings. Then again, some of them have such sinister themes that they end up looking scary instead of beautiful. This wall sculpture at the Pere Lachaise cemetery is just one example of a sculpture that ended up looking scary.

The mere fact that it’s in a cemetery is already frightening enough, but the subject of this artwork is a person that’s seemingly stuck inside the wall, trying to escape.
Replica
Madame Tussauds Waxworks in different countries are visited by many tourists all year round thanks to its lifelike wax replicas of famous personalities. However, we don’t think you’d enjoy seeing wax models being made.

Here is an example of a wax model, the head of British Minister of Transport Ernest Marples, in the making at the studio of Madame Tussauds Waxworks in London. What makes this photo so scary is the fact that the wax head looks so much like a real human head. If this doesn’t creep you out, we don’t know what will!
Frozen In Time
Photographs have always been around to freeze a moment in time, but plaster casts also do a similar job, especially if one wants to achieve a more three-dimensional effect.

For this unfortunate duo who have suffered from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, they will be immortalized using a mixture of plaster to preserve every detail of their body for future studies. It’s both amazing and unsettling though when you think about preserving the body of a deceased person.
The House at Glenfield
This may look like a usual house or may even look like a house you'd want to live in, but not if you find out that it's one of the most haunted houses in New Zealand. The house at Glenfield has been haunting all who have lived there for many years, including Maree Cash and her family.

According to Cash, she saw a ghostly figure and heard strange noises when she lived there in 1975. She said, "It started with a strange feeling and a musty smell in one of the rooms, then sightings of a mysterious figure leaving the room, footsteps in the night, and banging on the walls. One night, when my son was away staying with my parents, we were woken by the loud whistling and hooting of his steam train and it was going round and round on his desk."
Masked
The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK, has been the object of fear of many people, particularly the Black community, for many years now. This white supremacist hate group has used violence as a means to get their message across, so being the target of this group can be pretty scary.

To add to that, they wear creepy pointed masks to invoke more fear among their victims. Just take a look at how scary it could be if you were in the presence of this group of people.
Family Picture
Back in the day, one of the scariest things that could happen to anyone is getting gassed. At the height of the war, gas bombs are the common weapons used to attack enemies, Unfortunately, it also affects innocent civilians who get caught in the crossroad.

As a solution, people had gas masks at the ready in case of a gas attack. Here is a family, including their dog, posing in front of the camera wearing their gas masks. Imagine what could happen if they don’t have their masks on?
Mayfly Invasion
We’re pretty sure that many people all over the world would say that insects are their biggest fear. If you’re one of those people, then you’ll surely feel terrified just by looking at this photo of a mayfly invasion. Mayflies begin as eggs burrowing in lake sediment, and after a year or two, they swim to the surface, emerging fully winged.

They won't be around for long, though. Individual mayflies live up to two days once they come on land. The swarms typically last about a month. Although they may be creepy, mayfly swarms are an indication of good water health.
Be A Clown
If you’ve watched movies such as IT or the Joker, then you’ll know exactly how scary clowns are. We don’t know how or when the killer clown phenomena started, but fear of clowns is a real thing.

This child doesn’t seem to be happy at the thought of being a clown herself, or maybe she’s not happy having a creepy old clown standing right behind her with a sinister grin on his face. Although there’s really nothing scary about the story behind this photo, clowns just really creep out many people.
Post-Mortem Club
In marriage, couples vow never to separate "til death do us part." This group of people though seemed to have never heard of this saying since they refuse to part ways even if one of them has already passed away.

The Post-Mortem club, an organization of naprapaths, held their annual breakfast with all chapter members present, including their former president and founder, J.M. McAdou. One of the rules of this club is that each member will allow other members to take their skeleton to attend future meetings despite passing away.
Path to Darkness
Imagine having to walk all alone in this empty street at night. Would you take the risk? Although there are plenty of lights on this path, the thought of walking alone can be quite unsettling for many people, especially since the street looks too quiet for anyone to pass by.

What's more, no one knows for sure what would be waiting for them in one of the dark corners of this street. There's just no telling what apparition would suddenly come their way.
The Falling Man
To this day, the image of The Falling Man remains to be one of the creepiest photos all over the Internet. The photo shows a man seemingly freefalling from a building. The building turns out to be one of the Twin Towers and the photo was taken on the day of the 9-11 attacks.

This man was just one of the many people who jumped off the building, not wanting to get stuck there when the hijacked planes crashed on the top floors of the two skyscrapers. This photo serves as a haunting reminder of that fateful day.
The Haunted Farm
Once you see priests sprinkling Holy Water in every corner of a house, then you'll instantly know that there's definitely something evil in their presence. Sadly, such is the case of the Lahore family and their haunted farm.

In 1979, the farm was subject to an exorcism to drive out the demons which are said to have inhabited the place. Mysterious fires have started in the farm's attic countless times, which prompted the family to seek religious help to find out what was wrong.
Famine Memorial
Works of art, whether they be paintings, sculptures, music, or poetry often depict a significant event as its subject. In this case, this group of statues seemingly show five life-sized figures of humans dressed in rags, clutching onto their belongings and children.

The story behind these sculptures is more depressing than they look though. Titled The Famine, these statues serve as a memorial in Dublin, Ireland of the Great Famine in 1845-1849 which saw the population of the country halved through death and emigration. Sometimes, art really does show the worst of every situation, but they do always have a message to tell their audience.
What Nightmares Feel Like
Out of all the bizarre images that you might find online, none of them would be weirder than this photo of a sleeping man surrounded by a bunch of skeletons. Not much is said about the photo, but we suspect this is an attempt to translate what nightmares feel like using photographs.

For many people, nightmares, or what is scientifically referred to as sleep paralysis, is a real phenomenon that can easily cost them their lives. The skeletal figures in this picture might be symbolism for nightmares and describes how people who suffer from this condition feel.
Lying In State
What's scarier than seeing the cold and lifeless bodies of people is knowing that their passing sparked an even bigger event that would take the lives of countless people. This photo shows the wake of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand beside his beloved wife Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenburg in open coffins.

The couple was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914. Their passing has been regarded by many as the event which sparked the beginning of World War I.
Funny Bones
Back in the day, there were many people who became casualties of the war, which explains why there were a lot of skeletal remains anywhere you go. These World War I soldiers must have stumbled upon a few human skulls and decided to do a morbid joke of French infantrymen in Craonne.

As you can see, they posed and smiled in front of the cameras as they held ever so playfully the skulls of unknown men. Because they’ve seen death over and over again on the battlefield, holding a skull in their hands doesn’t seem to faze them.
Little Goblins
It's as if this photo is an image taken out of an old horror film, these kids wearing creepy masks gather around a brightly lit Jack-O-Lantern during Halloween. We don't know about you, but these masks play a huge role in invoking fear for us.

These masks seem like something a serial killer would wear in a Hollywood horror film as they set out to chase after the characters in the movie. That's enough horror movies for us from now on!
The Island of Dolls
If there’s a hospital where dolls are given new life, there’s also an island where dolls are given as a tribute to the spirit of a drowned girl. The "Island of Dolls" along the canals of Xochimilco in Mexico is full of hundreds of abandoned dolls.

According to the story, a man named Don Julian met the spirit of a little girl that had drowned there who haunted him and compelled him to hang hundreds of dolls from the island's trees in her honor. After 50 years since he hung the first doll on the island, he passed away due to drowning in the exact same spot the girl did. Coincidence? We think not!
Photo Op
One of the most famous haunted photos online is this group photo taken in 1919 of Sir Victor Goddard's Royal Air Force squadron. This group of men, who have served during World War I, is said to contain a chilling secret among the men in its ranks.

If you look closely, you’ll see the happy smiles of all the men’s faces, but one of them isn’t alive anymore. Zoomed in is the face of Freddy Jackson, a mechanic whose life had been taken in an accident with an airplane propeller two days earlier. The photo was allegedly taken on the day of Jackson's funeral.
The Brown Lady
There are some spirits that refuse to leave the world of the living which we often refer to as ghosts. These ghosts often appear to us like an apparition that makes the hair at the back of our necks stand. In Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England, a ghost often referred to as the "Brown Lady of Raynham Hall" walks the corridors and gives people a good scare.

While some people are unable to see this paranormal entity, some are sensitive enough to see the spirit with their own two eyes. For those who haven’t seen the Brown Lady, here is a photo that allegedly shows her walking down the stairs.
Mademoiselle Blanche Monnier
Your parents may be strict but we're pretty sure they are not as strict as Blanche Monnier's mother. You see, the French young lady was planning to tie the knot with a man that her mom did not approve of. When she suddenly disappeared one day, everyone assumed that she just ran off with him. However, that wasn't what really happened.

As it turned out, Monnier's mother held her hostage for 25 years! Thankfully, someone tipped off the police so they found her in 1901 at home, bound and starved in the attic all this time.
Third Wheel
Don't mind this lovely elderly couple. They are just getting their photo taken together with a third wheel— Wait, what?! A young woman's face floats about the two subjects. She is draped in a cloak and certainly looks nothing short of scary. The man behind this photo? None other than William Hope again.

Hope captured this photo of a couple with an alleged female spirit in 1920. We can only assume that the lovebirds wanted to be in touch with their deceased loved one, that was why they chose the premiere pioneer of spirit photography to take their picture.
Lady Doll
If you only look at the top part of this photo, you won't be noticing what's creepy about it. However, once you divert your eyes to the bottom part, you would get why this image would make the list. It features a woman who apparently wanted to become a doll herself.

We strongly believe that we can be anything we want to be as long as we put our hearts into it. Maybe, back in 1865, becoming a doll was a major dream for many.
The Cabaret of the Inferno
Paris has always been a dream destination, but most especially for expatriates during the 1920s. The city of lights, at the time, was well-known as a party capital. There was never a shortage of nightclubs, which included the Cabaret de L'Enfer, otherwise known as the "The Cabaret of the Inferno.”

Those who wanted to have the best night ever went to this surreal spot. They were treated to a bar filled with heated walls that spewed smoke and flames. There was even an actor who played Satan to make the experience more worthwhile.
The Spirit of the Terrier
What you are seeing right now are two photos that feature the same terrier. Take note though that the adorable creature was still alive in the photograph on the left. Meanwhile, it was just his "spirit" that was believed to appear in the photograph on the right.

According to a 1939 print of LIFE Magazine, the terrier was the beloved playmate of the big dog pictured on the right. When the terrier passed away, his friend was devastated. If this was truly the spirit of the deceased terrier, then he was probably not yet ready to enter dog heaven.
Purported Phantom
William Hope was not the only well-known photographer and spirit medium during the early 20th century. There was Richard Boursnell also who took this picture of spiritualist William Thomas Stead. If you look closely, you might also spot a specter who was identified as Piet Botha. He was a Boer commandant who lost his life in the South African War.

Unfortunately for Boursnell, a man named F. C. Barnes was not falling for his tricks. He paid Boursnell a visit in 1908 and tried to expose him as a fraud. According to Barnes, he recognized Botha's phantom as an image that Boursnell took from a book.
Scary Santa Claus
Ho ho ho, it appears as though Santa Claus needed help before he could lend his hand to others. Photographed in Chicago in 1902, a man wearing a disfigured mask of the Christmas icon asked for money on the streets. At this rate, he might not be able to go down millions of chimneys.

Hopefully, Santa Claus wannabe here eventually made enough dough so he could buy a less scary mask and give toys to those who were "nice" on his list.
Guardian Angel Or Ghost?
Do you remember praying by your bedside when you were a kid? That experience would have been way different if you were in the shoes of this girl who had a spirit of a woman watching over her. Was it her guardian angel or a ghost of her mom or older sister?

The answer is neither since this was yet again a product of Victorian photo manipulation. For some reason, people who lived during that period really had a fascination for editing photos such as this one.
Four Unidentified Objects
As if seeing one unidentified flying object was not enough, the person who captured this image may have actually seen four! It was 9:35 AM on July 15th, 1952, when they spotted the glowing objects appeared in the sky over a parking lot in Salem, Massachusetts.

No one could confirm or deny what truly appeared that fateful morning. Just thinking about the ones who could have behind the wheel already gives us the chill. Imagine, they were brave enough to do it in broad daylight.
Shrunken Heads
Hold on to your seats 'cause this historic photo is quite terrifying. It features the hands of an anthropologist holding shrunken heads of a man and a woman. The chilling remains were found in Ecuador in the early 20th century.

Until now, experts have yet to unravel the mystery behind these shrunken heads. There are still no explanations as to how and why those heads withered, It could also very well be that they were already tiny right from the start.
Prison Camp Inmate
How we wish we could say that this is a manipulated photo but it is as real as it gets. It features a Union Army soldier who barely survived the Andersonville Prison in Georgia. He was photographed on the day of his release in 1865.

This Andersonville Prison Camp Inmate was just one of the thousands of Confederate and Union prisoners of war who suffered a great deal during their captivity. Though this image is quite chilling, we are happy that he made it out alive.
Dripping Doll Heads
What's worse than seeing a group of doll heads? Seeing a group of doll heads dripping in an abandoned factory! The spooky image was taken back in 1947 when these giant toys apparently were on demand. This frightening scene was a normal one at the factory since they usually had to wait to dry.

Dolls, without a doubt, naturally have this terrifying thing going on already. It would only worsen when the parts of these dolls are disconnected. Not to mean, they are hanging from a wax-soaked carousel! That's just too much, even for us.
Fire At Madame Tussauds
This is a haunting image that could fill your nightmares if you continue to stare at it. It features the melted and disfigured mannequins that were damaged during a fire in 1925 at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London. Employees tried to rescue some of these wax models.

The blaze lasted for an hour and a half before local firefighters finally extinguished the flames. Witnesses said that the sound of sizzling mannequins was heard even throughout Baker Street. Now, don't go start imagining it before you start dreaming about them.
Ventriloquist's Dummy
Have you heard of Edgar and Josef? This charming duo was composed of ventriloquist Paul Edgar Rieck and his dummy Josef. They were a popular act in the early 20th century, holding entertaining shows in Berlin, Germany, and beyond.

Here, The Great Edgar was photographed setting up his act with an assistant. What makes our skin crawl is the sight of Josef in disconnected parts. It's like he is telling us that he can make it on his own when everyone's fast asleep.
Magic Hands
During an industrial fair in West Berlin, the United States information service exhibited a mechanical device called "Magic Hands." This invention was proposed to be used in atomic laboratories for handling radioactive materials. The Berliners who were in attendance were blown away.

We won't have an issue with this remarkable invention if only they did not demonstrate it by pinning a diaper on a baby doll. We are pretty sure there are less creepy ways to showcase the instrumental qualities of the magic hands.
A Mother And Her Deceased Child
Here, we have another example of the living taking a photo with the deceased. The subject is Mrs. Thomas Ustick Walter and her child who had already passed away before they were photographed. We understand that this is a creepy practice back then but we also feel for those who have lost their loved ones.

The postmortem photography, which boomed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, gave families one last chance to preserve their child's likeness. This was further emphasized when Victorian nurseries were hit with deadly diseases.
Eyes On the Prize
There is nothing to see here— except for a briefcase full of glass eyes! While we have no problem with having a glass eye (they make us feel comfortable in public!), there is just something unsettling about seeing too many of them at the same time. It's like you are on stage, being watched by a huge crowd.

The only valid reason we can think of bringing these glass eyes is that a salesman owned this briefcase. He probably carried it around in hopes of selling a bunch of them.
Levitating Table
At first glance, the table that this group is surrounding look likes it is levitating. That's what photographer William Hope wanted you to believe. In reality, though, the ghostly arm that you see has only been superimposed over the table stand. This was done once again through double exposure.

The group can be seen doing a seance ceremony, which was common in the 19th century for those who wanted to talk to the dead. Sadly, a seance is not the only thing happening here but also some ghost photography trickery.
Miss Lovely Eyes
Florida has always had its way of standing out as a US State. Take for example their pageants in history. Florida did not only involve the overall beauty but also focused on postures, feet, and even eyes! They actually held a contest called "Miss Lovely Eyes" in 1930.

Complete strangers served as judges in Miss Lovely Eyes while the contestants wore masks to obscure the rest of their face. As a result, they looked nothing short of creepy.
Minnie Mouse Wannabe
If there is a cartoon character that is recognizable among several generations, it would definitely be Minnie Mouse. She has been around since 1928. That's how long people have been trying to dress up like her during Halloween and other costume events.

Here, we see English actress Hermione Baddeley dressed up as Minnie Mouse for the Film Memories Ball. Her look would have been more iconic and less frightening if the mask was the same size as her enormous shoes.
Last Public Execution By Guillotine
When the crowd gathered in 1939 outside the prison Saint-Pierre in Versailles, they had no idea that they would be witnessing the last-ever public execution by guillotine. That's because it was actually their "hysterical behavior" that made French President Albert Lebrun subsequently ban all future public executions in the first place.

The spectators went beyond castrating Eugene Weidmann who was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Weidmann then ended up as the last man to be guillotined in public.
Giant Grasshopper
The jury's still out on whether this photographic postcard of a man holding a giant grasshopper is authentic or not. While some said that North Dakota only teased its tourists with fake photos, others claimed that it truly happened when farmer A. L. Butts developed a special plant food on his apple orchard.

If the story published by the local papers in 1937 were to be believed, then the grasshoppers sure did grow to an astounding 3 feet in length. Regardless of the truth, you can count on us to steer clear of this creature.
UFO Sighting
It's not a bird and it's definitely not a plane. It's a flying saucer, according to the residents of McMinnville, Oregon. One of their own, a farmer named Paul Trent, took the picture of the object flying over his farm in 1950. Unsurprisingly, it became the talk of the town.

A regional magazine claimed that Trent's picture s one of the most famous photos within the UFO community. It gained wide traction that the northwestern town began holding an annual UFO Festival since then.
Elephant's Foot
Don't waste your energy looking for a literal foot of an elephant in this picture. This nickname is used to describe the solid mass of corium and other materials formed during the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. At present, it is located at the heart of the melted-down nuclear power plant.

Anything that is related to this catastrophic disaster is enough to send chills down our spine. It also does not help that this large mass was named after a mammoth animal.
Floating Ghost
Do you find it sweet when someone watches over as you sleep? It might be the complete opposite feeling if it happens to be a ghost watching over you. The only consolation that this baby has is they were sleeping so they had no idea what was happening.

The baby's parents had nothing to worry though because the long-haired woman floating above the bed is just another example of spirit photography. Since this was taken in 1860, the Victorian trick photograph was still a common thing.
Auschwitz Gas Chamber
These scratch marks may not mean anything to some but they are everything to those who know what went down in Auschwitz. During World War II, Nazi Germany occupied Poland and established the Auschwitz concentration camp. It was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps.

That said, the scratch marks on the wall are a representation of the torture that the prisoners had to endure in the gas chamber from 1940 to 1945. There were more than a million people— mostly Jews —who lost their lives during the horrendous period.
Spooky Ride
Halloween nights in Germany during the good 'ole days were not for the faint of heart. If you could not handle seeing people in scary costumes on the spookiest night of the year, you had to stay home instead. Otherwise, you would risk running into scary-looking drivers like these ones.

This terrifying trio in a limousine was photographed while on their way to a Halloween party. We don't know them personally but we would never dare cross them especially on Halloween night.
Friendly Neighborhood Clown
Apologies to those who are not the biggest fans of clowns. Here's another one as portrayed by Hollywood actor Lon Chaney. He dressed up for his role in the 1924 MGM silent film He Who Gets Slapped.

This terrifying portrayal should not come as a surprise since Chaney also brought the spine-chilling Phantom of the Opera to life. Though we now know that the famed actor was just pretending to be one, he definitely had a hand in creating the idea of a scary clown.
Mokomokai
We can't talk about creepy pictures in history and not include this eerie photo of Horatio Gordon Robley. A soldier, artist, and collector, Robley was fond of collecting preserved Maori tattoed heads, otherwise known as Mokomokai.

Maori refers to the indigenous people of New Zealand whose faces have been decorated with tattoos. They became valuable trade items during the early 19th century. Clearly, Robley was one of those who could not get enough of them. This photo of him with his collection says everything.
Jeremy Bentham
This chilling photo features the preserved body of Jeremy Bentham at the University College London in 1850. Before his death, the English philosopher and founder of utilitarianism had final wishes for his body’s dissection and preservation.

Bentham wished for his actual head to be mummified but the process left it looking horrible with dried and dark skin. As a result, he was given a wax head and placed in a wooden cabinet instead. If you look closely at the bottom part of this image, you would see his actual head.
Asylum Patient
This man right here does not need your further judgment. He was actually a patient at the West Riding Lunatic Asylum in Yorkshire, England. He suffered from severe mental illness. Unfortunately, the employees did not know how to handle his condition well so they put him in barbaric restraints.

It's no secret that many mental institutions in the past did not have as much knowledge and equipment today. Mind you, this image was taken in 1869. Sadly, at the time, it was the people with mental disorders that suffered more from the experts' shortcomings.
Gas Masks For Babies
Imagine seeing a baby photo of yourself in gas masks. Babies born in the 1940s in England didn't have to because it was a necessity during World War II. There was always this fear of a gas attack by Germany so they had to be ready at all times.

People of all ages wore gas masks to protect themselves. Some of these masks even fit the entire bodies of the babies, leaving nothing exposed except for their legs. They were far from comfortable but it provided protection.
The Mad Bomber
This old photo does not get any creepier. It features George Metesky who confessed to being the "Mad Bomber." You see, this unflattering title referred to the criminal who planted a total of 33 bombs in public places for 16 years. Twenty-two of them were detonated, injuring 15 in the process.

After all the terror he has brought upon the city, Metesky still had the nerve to smile through the bars of his cell at the Waterbury, Connecticut Police Station. The 53-yeard-old man was sent to a mental institution later on.
Christmas Devil
In the tradition of Eastern European nations, Santa Claus focuses on kids who have stayed "nice" all throughout the year, while Krampus goes after the "naughty" ones. This horned, anthropomorphic figure is also known as the Christmas Devil. Now, why would this adorable baby choose to hang out with Krampus?

Krampus is known for bringing lumps of coal and twigs for evil children. The baby appears well-behaved to us so it baffles us that she is rubbing elbows with the spooky figure.
A Different Crab
While some women prefer wearing a headband, feather, or a fascinator, this woman opted to wear a crab as a headpiece. Now before you more goosebumps than you already have, we are happy to report that it is just a hat in the shape of a crab. Still, we also find it a bit unsettling.

The eccentric woman wore the crab hat at the League of Women Voter's Convention. As far as we know, the nonpartisan political organization that she was part of did not necessarily require its members to wear crab hats.
Mummies of Venzone
Eat unlimited pasta in Florence, tour Lake Como by boat, trek through Sardinia — there are surely many things to do in Italy! Would you consider meeting mummies in Venzone as well? Back in the '50s, people all over the world traveled in this comune to catch a glimpse of the mummified bodies that trace back from 1348 to 1881.

The natural mummies were found in the crypts under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone. Here, an Italian woman can be seen hanging out with one of them.
Home Sweet Home
Many people today would do anything to live in a Victorian home but if it was damaged like this one, they probably would opt to stay in their current apartments. These old houses in San Francisco, California were among the 28,000 homes affected by an earthquake that took place in 1906.

The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 did not only destroy residences but also took the lives of approximately 3,000 people. The damage added to the strangeness of these Victorian homes.
The Mad Woman's Room
Even if you offered to give us a million dollars, we wouldn't dare spend the night alone in "The Mad Woman's Room." Located in Norton Yorkshire, England legend has it that the spirit of a mentally unstable lady who was confined in this haunted manor during the18th century remains to this day.

One fun fact about this eerie place is that renowned author Charlotte Bronte visited it in 1839. Perhaps her stay inspired her to create the character of Bertha Rochester in 'Jane Eyre'.
The Pioneers Defense
If we ever find ourselves standing in front of this ominous sight, we would probably still try our chances with running. Kidding aside, the men, women, and children depicted here were members of the Young Pioneers. It was a Soviet youth group that was similar to the Boy Scouts.

The Young Pioneers wore gas masks as part of their military preparation drill in the Leningrad area. When Russian photographer Viktor Bulla took this photo in 1937, their home country was under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin.
Deformed Pig
What you are looking at right now is a deformed corpse of a piglet. It was stillborn on a farm close to the Chernobyl reactor after the disaster on April 26th,1986. From Pripyat, Ukraine, the mutated animal was transferred to the Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv.

The Chernobyl disaster remains the worst nuclear accident in history. The poor piglet was just one of the many animals that lost their lives at the time. It was born with a congenital deformity called dipygus, which causes the body to fork left and right along the torso, and the pelvis and legs to duplicate.
John Lennon And His Killer
The Beatles continue to be well-known around the world so you can probably recognize frontman John Lennon here in a heartbeat. However, do you have an idea who the other person is in the photo? That was actually Mark David Chapman, the man who took away his life.

Chapman introduced himself to Lennon as a fan so the music icon signed an autograph for him on his way out of his New York apartment building. When Lennon returned a few hours after, Chapman appeared and fired four fatal shots into his back. "He was very kind to me," Chapman later said in an interview. "very cordial and decent man."
No Head, No Problem
We don't know about you but headless bodies will always give us the creeps. If you agree with us, then you could have also not stood this grotesque sideshow featuring a woman without a head at the Coney Island Amusement Park in 1945.

This horrifying sight must have frightened the onlookers especially since the performers even gave her a whole backstory. Needless to say, this was simply an illusion that could have been done by bending and hiding the woman's head.
Children For Sale
No parent would ever dream of selling their children but this mother from Chicago, Illinois seemingly had no choice back in 1948. She and her husband have tried hard to put food on the table for their family and a roof over their heads for a long time. However, the couple has reached the point where they were jobless and soon-to-be homeless.

Siblings Lana, Rae, Milton, and Sue Ellen posed for the camera while their mother sobbed and stood in the background. This is just both spine-chilling and heartbreaking.
Human Shadow Etched in Stone
The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima, which happened on August 6th, 1945, was one of the most devastating events to happen in human history. It incinerated people in that area in Japan so quickly that some of them only left their "shadows" imprinted on surfaces.

Known as the "Human Shadow Etched in Stone," this eerie photo depicts a man who was sitting on a flight of stairs when the atomic bomb detonated just about 800 feet away from him. Unfortunately, he was too close that he essentially vaporized.
Two-Headed Dog
Thanks to fantasy movies and TV shows, we already have an idea of what a dog with more than one head would look like. Still, no one informed us that it had actually existed before in real life. Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov created a two-headed dog back in 1959.

Demikhov's experiment was not a walk in the park. He astonishingly tried 23 times before he succeeded. Sadly, his previous canine subjects lost their lives in the process. Meanwhile, his victory was short-lived since his two-headed dog passed away after four days.
Portal
We wish we could say that this beautiful family was just pointing out random objects at their home in France but it was not the case. Their story was more serious and sinister. The 12-year-old Dominique Perrot and her parents were actually identifying a portal that they witnessed to another dimension in 1976.

According to Perrot, she would come into contact with the beyond every evening. The authorities reportedly kept their eyes on the haunted house for two years, verifying and recording the dialogue that the Perrots had.
Mental Treatment
No, this is not a still from a horror film that you have yet to see. This was a real scenario back in 1890 in Germany. A patient with a mental illness was undergoing "treatment" by standing in a narrow cell. Her arms were tied to the wall in the manner of a crucifixion pose.

As surprising as this may sound, forced standing was considered a legitimate part of treatment for mental illness in 19th-century Germany. There seemed to be no scientific basis and explanation for this except that it tired out the patients.
Jim Jones' Cult
On November 18th, 1978, there were more than 900 members of the People's Temple cult who lost their lives. Their leader Reverend Jim Jones laced their Kool-Aid with poison during an event in Jonestown, Guyana. The horrifying event shook the country and the rest of the world.

Jones cultivated a large following as a preacher and self-professed faith healer. No one can grasp the extent of the tragedy he had caused until they see a grim picture of the aftermath like this one.
Maria De Hoyos
Does the name Maria de Hoyos ring a bell to you? It should if you have heard of the story of a doctor who became obsessed with his patient. Hoyos was a 21-year-old Cuban-American patient of Carl Tanzler. She passed away due to tuberculosis.

The sinister story goes that Tanzler fell completely head over heels for her that he kept and mummified her body after she was already gone. He lived with the corpse for seven years before he was finally caught and imprisoned.
Apollo 1 Astronauts
Who would have thought that a lighthearted gag would turn out to be some kind of premonition? When the Apollo 1 crew prayed over a miniature of their command module, they were just trying to joke around. During a test launch on January 27th, 1967, however, Roger Chaffee, Virgil Grissom, and Ed White lost their lives.

The three men actually voiced their concerns about the craft's amount of flammable materials to Joseph Shea, manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office. Despite that, no one was able to stop the fatal accident.
What Are You Doing, Doctor?
Dr. Walter Freeman is best known as one of the leading lobotomists of his era. Lobotomies were commonly performed on patients with severe schizophrenia, manic depression, and bipolar disorder, among other mental illnesses.

In this photo from 1949, Dr. Freeman is performing the controversial procedure. His instrument of choice is a special ice pick of sorts invented for the surgery. He is inserting the instrument under the upper eyelid of the patient. Suffice to say, our views on mental health disorders have evolved.
American Airlines Flight 191
In 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 went into a steep roll and tragedy struck. It crashed and burst into flames less than a mile away from the runway. This was one of student pilot Michael Laughlin's photos at the time.

He was on a layover in the O'Hare terminal when he witnessed the gruesome event. The crash killed around 270 people and would change air travel forever. After the incident, more airlines began to become more careful when inspecting planes' engines.
Talking Heads
Here we can see a medicine man from the Jivaro tribe and two young members of the community listening to the elder. He is teaching the boys to kill perceived enemies of neighboring tribes in a ritual of vengeance.

This tribe never harmed wandering strangers though. The usual practice would consist of the head of the victim being cut off and the bones being removed. Meanwhile, the skin itself is shrunken through a method that only the Jivaro tribe members know.
Dance Troupe
At first glance, you are probably going to wonder what you are looking at. But Carlotta Ikeda knows what she is doing here. The Japanese-born Avante-Garde dancer specializes in Butoh. She is seen here performing with the Ariadone Troupe, the only all-women Butoh troupe.

They are performing Zarathoustra and Utt at the Theater of Paris. Butoh actually requires no technique, theory, or fixed forms. It is known to "resist fixity" and is pretty hard to define. These dances usually emphasize grotesque imagery and taboo topics.
Living on a Prayer
It is okay to get creeped out by this. We can see what appears to be a young girl praying beside her bed and a ghost lifting her hand over her. You are not going crazy, okay? We see it, too. This image was taken in the 1860s.

At the time, these Victorian trick photographs were all the rage. Today, photos like this give us the creeps. Back then, on the other hand, this was merely another cool way to experiment with photography.
Whale Graveyard
Whalers from 1925 are seen here cutting up the carcasses that came to shore. If you look closely, some carcasses appear as though they have exploded. This is actually fairly common for beached whales. There is a buildup of gas inside a decomposing whale and this causes it to burst.

The cause of this phenomenon used to be unknown. At first, people even assumed the explosion occurred somewhere in the abdomen. As we have come to learn, it happens in the spinal area of the creature.
Two Dictators
There is just something strange about seeing two men who have committed some of the most evil acts on the planet in one carriage. Two of Europe's most vile and sinister men are seen here smiling and sharing a joke.

German dictator Adolf Hitler and his Italian counterpart Benito Mussolini are on their way to Florence in this photo. The two were great allies. On May 22, 1939, Italy and Germany signed the Pact of Steel, joining both countries in a military alliance.
Burning Man
This is still perhaps one of the defining photographs of 1960s Vietnam. Thích Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who protested against the Ngo Dinh Diem government's anti-Buddhist policies. He is best remembered for this atrocious image.

At the time, the South Vietnamese Roman Catholic government persecuted Buddhists for their beliefs. The young monk performed a ritual suicide by self-immolation. He even did it in the middle of a busy central market square in Saigon. This is some heavy stuff.
Disney Hunt
Don't worry. You are not seeing live animals around Walt Disney and his technician. Because if that was the case, Disney wouldn't have lived very long. Here is a photo of Disney and park engineer and repairman Louie Francuz checking the Animatronic models for realism.

They were inspecting the new African Safari area of Disneyland's Jungle Cruise ride at the time. Fortunately, this isn't one of those moments-before-disaster photos. It doesn't make it any less creepy though. Those animals look pretty alive to us.
Smile For The Picture
In the 1800s, taking a photo with a dead body wasn't creepy at all. Back then, it was a way to comfort the living. During the period, people didn't really have any pictures of themselves alive. Thus, post-mortem photography became quite popular.

Seen here is a man beside a deceased friend or relative in a photo taken by artist Louis Dodero. Perhaps this is just another way to remember his deceased loved ones. Today, nobody would dare do something like this.
Hunger
Seeing people who are nearly dead from hunger is a tragic sight. But this is not the only reason why this photo is haunting. In this photo from 1945, starved prisoners in Auschwitz pose together in the concentration camp.

It only took Nazi Germany four-and-a-half years to systematically take the lives of about a million Jews at the dreaded camp. The prisoners in the image were liberated by the 80th Division of the U.S. Army at end of the Second World War.
Calf Strain
Have you ever thought about how calves were operated on back in the day? Maybe not, but here's a photo of it anyway. In this picture from 1932, seen here are some students from the Royal Veterinary College in London are dissecting a calf tied to the operating table.

The college was one of the first veterinary education institutions in the United Kingdom. Its establishment in 1791 also marked the beginning of the veterinary profession in England. Hopefully, the professors knew about this.
The Butcher
Notorious Ukrainian cannibalistic serial killer Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo was a Soviet serial killer who was nicknamed "The Butcher of Rostov." He sexually assaulted, murdered, and mutilated roughly 53 women and children back in the late '70s and throughout the '80s.

Chikatilo went on a killing spree in socialist Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. He is seen here behind bars in Rostov back in 1992. That smile on his face just makes this even more unsettling. He never showed any remorse for his gruesome crimes.
Rocking the Boat
Former Vice President and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller lost his fifth son, Michael, back in 1961. The young man had a passion for traveling to faraway lands, chartering unexplored territory. This led him to go on an adventure to the remote areas of Papua New Guinea.

He and Dutch anthropologist René Wassing arrived in the area by boat. There, he was said to have met with the Asmat people, who were documented headhunters and cannibals. Rockefeller was last seen jumping into the water and heading for land. His body was never found again.
Feral Child
We can see a young girl in this photo from 1970. Her name is Genie Wiley. She was known as the "feral child" of California. Wiley endured a lifetime of abuse from her father. He tormented her viciously and kept her in a makeshift straitjacket.

She was mostly tied to a children's toilet all day in a locked room. Whenever she made a sound or did something her father disapproved of, the man would growl and bare his teeth at her. Wiley never learned to walk or speak. These days, Wiley's whereabouts are unknown.
Priestly Negligence
Anneliese Michel was a devout Catholic living in Germany in the late 1960s. Michel began exhibiting strange behavior. She claimed to be possessed by the devil and was soon subjected to 67 exorcisms. None of these ever improved her condition.

She passed away at the age of 23, weighing just 68 pounds. Father Arnold Renz performed the exorcisms. You can see him above on trial for negligent homicide together with Attorney Dr. Erich Schmidt-Leichner. Michel's parents were also indicted. This was the story that inspired the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Human Shadows of Japan
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Almost anything and anyone within a mile were destroyed. The explosion caused temperatures of 10,000°F degrees. There were about 80,000 people who lost their lives.

Most of them only left their nuclear shadows behind. Here is a photo of one of the shadows. The light and heat were so extreme that it bleached the city's exposed surfaces. These shadows come from unsuspecting victims who shielded the buildings, sidewalks, and bridges.
Deadly Diagram
John Wayne Gacy is one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. In the '70s, he sexually assaulted, tortured, and took the lives of roughly 30 teenage boys and young men in Cook County, Illinois.

In this photo, we can see one of Gacy's diagrams. The drawing led to the location of the bodies in the crawl space of his home. Gacy eventually spent 14 years on death row before he was executed by lethal injection back in 1994.
Cannibal Life Sentence
German serial killer Joachim Kroll was one of the country's most infamous killers. He took the lives of at least 14 people. Kroll had victims as young as four and as old as 61. It was reported that his preferred method was to strangle his victims to death.

He would then engage in necrophilia, and slice off parts of the bodies for consumption. Kroll was finally caught back in 1976. This is a photo of Kroll before he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1982.
Ripper Knife
To this day, the identity of Jack the Ripper has never been discovered. The murderer was often brutal and calculated when it came to choosing his victims. He was also known as the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron.

Here, we can see a knife that was allegedly used by the man. This was part of the Jack the Ripper and the East End exhibition in London in 2008. The exhibition also displayed some of the original documents and artifacts from the investigations.
Black Eyes
This is Omayra Sánchez, a 13-year-old from the village of Armero, Colombia. The "Armero Tragedy," as it would soon be called, occurred when a volcanic eruption sent an enormous mudslide towards her area.

Sánchez was immediately pinned down by the wreckage of her own home. For three days, rescuers tried to free the little girl. She slowly succumbed to gangrene and hypothermia in the water. She passed away as the helpless relief workers watched her from just a few feet away.
Eye of the Storm
Most of us can't see it at first, but on the left of the photo, you can see the final moments of an unknown person. On April 1, 1946, the man is about to be engulfed by a tsunami that hit over Hilo's Pier 1.

There was an 8.6-magnitude earthquake off the coast of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska that sent shockwaves throughout the Pacific. When the tsuname struck Hilo, 170 people lost their lives. The waves were said to be higher than 13 stories. This was one of Hawaii's worst disasters.
Horror House
Horror fans know that the Amityville Horror was inspired by true events. Captured here is a photo of the infamous Amityville house in New York. This was where Ronald DeFeo Jr. slaughtered his parents and four siblings.

DeFeo stalked each family member's room. He shot them with a .35-caliber rifle while they were sleeping. Because of the incident, the house was sad to be haunted. DeFeo had even claimed that otherworldly voices from the house itself ordered him to kill.
Fatal Shot
On a New Year's Day back in 2011, Filipino politician Reynaldo Dagsa took a seemingly innocent photo of his family while they were out on the streets of Caloocan in Metro Manila. In the back of a photo, he inadvertently captured the gunman who would soon take his life.

Dagsa passed away from the gunshot wound. This photo survived and actually helped the police catch the killer, a man named Arnel Buenaflor. He was arrested just a few days later.
Hardened Killer
In 1883, outlaw Pete Spence terrorized Arizona together with the infamous Frank and Tom McLaury. Spece was already a known thief at the time. He became a prime suspect in the 1882 murder of Morgan Earp, the brother of lawman Wyatt Earp.

The only witness to the incident was Spence's wife. While the wife would claim she heard Spence plotting to kill the man, the judge ruled her testimony inadmissible due to spousal privilege. Here is a mugshot of Spence.
Pain and Gein
Here is a photo of a police officer examining the kitchen of serial Edward Gein's home. It is chilling to think that the authorities actually found human skulls and other parts of the body on this day. During the inspection, the butchered body of Mrs. Bernice Worden hung in a shed near the house.

Gein was finally caught in 1957. The police found a trove of grim evidence that revealed the horrors of his years of grave-robbing, murder, necrophilia, and cannibalism.
Bison Mountain
The bison was once as American as it gets. It was a symbol somehow for the nation's westward expansion. Before European settlers arrived on the continent, there were about 30 million buffalo roaming the land. Sadly, between 1800 and 1900, those numbers shrunk to a measly 325.

This photo was taken in Michigan in the late 1890s. You can see a disturbing amount of buffalo skulls waiting to be ground down for fertilizer and bone china. The U.S. government was also said to have slaughtered some buffalo in order to deprive Native Americans of this crucial natural resource.
Dyatlov Pass
This is a view of the wreckage rescuers found on February 26th, 1959. It left authorities wondering who or what caused the mess. This would soon be labeled the Dyatlov Pass incident. Nine Soviet hikers had mysteriously passed away while trekking through the Ural Mountains.

The bodies were reportedly mangled in gruesome ways. Some of the hikers' tounges and eyes were missing. The cause of death has never been determined. In 2019, the Russian government reopened the case. It still remains unsolved.
Unit 731
Even before World War II, Japan's infamous Unit 731 already had quite the reputation. They were the country's biological and chemical weapons division. The unit was known to carry out some of the most atrocious experiments in history.

One of their main objectives was to master the art of germ warfare and test the limits of human suffering. Unit 731 conducted tests on captured Chinese civilians. The tests ranged from purposeful frostbite and vivisection on conscious patients to human weapons testing.
Columbine
The Columbine massacre shocked the nation. Here is a video capture from surveillance of the Columbine High School shooting. Seen here are Columbine high school shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold appearing in the cafeteria of the high school in Littleton, Colorado.

The two kids took the lives of 13 people in the process. It was once considered the deadliest school shooting in United States history. What is worse is that this inspired several copycat shooters. It sparked a debate about gun ownership and gun control.
The Troubles
A happy father and his child are seen here having some fun. Little did they know that they were standing next to a car that was wired with explosives and about to explode. They both passed away moments later.

On April 15th, 1998, the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland took the lives of 29 people and injured about 200 bystanders. It was an act that was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army. At the time, it was the deadliest attack during the conflict known as the "Troubles."
Heaven's Gate
When one cult falls, another rises. It wasn't that we didn't learn from Jonestown. Cult leaders like Heaven's Gate Leader Marshall Herff Applewhite just knew how to manipulate followers. Applewhite was the founder of the group.

Here he is speaking to the members via television. The Heaven's Gate cult believed that they were destined for another world. They also believe that they would "transcend" the next level of human evolution. About 39 members committed suicide en masse in California on March 26th, 1997.
Hiroshima Survivors
The impact of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima lasted for decades. Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively took the lives of 129,000 and 226,000 people. Most of the victims were civilians. These still remain as the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.

After the bombing, those who didn't pass away suffered from the effects of radiation for decades. Here is a photo of some of the survivors of the explosion. We cannot even imagine what is going through their minds.
Staring Contest
Nothing to see here. We just have a random man sitting with some human skeletons. We are not completely sure if this is staged or not. It might be some random social experiment or just a simple game of who can stare the longest without blinking.

Either way, the man on the left doesn't seem to be fazed by his bony counterpart. He is just staring it down. The two are even smoking a pipe, after all. They must have done this before already. Yes, this is creepy.
Lord Knows
You are not the only one seeing something strange here. We do, too. There seems to be an apparition in this vintage church photo. In 1963, Reverend K.F. Lord is the photographer who captured this eerie image inside the Newby Church in North Yorkshire, England.

While many people were skeptics, Lord maintained that the photo wasn't doctored. Many theorize that the figure in the image is merely a result of a well-done double exposure. We don't know what to believe anymore.
The Lord's Favorite Chair
Amateur photographer Sybell Corbet took this image. It is an hour-long exposure of the empty library in Combermere Abbey. While Corbet was taking the shot, Lord Combermere's funeral was taking place just four miles away.

The apparition we see here appears to be sitting in the deceased Lord's favorite chair. Some people have suggested that the figure in the photo is Lord Combermere himself. He could have gone anywhere after his death, but he went to the library. Good for him.
Togo Fetish Market
In Lome, Togo, you can find the perfect place for your witchcraft and dark arts needs. The Akodessewa fetish market sells talismans related to voodoo magic. This market is full of piles of animals' heads, tails, skins, and skulls.

From crocodiles and cats to monkeys, vultures, and owls, the market place has it all. Each item that is sold here is believed to be divine. Locals think of the market as a hospital or pharmacy where you can find any kind of fetish object for healing.
Celebrity Killer
Ted Bundy is seen here waving to television cameras as his indictment for the January murders is read. The trial took place at the Leon County Jail. Bundy is one of America's most infamous serial killers. The nature of his crimes was appalling.

Nevertheless, this did not stop him from being popular. What made people fascinated about him were his looks and his old political connections. The Ted Bundy case changed the way law enforcement handled homicide investigations, as well.
Legitimate Fear
If legitimate fear was ever captured in an image, it is this. Taken in 1969, this photo features a Vietnamese civilian with a gun pointed at the side of her head. We don't know much about this picture's backstory.

However, we do know that this happened during the Vietnam War. The war took the lives of an estimated two million Vietnamese civilians and about a million North Vietnamese troops. Those that were wounded in combat are said to be in the tens of thousands.
Horror Live
Sentenced for bribery, Pennsylvania State Treasurer Budd Dwyer held a press conference to make a statement. However, he had much worse intentions. The politician ended up taking his own life live on television.

Here is a photo of Dwyer moments before the chilling incident, holding his .357 magnum revolver. A spokesman for Dwyer had suggested that the treasurer meant to preserve the pension benefits for his family, whose finances would have been ruined by the legal defense costs for his crimes.
An Odd Request
Regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham was one of the leading jurists and statesmen of his time. He had a pretty weird afterlife request though. In a detailed letter attached to his will, he asked that his body be dissected and preserved back in 1832. His disciple, Thomas Southwood Smith, was tasked with fulfilling the request.

Bentham had intended the auto-icon to incorporate his actual head. Something, however, went wrong with the mummification which, as you can see, left the head looking distastefully macabre. The auto-icon was therefore given a wax replica instead.
Agent Orange
Agent Orange was a herbicide and defoliant chemical for tactical use by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. In other words, it was chemical warfare. The effects of Agent Orange and its active ingredient dioxin is one of the most toxic compounds known to man.

Vietnamese children born to pares who were exposed to the chemical were either stillborn or born with deformities. Above is a photo was taken at the Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This is home for children with disabilities believed to be caused by Agent Orange.
Highway Robbery
We have to credit the lady here for being calm and composed amidst such a crazy situation. The woman in the photo is Silke Bischoff and this was taken during the hostage-taking of Gladbeck in West Germany.

The getaway car of the two hostage gangsters Hans-Jürgen Rösner and Dieter Degowski was surrounded by onlookers and journalists. This was one of the most notorious criminal press conferences in German history. The robbers eventually passed away after a standoff with the police.
The Nazi and the Jewish Photographer
Joseph Goebbels was one of Hitler's most trusted men. He was the Minister of Propaganda for the Third Reich and deeply believed in its anti-semitic ideologies. Here we can see Goebbels staring with a silent rage in his eyes the moment he found out photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt was Jewish.

This photo was taken in the garden of the Carlton Hotel during a League of Nations conference at the height of Nazi Germany. It takes a special kind of fearless to get that close to the German minister. Props to Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Poor Mary
Known as "Murderous Mary," the five-ton Asian elephant was once part of the Sparks World Famous Shows circus. Mary was left in the untrained hands of an under keeper named Walter "Red" Elridge. It is widely believed that Elridge abused the circus performer.

Mary eventually trampled the man to his death. In response to the death, Mary was hung for her crimes. We can't help but feel bad for an animal that was never supposed to be trained in the first place.
A Father and His Daughter's Hands
This photograph by Alice Seeley Harris is just painful to see. A Congolese man stares at the severed hand and foot of his daughter. It was meant to be his punishment for not meeting the daily rubber quote.

His daughter and her mother executed and then were cannibalized. For some context, King Leopold II of Belgium founded the Congo Free State. He ruled the Congo as a privately owned corporate state for 23 years. His reign was marred by international scandals and human rights violations.
Baby Down
Here we have a burnt and injured baby crying in the middle of the debris of Shanghai South Railway Station. This photo was taken after a Japanese air strike back in 1937. The Battle of Shanghai occurred during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

This was when the Japanese military forces advanced and attacked Shanghai. According to the report, around 1,800 people, mostly comprised of women and children, were simply waiting at the station. The Japanese had mistaken them for Chinese troops.
Man in Debt
This just shows you that you should never mess with a man in debt. Captured here is Anthony Kiritsis holding a gun to the head of banker Richard Hall. Kiritsis took out a property loan from Richard Hall. When the payments fell behind, Hall did not show him any leniency.

He seeked revenge, so he decided to threaten Hall. Kiritsis wired the gun to his finger. This meant that if the police interfered, Hall would die. The hostage lasted more than 60 hours. Kiritsis was later sent to a mental health facility for more than a decade.
Orbit in Peace
This adorable puppy was actually the first animal to ever completely orbit the earth. The mission was considered a success. However, what made it tragic was the fact that Laika never returned home. This photo is one of her last before the trip.

While the technology to orbit the earth was sophisticated enough, the technology to de-orbit was not. Laika was not even expected to return home safely in the first place. She'll always be remembered as the first creature that ventured into space.
Last American Public Execution
It is still pretty unbelievable that people actually watched public executions as a pastime. People were very involved in these events, as well. The crowd could book and throw rocks at the criminal. If someone was convicted of murder or rape, the audience would even cheer for the hanging.

Here we can see a crowd of more than 15,000 people gathering to witness the hanging of Rainey Bethea on April 14th, 1936. The manner of the hanging made Bethea's death the last public execution in America.