We’re truly living in cursed times. At least it seems this way with the amount of uncanny images netizens share on the daily. Looking at a picture of a cow used as a projector screen or a sandwich embellished with door hinges might leave you asking all the wh-questions. And there’s a big chance you won’t find answers to any of them.
Today, we’re looking at some of the most eerie things provided by the Facebook page “Cursed Images." With more than 19k followers, they’re posting visuals that are guaranteed to make you feel uneasy and strange. We’ll leave it up to you to decide, dear Pandas, if the things you’ll see come from the real world (*cue evil laugh*).
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Creative marketing. Thought it was bats though until I saw the Lays ad on the wall
The first identified cursed image originated from a Tumblr blog in 2015, with a female photography and film student who was interested in searching for forgotten flash photography. She explains that some of them had an eerie mood about them, like something captured from another life. The blog creator was particularly fascinated with finding photos of dark, empty rooms, mannequins, and costumes, which eventually became common themes among cursed images.
The original photo was of an older man (click to see) surrounded by crates of red tomatoes in his basement, staring at the camera with a straight face. There’s nothing unsettling about any of it, but with the new caption “This image is cursed,” it became something entirely different. The picture suddenly gave off a strange feeling that you'd accidentally walked in on someone having a tomato ritual that you weren’t supposed to witness. A wave of unease and confusion washes over you, even just thinking about it.
I'm so confused. Is Chris a dog? Or a human? And wtf do they sell? Dogs r us sell chicken wings?
The puzzlement here is created through a picture taken with an old flash camera or phone that often has an amateurish feel, containing odd specks of light and random things placed in very unusual ways. Bonus points if it’s slightly out of focus. This particular deviation from the normal creates a sense of unease and creepiness in our brains.
The tomato man image didn’t exactly go viral, but the concept of the cursed image really stuck, with copycat blogs popping up on Tumblr and then spreading to all the other social platforms. Now, almost ten years later, a community of eerie image collectors is thriving, each with its own quirks and explanations of what it means to be jinxed. Just like the dysfunctional furniture on the Instagram page “UglyDesign” or odd ways to use food on the “BoysWhoCanCook” feed.
I knew someone who was a circumciser, they weren't very good so they got the sack.
She's going to have a lot of explaining to do when her bird husband finds out about this.
Once your eyes land on a cursed image, it’s undeniably difficult to look away. Their appeal might be related to sensation-seeking - a tendency to pursue new and different feelings or experiences. In modern society, it’s made us magpies looking for new and shiny weirdness. Additionally, the feeling of being creeped out is our body's response to an ambiguous threat that requires a closer inspection to decide whether to fight, run, or ignore. It combines what’s comfortable and uncertain, driving our curiosity further down the road into an uncanny valley.
More 'Texan' than 'American'. I see a lot of people from other countries who think all Americans match the Texas stereotypes, and it's kinda insulting. After all, Londoners are not the same as Yorkshiremen or Liverpoolers (Liverpudlians?)
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Both leading causes of death in the US all in one picture. Fun, not so fun fact, is guns are the leading cause of child death's in the US. And yet, what's the argument for banning abortion? Think about the unborn children. The GOP are disgusting hypocritics abusing women to pander to a sexust base. Sorry for the random tirade. Apparently donuts are a trigger for me.
American pandas, is this really what it's like to live in the U.S???
Apparently it is Ace Hardware in Midland MI, USA. So not only can you buy your donuts and your firearms, you can also pick up some DIY tips and tools.
As an American, this is a wtf photo...however I haven't spent any outside the airport time in Texas
I live in the US and I've never seen this anywhere.
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Do they shoot you if you complain about the quality of the pastries?
Not MY America. You'd be hard pressed to even find a gun store near where I live and the laws are strict. I've never even seen a gun in person except those worn by police officers.
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America is gun obsessed. And they wonder "why" every time a mass shooting happens.
I've seen better. In Texas we used to have a drive thru liquor and gun store. It was called "Double Shot". Do love the idea of getting a bear claw AND picking up some cheap plinking rounds.
I can think of at least a dozen stores that would sell more product if they sold hot doughnuts and had seats where you could sit to eat the bakeries and browse the products.
Maple bars!...and semi-auto shotguns and rifles ! {{{{{{DROOL}}}}}}
Here's an oldie - Why are donuts the traditional favorite snack at Gun Clubs?: Because they have a hole in the middle. Ta-da. And rebuttal: But not all donuts have a hole in them. Well, then, you must have seen me shoot.
4 Donuts, 3 choc chip cookies & lemme see that riffle over there🤠🤠🤠
What's the mandatory waiting period for those chocolate eclairs?
Thanks to everyone who didn't post the lazy, ubiquitous comment about us ridiculous Americans. MOST OF US KNOW.
Is that how they get the holes in the round donuts? They shoot the center out?
I'm thinking those baked goods are so stale and hard, they probably double for target practice.
Texas, idaho, Montana, Nevada, eastern oregon/Washington/California, all the South, most of Midwest,...
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Can I get an AR-15 with a maple bar on the side? Oh, and an apple fritter! 😁
I highly doubt I'm the only one who gets hungry while shopping for my finist in home weapon protector store. This is genius
They're always very careful to follow the letter of the law when it comes to gun sales here. That's because for some reason one or more policemen are always standing right there.
Actually it's not "so American"! There are places in America like that, but not all of it. I find that comment insulting. I for one detest guns.
So do I, but this is in every state, even most of California
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Never forget to grab a sweet with your killing machine, Americans.
Going even further back, the roots of cursed images can be traced to easily shareable horror stories called “creepypasta.” They were mainly created to post on forums that discussed everything spooky and mystical. At the start of this community, users were mostly anonymous, allowing them to copy and paste any stories they’d like. Massive sharing of the borrowed texts was eventually titled "copypasta” which led to the creation of "creepypasta.”
Most of these unsettling little stories can be categorized into two types: those that tell firsth and experience or historical rumors, and those that create a myth of a creepy image. One of the most famous ones is The Russian Sleep Experiment, in which the author reveals grotesque scientific practices. The story entails a trial where five subjects were given gas to prevent sleep, and the lack thereof turned them into violent zombie-like creatures. It’s often shared alongside an image of a skeleton figure, which actually is an animatronic Halloween prop called "Spazm." Other popular myths of cursed pictures include Slenderman, Jeff the Killer, and Smile Dog. For anyone wondering, yes, your whole life has been a lie that began in the darkest corners of the internet.
What differentiates cursed images from creepypastas is that the fright is implied rather than explicitly stated right away. There’s a narrative behind it that allows us to interpret it however we’d like. Afterward, we’re left thinking that something bizarre and unsettling must have happened to create this jinxed image, leaving a dark aura floating around.
Weirdly, the uncanny images provide a sense of comfort in a logic-defying world by confirming that it’s not just us who seem to be going insane. They also challenge deepfakes and photoshopped pictures, showing a reality far weirder than anything we could make up ourselves. Sometimes looking at them feels like entering an alternate reality—a world full of mundane floor sandwiches and “Aldidas” slides.
Note: this post originally had 85 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
