40 Times People Found Lowkey Horrifying Pictures From The Past And Just Had To Share Them Online (New Pics)
Chills run down your spine, the little hairs standing up as if to applaud a wonderful performance, all the while a beating drum plays in your ears, your heart picking up the pace. You stare unblinkingly, eyes wide, forehead scrunched up in flustered unknowing. Should you run? Should you hide? Should their smile be as wide?
A sense of the creeps is both unsettling and intriguing. It brings forth a sense of morbid curiosity, leading into a dark hole that is difficult to escape from. And so, dear readers, Bored Panda's back to bring you more of the creepiest pictures from the recent past, as shared by the Reddit community called Creepy Old Pics.
They’re joyful, they’re satisfying, and they make you question the reality you live in. What could be better? Make sure to upvote your favorites as you’re scrolling through this list. What’s the creepiest thing you’ve ever seen? Let us know in the comments below! But now, grab your teddy bear, turn off the lights, and let’s get into it!
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Found This Old Photo Inside The Wall In The Attic
The past holds a lot of lessons and a lot of nostalgia, but there’s something about the pictures shared on r/oldschoolcreepy that make you do a double take, realizing the amount of disturbing yet oddly fascinating things our ancestors partook in. Such as having demons sitting on you whilst you sleep halfway off your bed. Seems like this would give you a sore back, love…
However, ‘creepy’ doesn’t mean the same thing as ‘scary,’ although they belong to the same family of feelings. So what actually defines the sensations we get when we look at these pictures: the limbo between deciding whether to fight, fly, or just ignore and move on with life? To answer this, we need to hit the history books (not literally).
Penny Auction At Foreclosed Michigan Farm (1936). At Penny Auctions Farmers Would Conspire To Offer Low Bids, Resulting In A Low Return To The Creditor. The Final Buyer Would Then Return The Property To The Destitute Farmer Hangman Nooses Served As A Warning To Squirrely Bidders
This Isn't How It Looked In My Memory-1980s
Charles Dickens is credited with the first use of the phrase “the creeps” in his 1849 novel David Copperfield, to mean an unpleasant, tingly chill up the spine. The phrasing of such feelings quickly caught on in society, with psychologists and thinkers of the time putting on their thinking hats to try and figure out the core of creepiness, as well as its existential value.
Ernst Jentsch set out the concept of the uncanny, which was later elaborated on by Sigmund Freud in his 1919 essay ‘Das Unheimliche,’ which explores the eeriness of dolls and waxworks. For Freud, the uncanny locates the strangeness in the ordinary. What does that mean exactly? Well, let’s dive deeper.
Santa Got Ahold Of The Good Snow This Year
Colorized Photo Of Rasputin With Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna, Her Children And Their Nurse, 1908
Not to sound like I have any kind of admiration for that guy but reading about him is very fascinating
There were so many lies told about Rasputin that historians cannot agree on what was really happening with him. I did some research a few years ago, but since I don't read Russian I just had to rely on secondary sources. I think people tend to gravitate towards the most salacious stories without reflecting on which ones are plausible.
...and I've read and studied so much about the family that I know everyone's name except the nurse....P.S. Rasputin was nuts, but the Empress' dependency on him stemmed from her desperate search to cure her son, the Tsarevich, of hemophilia. Alexandra was willing to try almost anything; Rasputin took advantage of that to wedge his way into the family.
Odd trivia: His daughter moved to the US and was a Rosie the Riveter at a Florida war plant.
"just a spoonful of sugar helps the cyanide go dowwwwn..."
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That poor family had such a terrible fate and I wonder what would've been different if that man hadn't been given the trust he had.
Let’s be honest though — Rasputin was not the downfall of the family. Russian politics and the gulf between the haves and the have nots was the issue, and the Tsar refused to deal with it.
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that expression… who could have foreseen that he’d turn out to be such a turd? /s
None of them deserved the fate given. Tragic & terrifying. Why is death so awful?
It was a gruesome execution and burial. The communists knew that the tsar's supporters were coming to try to rescue the family and restore the monarchy, thus the execution. But as my Russian husband explained to me, the vast majority of the Russian people suffered greatly under the tsars: poor living and working conditions, famines, and starvation. Nicholas loved family life and was indecisive when it came to ruling. Alexandra encouraged him to be merciless with the Russian people so they would respect his power.
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He was interested in the military and wore the uniform of the Russian Navy.
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Rasputin looks like he has been posed for one of those Victorian England post-mortem photos! Alive or deceased he looks out of place and scary!!
It looks like his eyes are closed and he painted eyeballs on the lids, like Curly from the Three Stooges.
No wonder skeptics of this so-called holy man called him the Mad Monk.
It's so sad what happened to that family, especially the children. Rasputin looks like a straight up psychopath.
This is a photograph of Tsar Nicholas II's wife and children, and the children's nurse. High in the back is daughter Olga (?). In the next row is daughter Anastasia, son Alexei, then Rasputin, a religious man that the family consulted for their son's medical problem. Next is Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Bottom row is Marie (?) and Tatiana, and the family's nurse. Son Alexei inherited hemophilia from his mother's ancestors. An injury would cause terrible pain from internal bleeding, as the blood cannot clot. Alexei thus had a servant who would carry him to prevent falls. The family consulted Rasputin, and found that their son's pain was eased after his prayers; he also helped to calm Empress Alexandra. Rasputin was a divisive public figure. Some felt he had too much influence on the royal family. He was murdered in 1916. The communist revolution in 1917 resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II and the family's execution.
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i first thought this was one of those pictures they did with dead relatives, in the old days. Hence his weird expression (they would paint on the eyes on the picture later) hence her sad look..
She had a sad look since childhood, when, before she was seven, two of her siblings and then her mother died. She worried about her son's bouts of severe pain from hemophilia, and she had medical issues herself. She was also disliked by the Russian people, as she was a descendant of Queen Victoria and had grown up in Germany.
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El buen amigo de los zares,hizo una labor sanando enfermos tanto en la corte real como en el pueblo,tuvo un gran potencial siquico
I guess you'd expect Russia's greatest love machine to be photographed around heaps of chicks.
I didn't realize that cocaine was so readily available in Russia way back then. His wife does not look happy.
Well these people ultimately killed him and he looks surrounded, so maybe face is justified.
The one in the bottom left corner looks a bit like ole raspy…some shenanigans afoot?
True, this photo was colorized. But there was a way to project color images taken through three colored filters, as developed by a Russian chemist around that time: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/prok/
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How can anyone allow this guy near themselves let alone the kids? Creepy as hell and i have read about him. Not a great guy from anywhere
It’s because he helped, partly because he took the kiddo off of aspirin (which is a blood thinner) and partly through placebo effect.
Load More Replies...My Wife Grew Up Staring At This Picture. No One Can Remember If There Was A Person Behind The Kids, Or A Trick Of The Light
One of the most recent studies conducted was by Frank McAndrew, professor of psychology at Knox College in Illinois. He decided to explore the boundaries of this very familiar feeling by conducting a preliminary survey, which asked more than 1,300 people “what is creepy?” Surprisingly, the answers were fairly straightforward.
Subjects felt more creeped out when a person was not able to follow social norms and cues, with the biggest factor of whether someone was considered creepy being unpredictability. “So much of [what is creepy] is about wanting to be able to predict what’s going to happen, and that’s why creepy people creep us out—because they’re unpredictable,” explained McAndrew.
“It’s about the uncertainty of threat. You’re feeling uneasy because you think there might be something to worry about here, but the signals are not clear enough to warrant you doing some sort of desperate, life-saving kind of thing,” McAndrew stated, continuing to say that being creeped out is different from fear or revulsion.
Patient Brutally Restrained In A Mental Institution, France Circa 1900
They used to institutionalize women even at the whim of her husband. Hysteria, rebelliousness, or even refusing to have sex with her husband. We’ve always been a patriarchal society unfortunately.
A Suffragette Is Force-Fed In Hm Prison Holloway In The UK During Hunger Strikes For Women's Suffrage, Circa 1911
Jacob Miller (1829-1917), Shot In The Head At Chickamauga In 1863 And Walked It Off
When you’re creeped out, your brain and your body are telling you that something is not quite right and you’d better pay attention because it might hurt you, as compared to feelings of fear/revulsion that manifest clear responses of fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, all thanks to hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.
However, the physical sensations that come with the creeps sometimes mimic those of the spooks. In 2012, researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found that when subjects felt creeped out, they felt colder and believed that the temperature in the room had actually dropped. The chills anyone?
That physical response further heightens your senses and, as McAndrew stated, “You don’t know how to act but you’re really concerned about getting more information… It kind of takes your attention and focuses it like a laser on this particular stimulus, whatever it is.”
A Baby Found During The Clean Up Of The Chernobyl Accident Is Pushed In A Carriage By A Liquidator, 1986
On The Feast Of St. Nicholas In The Town Of Bad Mitterndorf, Austria. St Nicholas Parades Through The Village On A White Horse Followed By The Krampus, Who Warn The Kids To Be Good, Or Else
Violet "Queen Of Sinking Ships" Jessop Who Was On The Olympic When It Crashed, Titanic When It Hit An Iceberg, And The Britannic When A Mine Sank It, All Within The Span Of 5 Years. Coincidence?
From a developmental perspective, this sort of deduction could be useful in elongating our existence. McAndrew explained: “We’re predisposed to see willful agents that mean us harm in situations that are ambiguous, but this was an adaptive thing to do. Our ancestors saw a saber-toothed tiger in every shadow and a slithering snake in the motion of the swaying grass because it was better to be safe than sorry.”
Therefore, we avoid things that give us the chills. Unless, of course, we’re playacting as such, similarly to the way we enjoy horror films. “It’s going to trigger a lot of things that scare and startle you, but deep down you know there’s no danger,” McAndrew said. “You can have all the creepy biological sensations without any real risk.”
However, humans have proven time and time again that we can’t fully trust our judgment. Psychologist Julia Shaw argues that, when it comes to creepiness, one important feature to note is attractiveness. People that are conventionally attractive are seen as trustworthy overall, which, as we’ve seen in the cases of Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez, is a very big oversight.
1930’s Baby Rattle
The Twins That Inspired The Twins Of Tim Burton's Miss Pergerine's Home For Peculiar Children, C. 1900s
Those dudes freaked me the eff out in the movie and these dudes are doing the very same thing to me.
Cleaning Day At A Church In Leipzig, Germany (1920)
Should we or should we not trust our feelings of the jeepers creepers? It depends on your situation, but I will always say, a gut feeling is not one to be ignored. But for now, dear reader, I hope you’re safe and sound, snuggled under some blankets with a hot cup of cocoa, enjoying these creepy pictures.
Don’t forget to upvote the spookiest ones, and I shall see you in the next one! Have a good one!
Denken Sie An Die Kinder
Disney Sends This Guy Out Everytime Some Kid Talks About Bruno
Vibration Therapy, A Treatment For Headaches In The 1890s
New Year In A Psychiatric Hospital, Moscow, 1988. Photographer: Pavel Krivtsov
Not Sure What Was Going On Here
There's a Harry Potter and a sorting hat joke somewhere in this picture. It's 2:30AM for me right now so someone find the joke in this, I'm half delirious with insomnia
Old Photo Of (Twins? Sisters?) With One Scratched Out. Cant Help But Wonder At The Context - Likely Late 1800's Early 1900's
Maybe photo were used in documents or something, so they scrached other person. In past people often used any photos for documents - at least there I live
The Catholic Church With The Nazi Third Reich
Ted Bundy With Carol Bartholomew As He Helped With The Dishes After A Birthday Party, 1975
People like him is why I’m not afraid of superstition or monsters under the bed. The really dangerous creatures are right in the open and walk among us.
The Mask Worn By Edward Paisnel, The Notorious 'Beast Of Jersey' When Attacking His Victims, C 1957
Still From British Movie "First Men On The Moon" From 1919. Now A Lost Film
Quick! Everyone! Get on my Nope Bus!!!! Next stop is Fukthatizan!!
She Waits For The Second Coming
Bizarre Old School Disney Cosumes
My Grandpa And His Sister 1946
Three French Circus Performers From Around 1900-1930
Austro-Hungarian Sailors Wearing Anti-Flash Protection Gear, Designed To Protect The Wearer From Short-Duration Flame Exposure And Heat, 1916
The Original Cast Of J.b. Priestley's 1939 Play "Johnson Over Jordan". It Is About A Dead Man Looking Over His Life From Limbo, And Requires The Cast To Wear Elaborate Masks
Go To Sleep....if You Can
Mole People?
Reminds Me Of The Shining... 1910s
"Man Shrouded In A Cloak Standing On A Tiled Floor" From The Clonbrock Collection Circa 1890
Dressed As The Michelin Man, Pre -1920s
A Trio Of Contortionists, London 1894
Old Halloween Photo
"Peregrinación" By Graciela Iturbide. Chalma, 1984
Department Store Mannequins Wearing Disney Character Costumes, 1937
So two ghastly Mickeys, a terrifying Donald Duck, a wolf in a dressing gown and...... Two cows? Were there two cows that got killed off or something?
Note: this post originally had 95 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
I don't get why people are scared of dolls. And assuming you never met John Wayne Gacey personally, I don't get clowns either. These are cool, don't get me wrong. But dolls and clowns are not scary. Like at all. The one of the poor woman one the mental institution, however...
Nearly ALL of these pics look like something author Ransom Riggs would, and probably DOES, have in his "peculiar" series.
I don't get why people are scared of dolls. And assuming you never met John Wayne Gacey personally, I don't get clowns either. These are cool, don't get me wrong. But dolls and clowns are not scary. Like at all. The one of the poor woman one the mental institution, however...
Nearly ALL of these pics look like something author Ransom Riggs would, and probably DOES, have in his "peculiar" series.
