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As a photographer, you hold a lot of power in your hands in terms of making your audience feel a certain way. When you focus on spine-tingling subject matter and play around with the lighting, you can create images that might chill people decades after being taken.
‘Old School Creepy’ is an online community that embraces the slightly cursed vibes found in vintage photos. We’ve curated some of the scariest ones for your viewing pleasure. But be warned, you might not want to look at some of these twice.
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#1
Max Schreck Relaxes Behind The Scenes Of Nosferatu, 1922
Premislaus de Colo 5 hours ago
His characterisation is so evocative that it seems only he was relaxing there...
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#2
Two Psychologists In The 1930s Adopted A Baby Chimp And Tried To Raise Her Alongside Their Own Baby Boy, Donald, To See If This Caused The Chimp To Learn Human Behavior. After Nine Months, They Stopped The Experiment Because Their Son Started Behaving More Like A Chimp
#3
A Rare Photo Of The Notorious Couple Bonnie And Clyde, 1933
Multa Nocte 8 hours ago
Well they don't look ANYTHING like Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway! ;-)
Stephanie A Mutti 55 minutes ago
I was thinking,,, well Bonnie was cute but Clyde,,,, no Warren Beatty for sure.
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WookiesMaMa 9 hours ago
I think this was when they were at Bonnie's family picnic. I am probably wrong.
Typically, when somebody gets scared or finds themselves in a dangerous or stressful situation, we talk about their fight or flight response activating. However, your body can also go into freeze or fawn mode, two lesser-discussed stress responses.
Broadly speaking, these stress responses are your body’s way to survive and return to a calm, relaxed state by decreasing, ending, or evading danger.
#4
It Drinks
#5
22 Yr-Old Charlie Johns Reading The Bible To His 9 Yr-Old Bride, Eunice Winstead. They Married In 1937 And Went On To Have 9 Children Together
Saltypepper 7 hours ago
What kind of parents allow their 9 year old to mery a 22 year old that's sickening
Roxy222uk 1 hour ago
They see no other future for her. A poor family, no hope of education and a job. Perhaps they couldn’t really afford to feed her? I wouldn’t have done it, but I can see how to some at the time it would have seemed like the least worst option.
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#6
A Letter From Schizophrenic Patient Emmy Hauck To Her Husband. It Consists Only Phrase “Herzensschatzi Komm” (Darling Please Come) And “Komm Komm Komm” (Come, Come, Come ) Repeated Over And Over
Toujin C'Thlu 10 hours ago
Poor woman, I can only imagine what she went through in one of those institutions
TheOGpandaHavana 9 hours ago
Herzenshatzi probably was the one to put her there.
Load More Replies...The fight response activates if your body perceives that you can realistically outfight the danger you’re in. Similarly, your flight response is your body signaling that you have a chance of outrunning the source of the danger, WebMD states.
A freeze response is exactly what it sounds like: you freeze up and feel stuck in place because your body doesn’t believe that you can either outfight or outrun the danger.
Meanwhile, a fawn response is typically used after an unsuccessful attempt to fight, flee, or freeze up, and involves you becoming highly agreeable and helpful to the source of the danger to try to soothe them.
#7
Empress Elisabeth’s Mourning Mask And Veil, 1889
Min 59 minutes ago
I have googled that for you and it appears to be Austria.
Load More Replies... #8
A Clean-Cut Charles Manson On His Wedding Day In 1955
#9
A 16th Century Plague Doctors Mask
Floeckchen 52 minutes ago (edited)
they put herbs and other strong scented stuff into the "beak" because they believed that the plaque was spread through miasma
The ‘Old School Creepy’ subreddit’s roots stretch all the way back to 2014, when it was first created. Originally, it was meant to be a place for “eerie nostalgia, vintage horror, and creepy things from the past,” and the group has stuck to this ever since.
For more than a decade, the members of this online community have been gently scaring each other, as well as casual visitors from other groups, with photos that they’ve dug up from the past.
According to the moderators, you shouldn’t post anything modern or off-topic in the group. “If it doesn’t feel like it crawled out of the past, it doesn’t belong here,” they stress. What’s more, everyone is encouraged to avoid reposting photos that have already been shared before.
#10
17th Century Metal Mask That Was Used To Restrain Individuals Who Were Considered To Be Insane
Upstaged75 5 minutes ago
And if they weren't already insane, they would be after wearing that mask!
#11
I Don’t Like Clowns Anymore
WookiesMaMa 9 hours ago
I have always hated clowns. If you have to paint a smile, something is wrong.
Barong 7 hours ago
Clowns never bothered me. It’s amazing how quickly they went from beloved children’s entertainment and figure in classic comedy to a recurrent villain, creepy character, and trigger for a specific phobia .
glowworm2 1 hour ago
For me, what I found creepy about clowns wasn’t what they looked like, it was what they were doing to get a laugh. There was an act I remember as a kid where a clown had a toothache and a doctor and nurse were trying to help. This wasn’t funny, this was disturbing to me.
Load More Replies... Floeckchen 49 minutes ago
Coulrophobia is often triggered through the uncanny feeling you get from almost but slightly not humanlike features
#12
Maria Rasputina Holding A Portrait Of Her Father, Grigory Rasputin, 1972
SCP 4666 6 hours ago
Great, now I must complete the line.....Russia's greatest love machine🎶
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Previously, during an in-depth interview, Bored Panda spoke with two of the moderators of the subreddit, Seryan_Klythe and TheOddityCollector. They shared their thoughts about both the online community they’ve built and the unsettling vintage photos that the members of the group focus on.
"The subreddit was created for people who enjoy the eerie feeling of old photos. Unlike modern horror, old pictures can be creepy in a more subtle way—through strange expressions, outdated fashion, or imperfections in the photo itself," moderator TheOddityCollector told us earlier.
#13
Photo Of Two Women With Super Long Hair
ƒιѕн 9 hours ago
Two sisters from 1895, New York . Formal portraits like this were often carefully composed, with subjects sitting or standing in a dignified manner. Their expressions are likely a mix of solemnity and formality, as smiling in photographs was not common in that era.
Mel in Georgia 9 hours ago
Both my grandmother and great aunt (her sister) had magnificent long hair that they would put up in a bun every day. I remember seeing it down when we visited and being absolutely fascinated by it.
TheOGpandaHavana 9 hours ago
They look like they truly are miserable. I've been feeling that way all day and yet, I know now that it could feel so much worse.
#14
My Mom And I On Halloween In 1989. Note The Fact That She Has A Cigarette And Is Also Pregnant With My Brother
Christos Arvanitis 59 minutes ago
I had the same thought... not sure why you were downvoted
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#15
James Dean Posing Inside A Coffin For A Photo Just 7 Months Before His Demise In A Car Crash In September 1955
Moderator Seryan_Klythe told Bored Panda that the thing about disturbing vintage photos that truly fascinates them is that they were taken using much simpler technologies.
“The world was different and saw things differently, too. The fascination is part of understanding what was creepy to someone then was simplistic and played more with their blunt fascination to take things at face value or without the use of high-sophistication gimmickry,” they said.
#16
Behind-The-Scenes Of Teletubbies' In The Late-90s
Greymom 9 hours ago
This is a little creepy but the red one (can’t remember their names) down in the background makes it look like a Teletubby frat party! Pair in front with the usual drunk “ I love you man” and a friend passed out cold in the background. 🤣🤣🤣
ƒιѕн 9 hours ago
Po (red), Dipsy (green), Laa-Laa (yellow) Tinky-Winky (purple)
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Mel in Georgia 9 hours ago
I always assumed that this show was ridiculous when I had little kids. One day it happened to be on when the TV was on and I watched it. I found it strangely soothing and uplifting. The creators were on to something!
Huddo's sister 6 hours ago (edited)
I saw some of the original drawings on an episode of Antiques Roadshow and I think they were more like animals (mice I think).
#17
The Infamous Ted Bundy Playing With His Ex-Girlfriend's Daughter
Multa Nocte 8 hours ago (edited)
I went to the University of Utah for 2 years while Ted was there also (me in psychology, him in law). He lived several blocks from where my mother worked. Yes, I looked like every girl he picked up and murdered, but we all did back then. I even spent a lot of time in the areas where he targeted women. I think it was only because I was plain enough that I never became a target, but a woman in one of my social clubs was.
Tamra 4 hours ago
That's wild. Makes me wonder how many of us have crossed paths with people like that in our lifetimes, but just never know it.
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#18
The Moon From The French 1902 Movie A Trip To The Moon
Multa Nocte 8 hours ago
Wiki Diki --> " . . . a 1902 French science-fiction adventure trick film written, directed and produced by Georges Méliès. Inspired by the Jules Verne novel From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and its sequel Around the Moon (1870), the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite. Méliès leads an ensemble cast of French theatrical performers as the main character Professor Barbenfouillis."
Meanwhile, moderator TheOddityCollector stressed the fact that looking at unsettling photos shows us a world that is at the same time familiar and very different.
“The way people dressed, the way photos were taken, and the way time has changed them all add to the mystery. Some images weren’t meant to be scary, but they feel that way now, which makes them even more interesting,” they told us earlier.
#19
Carved Ivory Sculpture Of A European Archer, Japanese, C. 1700-1800
#20
The Other Kids Were Scared Of Him And He Cried When He Looked In The Mirror
Chelle Jones 9 hours ago
This is s costume made of beans. It is creepy but just a Halloween costume according to what I found. 🤪 😜
#21
People Used To Believe That Cavities Were Caused By Demons Boring Holes In Teeth.
Laserleader 9 hours ago
Almost every event related to "demons" in history can be attributed to germs. So yeah if you dont know what to call them demon works.
There are a whole bunch of factors that help create the creepy atmosphere in these images. These include things like the subject, the focus, the color and mood, the original intent, strange expressions, as well as outdated medical or funerary practices, according to the moderators of ‘Old School Creepy.’
“Some photos have mistakes, like double exposures, that make them look ghostly without meaning to," TheOddityCollector said.
#22
W.c. Fields As Humpty Dumpty In Alice In Wonderland (1933)
#23
John D. Rockefeller, America's First Billionaire
Chelle Jones 9 hours ago
Doesn't even look real. The animal weasel features are very prominent.
#24
An Early Version Of Ronald Mcdonald Photographed Alongside A Crying Baby
According to moderator Seryan_Klythe, some of the reasons why the community is so popular online include people being “drawn to a life that existed without Photoshop, film effects, and blunt macabre.”
Moderator TheOddityCollector added: “People love a good mystery, and these photos make us ask questions. Who are these people? What happened to them? Why does this image feel so unsettling? It’s a mix of history, curiosity, and a little bit of fear that keeps people coming back.”
#25
Carved Ivory Sculpture Of Tenjiku Tokubei: Master Of Frog Magic, Japanese, C. 1800-1850
#26
1953 Halloween Goblins
Multa Nocte 3 hours ago
The middle child looks like the little character they used to use in the Alka-Seltzer ads, "Speedy" I believe his name was.
Chelle Jones 8 hours ago
Scary movies today have got nothing on true past events. Imagine if cell phones existed during the midevil times. Those videos would be beyond frightening.
#27
Creepy Vintage Halloween Costume
Once you’ve spooked yourself to your limit, we’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments down below. Which of these photos creeped you out the most? Why do you think they had such a strong impact on you? How much horror content would you say that you consume on a regular basis? Let us know.
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