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The scariest things aren’t always the ones that jump out at you. They don’t announce themselves with warning signs or eerie music in the background. Instead, they sit there, unnoticed, hiding in plain sight.
That’s what makes these photographs so chilling. At first, they look like any other picture—normal, unremarkable, even forgettable. But once you learn the truth behind them, they become something entirely different.
Scroll down to find out why—though you might end up wishing you hadn’t.
More info: Reddit | Reddit | RedditThis post may include affiliate links.
#1
Raw footage from the 2004 tsunami is incredibly eerie. seeing people just watching as the tide comes in and having no idea what's about to hit them... Really terrifying.
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#2
See this little girl scribbling on a chalkboard? Aaaw-
Actually, this is a concentration camp survivor, when asked to draw "home".
#3
Here's a shadow permanently cast of someone caused by the nuclear blast at Hiroshima.
#4
This is one that always stuck with me, just the way you have this bustling city in one frame, and the same city scythed clean with nuclear fire in the next. It's hard to imagine that level of devastation, a blast that burned civilians into the pavement and left shadows that would still be there decades later.
Hiroshima - Before And After Bombing
#5
Josef Fritzl enjoying himself on holiday while his daughter was still trapped in his cellar at home.
#6
Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers managed to document getting lost in the jungle in Panama. They kept going past the marked easy trail instead of turning around went down the other side of the mountain, they wound up lost with no real hiking/camping supplies in dense, sparsely populated wilderness. At least one of them survived for a week. That photo is one of the last touristy ones, but they're probably already lost in it without realizing.
Beak Hookage 1 day ago
It is *incredibly* easy to get lost in the wilderness. I went to the Yosemite with my dad once, and I wandered off while he wasn't looking. I was barely twenty paces away and he had NO IDEA where I was. He couldn't see me anywhere and freaked out when I wandered back.
#7
The car in that picture contained a bomb that blew up just moments after this picture was taken. The people in the picture survived, but they guy who took it did not.
#8
In this photo a man took of his wife diving, you can probably see another diver on the sea floor. That's Tina Watson. A few minutes before this photo, her husband turned off her air supply and held her underwater until she drowned. He then went up to the surface and told the other divers she was "in trouble", and you can see someone else swimming to try and save her.
EDIT: He did serve 12 months in prison in Australia for Manslaughter, as a plea bargain (Neither he nor the court knew if he was going down for m****r). When he returned home to Alabama, the US courts tried to get him on the grounds that he'd planned the m****r there, but he got off due to lack of evidence. Australian authorities refused to help with the American trial, as they'd broken an extradition clause not to push for the death penalty.
Edit 2: changed some info people have corrected me on. Also, the manslaughter charge managed to stick because despite apparently being a trained rescue diver, he made no evident effort to save her, or share his own functioning tank. Also one witness says he saw Gabe Watson "engaged in a bearhug with his flailing wife".
#9
This photo, taken at 7 PM, May 18th, 1980 in the forests of Washington state.
In the photo is David A. Johnston, star vulcanologist for the United States Geological Survey, camped at his trailer at his field post.
Less than 24 hours later, Johnston, the trailer, and everything else within ~30 miles would be obliterated by a lateral blast from Mount St. Helens’s eruption, making Johnston the first US Government Vulcanologist to be k****d in the line of duty.
His last words were a radio call to the USGS station in Vancouver WA, which you can find recordings of online:
“Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!”
Lilybdcsa 1 day ago
It had to have been before May 18 because the actual eruption happened at 8:32 am on May 18, 1980. We lived in Yakima, WA at the time and heard the explosion that Sunday morning. Clouds of ash came over along with thunder and lightning. Several hours later, before noon, the sky was completely gray and nearly dark as night. Very eerie. We didn't know if it was the end of the world or not. Our daughter was 18 days old.
#10
The toddler in the photo is James Bulger.
He is being lead away from his mother by one of the two 10 year old boys who abducted and would later m****r him.
Here's a paragraph from Wikipedia; At the trial it was established that at this location, one of the boys threw blue Humbrol modelling paint, which they had shoplifted earlier, into Bulger's left eye. They kicked and stomped on him, and threw bricks and stones at him. Batteries were placed in Bulger's mouth. Police believed some batteries may have been inserted into his anus, although none were found there. Finally, a 22-pound (10.0 kg) iron bar, described in court as a railway fishplate, was dropped on him. Bulger suffered ten skull fractures as a result of the iron bar striking his head. Dr. Alan Williams, the case's pathologist, stated that Bulger suffered so many injuries—42 in total—that none could be isolated as the fatal blow.
#11
Looks like an ordinary school photo. Top left are the kids who shot up the Columbine school (yes they're pretending to "shoot" at the camera).
Jonathan K 1 day ago
A person who was shot that day passed away recently. They ruled her death a homicide.
#12
Tyler Hadley k****d his parents before he threw this party at his house. They were dead in their bedroom when this picture was taken.
#13
This picture of Elizabeth Smart (far left) taken while she being was held captive by her kidnapper (pictured far right).
Smart was missing for 9 months. the picture was taken some time in the middle of that period, at a party the kidnapper crashed with Smart. She was made to wear the veil in order to keep from being recognized in public.
#14
2004 Tsunami nears John & Jackie Knill.
John and Jackie Knill were k****d in the 2004 Tsunami. Their bodies were never found but their passports and camera were discovered and returned to their children. There are more pictures that show that something terrible is about to occur. But this one is nearly tranquil.
EDIT: Their bodies apparently were found.
#15
The my lai villagers picture. might not fit exactly since the picture shows the terrorized villagers right before they were gunned down, so not exactly seemingly normal. but, one often overlooked aspect is the young woman buttoning her shirt, which is interpreted as evidence that she was r***d right before the photo.
Kabuki Kitsune 1 day ago
Whoever is doing the "interpretations" didn't read the actual witness testimony provided about this particular photo, as a witness testifying to the crime that happened here stated " soldiers had attempted to rip the blouse off the woman in the back while her mother, in the front of the photo, tried to protect her".
#16
This home video of Jeffrey Dahmer, casually saying to his dad that he should eat at home more often. However, at the time this video was filmed, Jeffrey already k****d 7 men (and ate some of their body parts).
#17
Demon Core. This is a recreation photo of an accident that occurred with the infamous "demon core". Physicist Louis Slotin was conducting an experiment to verify the exact point at which a subcritical mass of fissile material could be made critical by the positioning of neutron reflectors. Basically, the two half spheres would be adjusted around the core and the core activity would be measured.
The risk was that if the spheres were allowed to close, the core would instantaneously form a critical mass. To keep them from closing, he pried the top core up with a screw driver. Unfortunately the screw driver slipped, a critical mass formed, and (near) instantly gave him a lethal dose of radiation. He shielded the other people in the room and was the only fatality.
#18
Moments before getting struck.
Andrea Fucciollo 14 hours ago
Why do you guys keep complaining about having seen these photos here before?? There are probably thousands of people who haven’t…. BP does not revolve around a particular group 🙄
#19
Chernobyl Elephant's Foot, a formerly molten mass of corium from the reactor core meltdown. It still emits radiation today that can k**l you if you hang around it too long, but not as much as back in 1986. They had to use a set of mirrors in order to get photographs of the mass.
#20
A charming photo of some women, mostly clerks and secretaries, eating bowls of blueberries while being entertained by a man on the accordion.
And a group of men drinking and laughing at a picnic table.
The kicker? All of these photos are of guards and staff at Auschwitz during their days off. The atrocities of the camp were taking place less than a mile away.
The entirety of the album is called [Laughing at Auschwitz]. If it weren't for the photos of some of the men in uniform, you would think it was a f*****g summer camp.
#21
A picture of a guy looking uncomfortable or upset in the shower (sfw). In reality, that's Travis Alexander, and the pic was taken by Jodi Arias shortly before she m******d him by stabbing him dozens of times and slitting his throat.
#22
This is just a bunch of astronauts hanging out at the pool and generally being awesome, right? Nope. That's the crew of Apollo 1. See the hatch on the capsule that opens inward? They died in that capsule, unable to escape the fire.
William Smither 1 day ago
The crew did die in a capsule, but not that one. NASA had different mock up capsules for different aspects of training. Their spacecraft was the one they were going to fly in and was sitting on top of a rocket on the launch pad when they died.
#23
The M****r of Reynaldo Dagsa.
A filipino politician, Dagsa was on vacation spending time with his family.
Looks like a regular family photo at first glance right?
This photo was taken on New Years Day by him moments before he was shot and k****d, and his k****r can be seen in the background behind his family.
#24
Happiness is...
The man in picture,Robert Giblin post this on Facebook, after few minutes he stabbed his pregnant wife and throwing her over the balcony to her death. He jump off the building after that.
OzzyTheMano (They/Them) 1 day ago
f**king coward wouldn't face the consequences of his choices. what an awful, evil man. i hope he died a slow and painful death.
#25
A photo of a cute girl, right? this is Genie (not her real name, but that's what she is called in the public sphere. real name was kept secret.) from the time she was an infant, around 20 months old, her father kept her in a single room, strapped down to a potty chair facing the wall. she had no human interaction beyond her parents until the age of 13, when she was rescued.
#26
Not a photograph but the diagram of the cave diver who got stuck in Nutty Putty Cave and died.
And another picture of a cave diver maneuvering through a part of the same cave.
Edit: To make things worse. When they were trying to rescue him, they used a pully and had him mostly out of the part he was stuck in but the rope broke and he fell back in.
#27
This is the last picture taken of thirteen-year-old Abby Williams. She was hiking in Delphi, Indiana in February 2017 with her friend Libby German, who took the picture. They were both m******d shortly after the photo was taken.
They still haven't identified the k****r.
Gingersnap In Iowa 1 day ago
Richard Allen was convicted in November 2024 for the murder of Abby and Libby.
#28
A famous picture of John Lennon signing an autograph for Chapman just hours before the latter m******d the former.
#29
The picture of John Wayne Gacy dressed as 'Pogo the Clown'.
Beak Hookage 1 day ago
Fun fact, he actually had two different clown personas. I believe the other one was called Patches.
#30
This one's a bit creepy.
Post-mortem photography.
This is a picture from the victorian era of two parents with their dead daughter in the middle. Apparantly, in the ninteenth century, people taking photos of their deceased loved ones was a thing.
#31
How about an entire film?
Errol Morris' documentary Vernon, Florida
Errol Morris is a great documentary maker that can really capture people well. This documentary is a look at a small rural town in Florida. The film doesn't really have a narrative. It's just made up of interviews with some of the colorful and quirky characters in their rather mundane small town.
And just based on that, it's a really neat documentary to watch. It's not the best documentary you'll ever see, but it's quaint, touching, often funny.
But the thing is: that's not the documentary Errol Morris set out to make. In fact, the original name of the documentary was *Nub City*.
You see, the city of Vernon, at the time, had the highest rate of limb amputation in America per capita. People missing fingers, hands, feet, etc. The messed up bit is that they were doing it to themselves, on purpose, in order to collect on insurance money.
While filming the documentary, Errol Morris started receiving death threats from the residents who were scared he was going to expose their secret. Errol took the threats seriously enough that he re-edited the whole film so it never mentions anything about the amputations.
So now it's just a nice documentary, about some colorful and quirky characters in their rather mundane small town.
#32
Timothy Treadwell lived his life watching and learning about bears and it eventually led to his disturbing death by a grizzly bear. The most awful thing about his death is that all of it was caught on audio.
Emilu 1 day ago (edited)
I've watched a few documentaries about this dude. IIRC, he'd go to the mountains for around six months a year to live with the bears. He supposedly got bad vibes (can't remember the exact phrasing, but you get the idea) from the bear that ended up killing him, as it seemed to dislike him whereas the others in the pack tolerated him.
#33
Two brothers goofing off for a photo. Hours later after arriving home from dinner, the man on the left would have his brother(pictured on the right) and mother (who took the photo) m******d after conspiring with a friend. He attempted to have his father m******d as well but he survived.
Just Another Karen 1 day ago
The full picture shows the k1ll3r with his middle finger up. Apparently father forgave him
#34
This is John du Pont and Dave Schultz.
John (The man on the bottom) hosted a massive wrestling team where all of the athletes lived on the grounds. Schultz was hired to coach the team.
As time went on John started to act stranger than normal (He was already very odd). He started to think his friend Schultz was spying on him. He believed that Schultz was hiding in his walls spying and plotting to k**l him. It seems to me like John was a paranoid schizophrenic.
Eventually John snapped. He drove up to Schultz's home and shot him in front of his family. Schultz died moments later.
Edit: The documentary is called *Team Foxcatcher*.
#35
Last photo before she (Regina Kay Walters) was k****d by Robert Ben Rhoades.
#36
Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.
Basically Dean Corll and Elmer Wayne Henley k****d a bunch of people but were caught. This picture was found amongst Henley's things of an unidentified boy that is a likely victim of Corll.
#37
To me, it will be this one of the Iroquois Theatre Fire. You can see smoke pouring from inside the glass
When this photo was taken, around 600 people were trapped inside the building in pitch darkness whilst a fire incinerated/smoke asphyxiated them one by one.
The story:
In 1903, a "fireproof" theatre opened in Chicago IL, and proceeded to host a play called Bluebeard. Around 600 people attended, but midway through the performance, it is believed that an old arc light shorted out and caused one of the stage curtains to set alight.
The theatre was not equipped with fire extinguishers, but rather a fire-extinguishing powder which was inadequate. The fire spread to other curtains and an "fireproof" curtain was lowered, but snagged halfway down on a light.
In panic, one of the stage employees opened a back door to the theatre, causing a backdraft of air to enter, turning the fire into a fireball that blasted out into the seating area and incinerated hundreds.
Some people in the upper seating areas had left the play room, however they became trapped in the narrow corridors due to the fact that some of the non-opening windows into the vestibule resembled doors , and some of the proper doors used an Espagnolette "bascule lock", an old french lock that most Americans had no idea how to manipulate. As a result, people began piling up at these doors because the poor people at the front had no idea how to open them. It is likely they were crushed to death.
BrownEyedPanda 22 hours ago
Just like the fire under the Bug Top, Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey circus.
#38
Serial k****r Rodney Alcala was on The Dating Game in between m*****s. So that in itself is creepy, seeing this serial k****r charm a young woman on national television. You have to think, "Is he imagining all the vile things he wants to do to her? Is he planning this woman's m****r on camera right now?"
There's a lot of seemingly normal innocent pictures relating to him as he was a photographer and loved taking photos of potential victims. Whether they can still be found on the internet I'm not entirely sure. He also took and kept earrings from the girls and women he tortured and k****d.
#39
K2 2008 disaster. It's just a mountain picture, but with the annotations it reveals an eerie scene. K2 if I remember correctly is regarded as one of the most dangerous mountain in the world. 1 out of every 4 climbers who summit die on that mountain.....
If you are interested check out bbcs documentary here.
#40
This is the last existing photo of wrestler Chris Benoit. Just a few days after this photo was taken he m******d his wife and child. After this he commited s*****e.
Warren Peece 1 day ago (edited)
The theory at the time was that he suffered from effects of steroid abuse.
#41
Myra Hindley, on the Saddleworth moors with her dog, Poppet. She is looking down at the grave of John Kilbride, one of her's, and Ian Brady's, young victims.
Hindley and Brady used to take photos hinting to the gravesites of their child victims, and when their crimes came to light, these pictures were used to help find the bodies.
Also, a little more on the serial k****r theme - a home video taken of Jeffrey Dahmer during Thanksgiving Day 1990. Note the 'I should really start eating at home more'. Yeah... he was already starting to cannibalise his victims at this point. Lionel Dahmer, his father (and the guy behind the camera), later said that in retrospect, his foot would jerk at every mention of his apartment, what he was doing in his spare time, or what he was eating. You can just make it out in the video.
Edit: A little more info on Dahmer's situation at the moment this video was taken. He had already k****d 9 men and boys, the latest (David Thomas) was m******d three weeks before Thanksgiving. At this point he was still *relatively* restrained, k*****g every few months and choosing his victims carefully. By February 1991, he had amped up to a m****r a month. By the time he was arrested in July 1991, he had completely lost it; he was missing work, stopped showering and shaving (at times, his tub was filled with up to three bodies) and he was k*****g 2-3 times a week. During the last 6 weeks of his freedom, the only meat he was eating was human flesh.
#42
It's better to read the whole story. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, police were called to a s*****e of a man who jumped off a building. In his pocket they found a s*****e note, telling them where to find his girlfriend. He had gone crazy, cut her up, and cooked pieces of her body.
Before this, they were somewhat famous. That picture showed a couple in love, weathering the storm together.
#43
This picture was taken by a passenger of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17th 2014. He posted this picture on his Facebook, saying; 'if it goes missing, this is what it (the plane) looks like.' Referring to another Malaysian Airlines plane (flight MH370) that went missing on March 8th 2014. Later that day the plane the man boarded was taken down by a missile fired by either Russia or Ukraine.
#44
Rock climbers taking pictures accidentally captured woman stranded at bottom trying to survive. went through entire thread and didn't find anyone post it, was really popular on reddit a while back.
#45
Musician Jeff Buckley, hours before he died from accidental drowning at the age of 30 in 1997.
#46
The pictures that Lewis Carroll took of Alice, the girl who inspired the Alice in Wonderland book... my art history teacher showed them to us and they just gave me the creeps.
StPaul9 1 day ago
These are common in Victorian times, related to the infant mortality rate. Plenty of photographers took them. He was celibate and the family cut off contact because they were minor nobility (not royal class but still very high) and he just barely scratched into middle class. There is healthy evidence from both the time and after debunking it.
#47
The most sinister wink of all time.
Context: This photo was taken just after LBJ was sworn in on Air Force One, immediately following the m****r of JFK. In the foreground you'll notice Jackie Kennedy visibly grieving the loss of her husband. LBJ turned towards his longtime friend, Texas congressman Albert Thomas, who gave him a surreptitious wink and a smile. White House photographer Cecil Stoughton, who took the photo, said it could have been "innocent or sinister, and I would have leaned towards the latter." The man in charge of Air Force One at the time, General Godfrew McHugh later said LBJ's behavior on the plane was "obscene."
Edit: Took out a line about blood spatter on Jackie's coat, since people seemed to be really concerned about it. Though there was blood on her coat at the time the photo was taken, it's not in the frame.
C Hendrix 1 day ago
I once read that someone asked Johnson why he didn't run against Kennedy instead of taking the Vice President position. His reply: "Because one out of every four vice presidents becomes president. I like those odds." I've always wondered whether Johnson and Hoover might have been behind the assassination.
#48
This picture of Varg Vikernes has reached a sort of Internet meme status. The reason being it just looks like a picture of a happy smiling old man, but in reality Varg's back story is that he is a musician who makes incredibly abrasive music, as well as a m******r who k****d another musician from Norway's black metal scene ~~just because~~, and an arsonist who burned down churches in Norway ~~just because~~. This picture of him was taken in prison.
He was released in 2009 and continues making music.
EDIT: Okay so apparently Varg claims to have m******d Euronymous in self-defense, and he burned down the churches because he believes in neo-paganism.
Bartlet for world domination 1 day ago
The "happy smiling old man" wasn't even 37 years old when this picture was taken.
#49
Burst of Joy.
POW returns home to his family, but his wife Dear John-ed him and his kids no longer respected him.
Joanne Earle 1 day ago
I saw this live on TV. I didn't know his family abandoned him....they looked so happy to see him!
#50
Someone videotaped a guy playing Dance Dance Revolution. Six months later, he would shoot and kill 27 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School back in 2012.
What do you think ?
cugel. 1 day ago
"This thread seemed innocuous, but shortly thereafter, the entire Bord Panda staff was *****, then ***** with ******, then finally **********"
Harry Gondalf 17 hours ago
I'm totally sick of the stupid censorship. Anybody have suggestions for an alternate site? I'm liking ebaums world more and more. https://www.ebaumsworld.com/
UncleJohn3000 13 hours ago
I've drifted over to Quora as my main time wasting website. I like some of the posters here and some of the writers but BP is ignoring an astonishing amount of feedback from an unhappy user base.
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cugel. 1 day ago
"This thread seemed innocuous, but shortly thereafter, the entire Bord Panda staff was *****, then ***** with ******, then finally **********"
Harry Gondalf 17 hours ago
I'm totally sick of the stupid censorship. Anybody have suggestions for an alternate site? I'm liking ebaums world more and more. https://www.ebaumsworld.com/
UncleJohn3000 13 hours ago
I've drifted over to Quora as my main time wasting website. I like some of the posters here and some of the writers but BP is ignoring an astonishing amount of feedback from an unhappy user base.
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