40 Of The Creepiest Things Shared Online, As Presented By This Online Community
Viewing certain things on the internet feels like witnessing a horrible accident—you want to turn your eyes away, yet for some reason, you simply can’t. Be it a horror movie or a picture of a fashion disaster, it might be difficult to explain why people are often drawn to the scary things in life.
An impressive collection of horrifying images can be found on the subreddit fittingly titled ‘Creepy’. Created “for all things creepy”, in their own words, the community shares everything from eerie doodles, to paintings, pictures, and other types of visuals. We have gathered some of them here today for you to browse, but do it at your own risk—some of them can be pretty disturbing.
In order to better understand how viewing creepy content affects us and why we do it, Bored Panda turned to Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at Indiana University, neuroscientist Shirley M. Mueller, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find her thoughts in the text below.
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I Made A Fairy Mummy For My Sister For Christmas
A Polar Bear Following Photographer Paul Souders From Under The Ice
“We all float down here, Paul. Well, okay, so only I do, really, to be honest.”
In the town of Churchill, Manitoba, you are dissuaded from locking your vehicle in case a passer-by needs to suddenly flee a bear. They can jump into the car and lock the door from the inside. Polar bears, when hungry, which is most of the time, will pursue humans.
You don't have to outrun (or outswim) the bear, just your hiking buddy.
Deciding if he wants dinner now or throw it in the freezer for later!
The photographer's comments about this picture are worth reading. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2013-the-water-bear
Someone Took A Photo At The Exact Moment A Mosquito Flew Past The Camera
My exact immediate thought when I saw this. One of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen.
Load More Replies...In finnish, "mosquito" is "hyttynen". The -nen ending is diminutive, so "hyttynen" is actually "little hytty". This implies that there exists a great, unbeatable, mighty... HYTTY
Damned influencers growing wings now, so they can be in every shot.
Created back in 2009, nowadays, the r/Creepy community has nearly 15 million members. It is safe to assume that they enjoy the rather bizarre content fellow redditors share, but some netizens might be boggled as to why that is.
“Sensation-seeking is a common motivation for individuals to pursue horror and disgusting material,” Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at Indiana University, neuroscientist, and author of Inside the Head of a Collector: Neuropsychological Forces at Play, Shirley M. Mueller, told Bored Panda during a recent interview.
“We have different levels of need for sensation-seeking inherent in our personalities,” she suggested. “Along these same lines, people with low empathy tend to gravitate toward horror more than those with high empathy.”
"Nt|tld", Made By Xrev_v (Me)
The creepiest here. Honestly, I forced myself to upvote this, because of run reflex.
Felt like if I didn't upvote, I'd see it again later.
Load More Replies...What does the title mean? Am I old, or is it actually incomprehensible bollox?
30 here... didn't understand a word of the title. Maybe a Gen Z can elaborate
Load More Replies...Although it is kinda creepy that they're humanoid.
Load More Replies..."Small Death" (Carved From A Single Piece Of Wood, Before 1519)
Well, that's not where my mind went when I read the title. I was wondering how they thought to represent "la petite mort"...
That was the first thing that came to my mind as well. LOL
Load More Replies...Before the internet even artists had more patience. This is truly extraordinary.
A piece in Business Harvard Review about why we love or hate horror seconded the idea that experiencing stimulation is one of the main reasons we consume seemingly dreadful content. It also suggested that exposure to it—or sometimes even the anticipation of it alone—stimulates us in opposing ways, as it might make us feel scared or anxious, but it can also make us excited in a way. The reason for that is the biochemical reactions that happen in our bodies during fear-inducing moments—we release adrenaline, which results in heightened sensations and surging energy.
Bunny Statue At My Mom's Senior Center
After this comment and your comment about “The Mist”… do I sense a fellow King fan? XD
Load More Replies...♫ Little Bunny Foo Foo, hopping through the forest. Picking up the the field mice and BOPPING THEM ON THE HEAD!
Have you seen Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail? There's a killer rabbit in it.
Load More Replies...If I ever have my own garden, I definitely want something like this. I would paint his eyes with that paint that glows in the dark to add a nice evil effect.
Aren't Ya Gonna Come Down? (Digital Edit)
Anyone want to help me push this refrigerator over the stair railing?
Load More Replies...I was about to say Slenderman and his brothers but this is gold
Load More Replies...Thanks I hate it. Gonna have nightmares about this now. Should never checked this out right before sleeping🫣
Nuclear Shadow, Nagasaki
heartbreaking. can't believe this technology was ever used against other human beings.
Well, to be fair....Japan started that s**t with the US , and at the time the bombs were dropped Japan had made no indication of surrendering. The alternative would have been Japan dragging the war out for another 12-18 months, costing another 1.5 million lives, would that have been "better"?
Load More Replies...I forget where exactly, but the shadow of a man on the steps of a building is forever imprinted in Hiroshima
This is just heartbreakingly sad. I hope a weapon of mass destruction like this is NEVER used against civilians again. I urge people to watch Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies (please know that both of these movies are incredibly disturbing) to understand the consequences of the atomic bombs and the fire-bombings in Tokyo.
“[Viewing creepy images or watching horror movies] makes the ordinary person fearful and gives them a shot of adrenaline. The amygdala, known as our fear center, is active in this case. Without it, however, individuals could well be resistant to fear,” Shirley M. Mueller told Bored Panda.
“For example, a 44-year-old otherwise normal woman with bilateral amygdala injury was less fearful than others in regard to fear conditioning. She also showed impaired recognition of fear in judgment of faces and social-related fear. The pièce de résistance was that she also was repeatedly immune to horror in films.”
The Art
Altered Thrift Shop Artwork (By Me)
I have this exact print. I got it because my aunt had the same one growing up and I always loved it.
I have it because my grandma had it on the wall above her headboard and when I'd stay the night with her when I was little I would always ask her when she would finally tell me the girls name. I was convinced she was a relative because her picture was on the wall like all the rest of the family. Anyway I was probably 8 the last time I shared her room when I stayed over, but 30 years later she remembered and asked if I wanted it. She said she wanted to make sure I had it. She passed away about two weeks after that, so this print is pretty special to me.
Load More Replies...Do you ever wonder about your likes for such things? The altered image is much better than the boring first one. I wonder if I need to see a shrink?
Gruß Vom Krampus
OMG that is excellent work of art Edit: Reddit taught me who the artist is: Jakub Rozalski - https://www.artstation.com/jakubrozalski
A demon, angel, and (i honestly dont know) face off between an actual demon
For Christmas both my sons (age 3 and 4) want a Krampus doll. They are both terrified and fascinated by him
Another reason we might seek something horrendous, according to Business Harvard Review, is gaining novel experiences; for instance, reading about the main character’s spine-chilling adventures and taking part in them vicariously. Not only does it allow us to go on all sorts of adventures, it lets us do it without having to deal with any actual dangers; we can safely explore the dark paths of the human mind, which is another reason people tend to view such content.
An Iris Growing Over Pupil
It looks like it's creeping across the iris and bringing the darkness with it
I found this one online. It's called Persistent Pupillary membrane and it's a congenital defect. That membrane is supposed to disappear before birth except sometimes it doesn't.
It kind of looks like there's a creature of some sort laying in wait for people exiting a dark cave!
Photo Printer At Work Had A Ribbon Malfunction
Kinda looks like how it would feel if you were a brain that was uploaded onto a computer and your file corrupted
I bet they wouldn't have thought that if the blue had been red instead 🤣
Infestation
I think since it shows both the hardest and softest material at the same time, it has to be.
Load More Replies...i don't think impacted wisdom teeth are photoshopped X(
Load More Replies...definitely Photoshopped. Those are centipedes, they don't infest your brain.
They do if you are dead, lying on the ground for a week or so.
Load More Replies...If not photoshopped, recovered from a shallow grave in the woods. NOT alive.
Load More Replies...I haven't noticed the worms (?) first because I was looking the teeth. I experienced the bottom one (impacted wisdom tooth) fortunately it's been removed for years.
Looks like a CT scan and it shows bones and organs; and is used for brains
Photoshopped centipedes are boring. But the teeth took me a minute to visually parse. There are two "rows" of bottom teeth because the jaw is very much NOT aligned straight at the camera, but tipped towards it. Guy better get those wisdom teeth out; they look like they're each ready to kill off the neighboring teeth; this happened to me.
Neuroscientist Shirley M. Mueller also discussed the complexity of the push-pull effect creepy content often has. “Winfried Menninghaus and colleagues at German, Norwegian, and Netherlands scientific institutes tackled this issue. They came up with the Distancing-Embracing Model to explain the intense emotional involvement that can be felt when experiencing what some would term disgusting. Their model broadens the area of art that might be considered on the dark side; for example, Marcel Duchamp’s urinal or some of Lucien Freud’s paintings of naked obese individuals, etc.”
19th Century Hydrocephalic Foetus Skull, Royal College Of Surgeons Museum, Edinburgh
That's not a fetus, not with 4 teeth. Hydrocephalus would also not advance that much in utero. I took care of a child like that as a pediatric nurse in a children's hospital. The head usually only gets that big in Countries that won't do surgery on babies with birth defects. The one I took care of was from Romania. She was 14 to 18 months old. The sad thing was she was intellectually on point. She would sing with her mother. But she would always need a caretaker because she would never grow into that size head.
Still though it is really sad for both the child and mother.
Load More Replies...Hydrocephalic deformity in an infant. Likely stillborn or did not survive long.
Load More Replies...My Boyfriend Said My Art Would Suit This Sub
It looks like something Neil Gaiman would write about. That's not at all meant as an insult. I quite like it.
Me too, and Neil Gaiman is one of the best creative writers tiday
Load More Replies...It looks amazing and it kinda reminds me of Clockwork (the creepypasta)
The things you can do with hair clogs these days. Amazing. (Actually that is very good.)
An Angler Fish Recovered From The Depths
Finally someone else who describes it correctly, as a girl. This is my favorite fish.
Load More Replies...'explosive decompression' - see the 'blob fish' - same thing would happen to a human if they go from great depth to the surface too fast.
One of the definitions of recovered is "to find out identify again". Not the first time an angler fish was covered, hence recovered (or re-covered if that way helps you too understand the breakdown of the word in this context).
Load More Replies...“The distancing effect relates to a potentially distasteful scene or object portrayed as art,” Mueller continued. “In this way, the offending stimulus is kept at a safe distance, so personal safety is not an issue, and the viewer can turn away at any time. This sets the stage for the second part of the Distancing-Embracing Model: embracing the object.
“The paper's authors describe this as ‘rendering art reception more intense, more interesting, more emotionally moving, more profound, and occasionally more beautiful.’ In brief, Menninghaus and colleagues say that simultaneous positive and negative emotions can help integrate negative feelings into a pleasurable sensation.”
"Home Bodies" Illustration By Me, Inks On Photograph
Yup; me an' the missus finally decided to stay home and put down some roots.
A Painting Of My Sister
Paleman 3D Pumpkin Carving!
Is that the child eating monster from Pan's labyrinth? I have nightmare for weeks! Super creepy, good movie though
Same. Movie monsters rarely (if ever) get to me but dàmn, that thing haunted me for years. I still get creeped out when I remember it tbh, specially the way it walks.
Load More Replies...Keeping the offending stimulus at a safe distance is a crucial part of what makes certain negative emotions a pleasurable sensation. Harvard Business Review covered that deriving pleasure from consuming horror can only be possible under certain circumstances, the first one being the need to know that we’re physically safe.
Haunted? Maybe
This photo is somehow very beautiful in a calm but creepy way idk what the vibe is
The millisecond before it eats your soul.
Load More Replies...Imagine a quiet, dark night and you've left your friends house and are jogging home. You round a corner and collide with this, at first not realising what it is as you pick up what you've both dropped and start handing her stuff to her! Hehe.
Exact moment when the goul recognises you before charging and open its mouth
That's my Aunt Lois when she was seven. Her looks improved a bit with age.
One Of My Favorite Mummified Fairies So Far
Would look much creepier, IMO, without the, uh, metallic rectally-inserted “display peg”…
I thought that was how they got the facial expression!
Load More Replies...I wonder what he made the body out of? He has a great imagination - even if he forgot to remove the display peg prior to photographing it, Lakota Wolf! 🤣
The Veiled Virgin (Digital)
The way terror is portrayed in this , kinda makes me happy and terrified.
Looks like a cover idea for Jilted Generation, that didn’t make the cut.
The safety frame is accompanied by a protective frame related to whether we can psychologically detach from a horror experience; for instance, reminding ourselves that whatever horrible thing we just saw happen on TV was acting, not real life.
The two are also linked to the third component—confidence in controlling and managing the dangers we face; for example, being sure that we can leave the haunted house whenever we want or that we are able to win against that horrifying-looking competitor.
Skull Of Mary Magdalene
She's dead. She doesn't know it. There's no resting or not resting.
Load More Replies...I absolutely hate all these Catholic relics. I think they are horrible, creepy and disrespectful for the dead, whoever they are. Let the dead rest in peace. All of them.
I ain’t Catholic but is this no different from museums with mummies? How about that baby’s skull on display a few posts up? How is this different?
Load More Replies...Interestingly, Mary Magdalene isn't biblically named a whore. It was Pope Gregory I who, probably in order to downplay her biblical importance, "conflated Mary Magdalene, who was introduced in Luke 8:2, with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39) and the unnamed "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus's feet in Luke 7:36–50." (Wikipedia) Its pretty interesting reading - to me at least - and there's lots of better articles than Wikipedia out there. I used Wikipedia because it was the most succinct. And yes, I know that isn't the skull of Mary Magdalene.
In "The Innocents Abroad" Mark Twain said he'd seen enough nails from the True Cross to fill a keg.
Not familiar with that comment, but it seems a rip-off of Voltaire, who claimed that all the relics of the "one, true cross" would fill the forests of Lebanon. In fact, there are thousands, but on average, they weigh only a several milligrams to a few grams, with a small number of huge chunks, adding up to only a fraction of the probably size of the one true cross.
Load More Replies...Mary Magdalene did not follow ger saviour for you to mummify her body in a golden statue.
There are actually multiple skulls they claim are Mary.
Load More Replies...In the Bible she was one of Jesus Christ's friend who discovered his tomb was empty on good Friday.
Load More Replies...Your body is just an earthly vessel, back to the dust from which it was made
Thanks To My Meds I’ve Been Having Nightmares. Decided To Paint A Recurring One
I'd be having a chat with the prescriber of your meds if this is what you're sleeping with. Or a priest.
I swear I used to see this looking at me when I was child my mom used to tell me it wasn't anything, now I have proof
Now Bro Is One Of Them
WHOAH!! I looked there and didn't see him first time. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I looked again, after seeing Stephanie M Machado's comment, as he seemed to appear right before my eyes!! Oh, my poor dicky ticker! Lol
The ‘Creepy’ subreddit has been around for over a decade now; and with plenty of people interested in the somewhat disturbing images it shares, it’s pretty safe to assume that there’s going to be plenty of content coming up. But if you’re eager to view more now, check out our previous edition on r/Creepy here.
Evil Days
What? It's only a virus! Doctor says I can come back to school next week.
Vibes of the villagers in the film with Edward Woodward, was it 'The Straw Man'? Or something similar.
Artwork By Brian Csati (Oil On Panel)
What the MIB actually look like if you look through the sunglasses from They Live.
Don The Eldritch Entity I Made
Ritual Demon From My Nightmares That I Made
Add some feathered wings and some huge eyeballs and it's suddenly an accurately interpreted Angel.
If they are seeing this in their nightmares, I think they need to knock off heavy meals before bed!
Hollllll, Oil Painting By Me
Is that the front or the back of the head? I can see both, it's really disturbing
The collarbones are in the foreground as are the teeth that are visible, so I feel like you're looking at a forward facing subject. I agree completely that this is extremely disturbing. There's some brutal realism to this piece that could make family members or friends of people who've experienced loses that could resemble this have very visceral reactions. From my personal experience, I felt it.
Load More Replies...It reminds me of a story of a man from the late 1800's to early 1900's, who had toothache or something. He kept using something for it which, in the short term I think was ok, but he kept using it and it ended up rotting away his lower jaw. Eventually, he died of starvation because he couldn't eat!
The only portrait of Jimmy The Klutz. May they find the rest of him someday.
"Return The Slab", King Ramses Leather Bookmark, Me
That thing creeped me out so bad the first time I watched the episode
The Great Fussily was creepier. Probably, at that point I have watched the Mummy too many times...
Load More Replies...I'm Sorry Jon (By Rojom)
'very_lucid' has an imagination alright! Though, this monster looks sort of friendly. If you don't get too near to his mouth!
Bunnyland Photos By Russian Photographer Alena Belijakova
Reminds me of Vilde Kaniner by Gnags: You can hide behind iron curtains (I kan gemme jer bag jerntæpper), You can lay mines (I kan lægge miner), Even the white house was painted green (Selv det hvide hus blev malet grønt), Of wild rabbits (Af vilde kaniner), We are the wild rabbits with very long ears (Vi er de vilde kaniner med meget lange ører), Everything you whisper and say, we can hear (Alt, hvad I hvisker og siger, kan vi høre), Do you have peace in one hand and war in the other (Har du fred i den ene hånd og krig i den anden), And if they call you God, we whisper that you are the devil (Og kalder de dig Gud, så hvisker vi, at du er fanden), We are the wild rabbits (Vi er de vilde kaniner).
A Personal Hatred, Me, Ink And Acrylic, 2023
I'm really surprised no comments ! This is Macabre at it's finest, I've seen a lot of professional art without the impact this has. Damn Fine work !
I think the lack of comments is a good indicator that it's working. The title kicks it up a notch as well. Something we don't talk about.
Load More Replies...Gargoyles
Monster to the left: "this horrible life..." Monster to the right: "oh here he goes again!"
Monsters to the left of me. Monsters to the right. And here I am stuck in the middle with you!
Load More Replies...Don't let it get you down, Lon. Lots of people fail their driving tests the first time.
The Neighborhood Forest Has A New Greeter
I believe I haven't thought of salad fingers in almost 20 years!
Load More Replies...My Daughter Through The Baby Monitor
Took me a horrifying minute to figure out it was somehow the back of her head.
My brain can’t figure out seeing the image as the back of her head 🤔
Load More Replies...I Feel Like My Latest Creation Belongs Here
Ikr, get that fkn 'trophy' of their "dark passenger's" skills outta the freaking house now 💀😱!
Load More Replies...Artwork By Brian Csati (Oil On Canvas)
Billy The Boxcutter [oc]
That is f*****g fantastic, in fact i want a full service of cutlery to flesh out the series.
Moving A Cemetery 1930s
It's why you don't move a cemetery. Most coffins are full of groundwater and degrade in a few decades. You can't move them, they'll fall apart and spill the contents. There's no way to reinter everything, let alone locate all of the remains. It's disrespectful.
Load More Replies...Hay Bale Groom And Bride
The Cartoon Cat -Trevor Henderson-
Albert Von Schrenck-Notzing, From A Suite Of 6 “Flashlight Photographs” Taken During A Session With The Infamous Medium Eva Carrière, Ca. 1911
The clue was in the fact that she called herself a Medium ;)
Load More Replies...Picture I Made From A Photo From Work
“Shrugganath” By Me
The artwork is well done! But I fear the poor subject is in need of a haircut, mani/pedi, and a good wax.
Detraer Boy
The fast food wars were brutal..
Load More Replies...Royal Bog Skull [oc]
🦷🦷🦷🦷🦷🦷 (Oc)
Not creepy unless you tell me that it will forever sit there unfinished with finger print teeth
-spooky voice- And then more fingerprints will APPEAR!!!
Load More Replies...Thank you, my nightmares are going to be much more entertaining now 🙂
Now this is a much more fun article than the majority of the AITA ones :)
Thank you, my nightmares are going to be much more entertaining now 🙂
Now this is a much more fun article than the majority of the AITA ones :)
