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30 Photos From The Past That Are Incredibly Unsettling (New Pics)
Interview
Postmortem portraits, ghost photographs, and images of disfigured soldiers are just a few examples of photography from the past that might seem unsettling to modern viewers. The grainy and black-and-white aesthetic combined with the open acknowledgment of death and fascination with the supernatural world has produced many photos that now give off an eerie and disturbing feel.
For those who find this intriguing, we have a whole list of pictures from the past that are truly unsettling. Collected by the Old School Creepy subreddit, these images invite you to embark on a darker journey through history.
While you're scrolling through, don't forget to check out a conversation with moderators of this subreddit, nicknamed Seryan_Klythe and TheOddityCollector, who kindly agreed to chat with us more about old and unsettling photos.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Behind The Scenes Of The Shining (1980)
RELATED:
#2
To Appear Headless While Taking A Photo, Known As "Horsemaning", Was A Popular Way To Pose In The 1920's
#3
Apache Ghost Dance Ceremony, Taken By Edward Curtis Circa 1906
#4
Glazed Earthenware Rookwood Vase Featuring An Image Of A Skeleton, American, 1891
#5
Martin Laurello, The Only Man Who Could Rotate His Head A Full 180 Degrees, 1930s
#6
My Mother In Law And Her Twin Sometime In The 60’s
#7
A Boy On Krampus Shoulders During A Parade, Mitterndorf, Austria, 6th Of Dec 1949
#8
Behind The Scenes Of Max Reinhardt's 1935 Adaptation Of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
#9
Stills From The Very Druggish Children’s Show “H.r. Puffnstuff” From 1969
#10
The Cabaret Of Hell , Paris, 1920s
#11
Actor Reggie Nadler Who Played The Vampire Kurt Barlow In Salem’s Lot, With Effects Mask From The Movie
#12
A Boy Named Rich Bundy In A Family Photo With His Brother, Ted, Before That Infamous Older Brother Was Caught
#13
Children Going To A 12-Hour Night Shift In The United States, 1908
#14
Photographed In 1880, Myrtle Corbin Was Born A 'Dipygus', Having Two Separately Functioning Pelvises And Four Legs. She Married And Had Five Children
#15
A Circus Performer In Germany C.1930, By Kurt Triest
#16
A Colorized Photo Of Grigori Rasputin With The Last Empress Of Russia And Her Five Children In 1908
#17
With Father Christmas, 1920
#18
Parrot Costume
#19
Ventriloquist’s Family Portrait, 1950s
#20
Dogon Stilt Dancers In Bandiagara, Mali, 70s, By James Morris
#21
The “Lunatic Chair” Given To Patients Who Had Poor Behavior Or Wild Outbursts. Dutch Mental Hospital, 1938
#22
Written On The Back: "Excuse Our Backs, Our Faces Are Dirty" (C.1899)
#23
Edna Tichenor As 'Arachnida, The Human Spider' In Tod Browning's 1927 Silent Film The Show
#24
The "Double Exposure Girl"... A Haunting Photo Of A Girl Shot In Double Exposure [date Unknown]
#25
Art And Camera Magazine, 1952
#26
"The Temptation Of St Anthony." Oil Painting By Joos Van Craesbeeck, C. 1650
#27
At 4:31 Am, An Unauthorized Photo Taken Of Stalin Inside Of The Kremlin Shows The Very Moment He Was Informed That Germany Had Began Their Invasion Of The Soviet Union
Carl Roberts 1 year ago (edited)
The moment one genocidal dictator realizes another genocidal dictator has invaded
#28
9-Year-Old Child Bride Eunice Winstead Johns And Her Husband, 22-Year-Old Charlie Johns, Sneedville, Tennessee, United States. 1937
Beak Hookage 1 year ago
Title correction: nine year old child poses with the p.a.edophile who groomed her.
#29
My God, These Halloween Masks From The 1920s Are Scaring The C**p Out Of Me!
#30
A Young Woman Writing A Thank You Note To Her Boyfriend In The Navy For The Skull Of A Japanese Soldier That He Sent, 1944
#31
Wakefield, Massachusetts. Young Members Of The Payro Family Being “Photographed” By Their Cat, 1909. Photo By Joseph C. Payro
#32
Abandoned Artists House
#33
Abandoned Mansion In The Forest
#34
Carved Ivory Memento Mori Sculpture Featuring The Face And Skull Of A Monk, C. 1525-1550
#35
The Original Ronald Mcdonald 1963
#36
A "Two-Faced" Doll, C.1920
#37
‘Fatso And Thin Man’— A Circus Act From Around The 1890s
#38
My Father, Halloween, 1940s
#39
' Natural Creeping Baby Doll' Created By George Pemberton Clarke, 1871
#40
Mr Noseybonk From UK Children's TV Show Jigsaw Shown In The Early 80s
Savannah Newman 1 year ago
Wait, is this where the jigsaw doll from the Saw movies got inspiration? Or the people that created it, you know what I mean. It certainly looks like this doll got another shot at stardom in the Saw franchise. Got a little work done, some rebranding haha.
#41
A Newspaper Clipping From Harper's Weekly. Jefferson Davis Is Portrayed With Deathly Eyes, Reaping Plants With Skulls On Them With A Sickle. Underneath Him Is A Snake And Above Him Is A Twisted Bare Tree With A Vulture Perched On It And A Noose Hanging From It. 10-26-1861
#42
Mr. Peanut In Times Square. Diane Arbus. 1956
#43
Frankenstein (1931)
Beak Hookage 1 year ago
"Forsooth, Igor - it lives!" (My dad used to say this whenever someone got up what he considered "late").
#44
"Scenes Of Witchcraft: Morning." Oil Painting By Salvator Rosa, C. 1645-1649
#45
Hedy Pfundmayr With Elektra-Mask, By Rudolf Koppitz, C. 1928
#46
Come Play With Us, Mickey……
#47
Leslie Caron As The Sphinx In Roland Petit’s Ballet “La Rencontre," 1948
#48
Photo Of Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer At High School With A Fellow Student
Beak Hookage 1 year ago
When the class clown turns out to be a deranged serial killer. (He was also probably drunk when this picture was taken)
#49
Untitled (Carnaval De Huejotzingo, Puebla), 1941, By Kati Horna
#50
Man Carries (Mounted) Head On Wheelbarrow - C. 1910
#51
These Old Toys My Friend Inherited From His Grandfather
Norm Gilmore 1 year ago
Guaranteed that in the middle of the night an eerie tinkling tune will be heard from the shelf these sit on...
#52
March Hares, C.1910
#53
An Ostrich Carriage Being Stopped By The Police For Crossing The Speed Limit, Los Angeles, 1930
#54
The Real Dracula's Castle In Transylvania, Romania. Photo Taken In 1920s
#55
This Pork & Beans Set Up Is True Nightmare Fuel
#56
Jimmy Savile Meets The Beatles
#57
Children Like Sanitol - Creepy Ad For Toothpaste [1911]
#58
A Passing Woman Waves To A Baby In Her Cage, 1948. The Portable Baby Cage Was Patented In 1922 And Popular In Us & UK To Hang From Urban Windows Until Dwindling In The Later-1960s
#59
The Last Picture Of Vladimir Lenin Before He Died In Gorki On May 15, 1923. Beside Him Are His Sister And One Of His Doctors
#60
This Mask At The Field Museum In Chicago
#61
Pewter Chamberstick Partly In The Shape Of A Head, German, C. 1905
#62
Plaster Phrenological Bust, English, 1821
#63
Those Poor Children
#64
"No Substitution." The January/February Page From The Antikamnia Pharmaceutical Company's Calendar From 1900. Lithograph By Louis Crusius
#65
Paul Neagu At The Neolithic Stone Circle Of Calanais, 1975
Fat Harry (Oi / You) 1 year ago
Been there! Calanish/Calanais stones, Isle of Lewis, Hebrides. Used to live there :)
#66
Recently Found This Random Photo Of Jerry Sandusky At My Parents House
#67
'Halloween', Rosalind Simon, 1977
#68
Abandoned 1990’s Time Capsule Bar
#69
Freckles Removal Treatment From The 1930s
#70
Painted Cast Iron Coin Bank Shaped As A Man Stuck In A Barrel, C. 1890. Coins Are Deposited In The Figure's Mouth
#71
Came Across This Creepy Clown Painting In A Thrift Store A While Back
Arthur Waite 1 year ago
Not creepy - just sad. Obviously he isn't making much of a living as a clown, but he still has his cat.
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