If morbid curiosity is the name of the game, then the subreddit r/WTF is the cheat code that unlocks all of its levels.
As you might've already understood from our first publication on this online community, it has plenty (and I mean plenty) of things that you probably haven't seen before.
Only this time, we'll focus on the macabre. Like an octopus with 32 tentacles. Or a huge sinkhole opening up in someone's living room. You know, the kind of stuff that nightmares are made of.
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Started Work This Morning, Put My Headset On, Felt Something Furry In My Ear, Looked And There Is A Bat In My Headset
Seagull Riding On Another Seagull. Wait What?
Author and behavioral scientist Coltan Scrivner, who is a research fellow at the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University, and has pioneered the psychological study of morbid curiosity, says that our initial instinct is to avoid looking at these things because we fear that what we see will not be pleasant.
But just think of horror movies. There's a jump scare and the bad guy is on the screen. Half the audience covers their eyes in terror, while the other half is glued to the screen. However, even the people that are covering their eyes peak through their fingers from time to time to keep an eye on the killer.
Why do we do this? Why do we subject ourselves to fear and anxiety?
A Small Herd Of Cows Found Their Way Into A Newly Built Home In Montana And Lived Inside For About A Month Before Being Noticed
A Guy Comes Back From Work To Find This In His Living Room
I Am Not In Danger. I'm The Danger
To understand it, Scrivner suggests starting with real situations. "The car wreck story is a bit old and tired, but it's a good example because it's something that almost everyone has experienced and can intuitively understand," he writes.
"It's true for almost everyone that you don't want to see someone injured and you don't hope anyone died in the wreck. But, if they did, you do feel compelled to look at it."
I Freaked Out A Little When I Met This While Cross Country Skiing
My Dad Cleans Out Hoarders Homes After They Pass Away. He Discovered This Collection Under All The Trash
Fell On A Gusset Plate At Work Years Ago
Sleep Outside, They Said... It'll Be Fun, They Said. I'm Never Sleeping Again
That's mainly due to the simple fact that our ancestors lived in dangerous places. "The world today can also be dangerous, but even the most basic treatments that are available today can severely decrease the seriousness of an injury. If you got injured 10,000 years ago (or even 100 years ago), your chances of surviving were far less than they are today with modern medicine," Scrivner explains.
"Even if the blood loss didn't kill you, an ensuing infection might. This placed a premium on avoiding danger—or at least avoiding the consequences of danger."
John Wayne Gacy Did Construction For My Grandparents And We Found His Business Card While Going Through Some Stuff Today
Absolutely Chillin
I Have Been Losing My Mind Over How My Work Shoes Are Always Spotless In The Morning After Being Out On My Porch Overnight, I Wore Different Shoes To Work Last Night And I Found Out Why When I Came Home
Coconut Crabs Are Attracted To The Smell Of Food
so what the actual hell are you doing sitting there those mfs ate amelia earhart
But to avoid danger, you must first know something about it. You have to recognize it. After all, the more you know about something, the better you can predict it. And the better you can predict it, the better you can deal with the consequences if it does occur.
"This is where curiosity steps in. I don't want to be in a car wreck myself to find out how bad a car wreck is. I also don't want someone else to be in a car wreck. But if they are, I do want to know how bad it is. This could inform my current decisions and behavior," Scrivner says.
The Aftermath Of Recent Flooding In Germany
All The Brown You Can See Is Spiders
Just Learned That Standing This Close To A 380 Feet Waterfall Is A Thing (Devil's Pool - Victoria Falls)
The Actual Wtf?
For example, if the car wreck is particularly gruesome, it might cause a person to slow down or be extra cautious the rest of the day, which will decrease the chances of the same unfortunate event happening to them. (If it's just a fender bender, it may not affect their driving behavior very much.)
Found In Random Estate Sale Box - Pile Of Notepads Full Front And Back Of Obsessive Notes On The Next Door Neighbors Every Move. Meticulous Detail. Several Times A Day For Years
Found In Downtown Fresno, Ca. Someone Covered A Geo Metro With Pennies. Possibly Doubled The Value Of The Car
Not Just What The F**k But Why The F**k?!
How About No?
"The consequences of threats have left their mark on our psychology and influence our behavior in response to 'morbid' situations," Scrivner says. "This has resulted in most of us having some morbid curiosity, and some of us having a lot of it."
This psychological tendency has also played out in large-scale human behavior numerous times. Whether we're talking about the Roman gladiatorial games or the presence of death in rituals and religion. The spectacle of public executions. Or the massive fan base surrounding the true crime and horror genres. Coloring each of these phenomena, according to Scrivner, is a tendency for humans to be morbidly curious.
Martin Laurello Could Turn His Head 180° & Was Known As The Human Owl. He Was A Sideshow Performer Who Lived From 1886 To 1955
A Postman With A Baby In His Mailbag, When It Was Legal To Send Children Through The Us Postal Service, 1913
it wasn't actually ILLEGAL at the outset but according to Snopes "it was neither a regular occurrence nor a routine aspect of the Parcel Post service for people to wrap up children, slap some stamps on them, and ship them cross-country — the few documented examples of children being sent through the mail were nearly all publicity stunts, instances of people who knew the postal workers in their area asking them to carry their babies a relatively short distance along their routes to some nearby relatives, or cases in which children were listed as ‘mail’ so they could travel on trains without the necessity for purchasing a ticket."
Load More Replies...This is how that old story started. The Postman's name was "John Stork."
"Liquid, fragile, perishable or potentially hazardous?" "Yes, yes, yes and yes."
As a San Francisco bicycle courier long ago, I once 'delivered' an infant. Riding slowly through a crowd at the Mason & Market cablecar turnaround, I startled a woman, who dropped her baby into my one-speed bike's big wire basket (with a large canvas carry-bag nestled inside). We rode another ten feet or so before I was able to turn around and return child to mom. Good going! And no postage stamps or delivery bill!
Is this how the "Mailing myself" youtube trend back in 2019 started? lol
I'd like to mail a baby... 3 months... yes, a baby. To its grandparents, yeaa
Sending the kid to Baby Daddie via mail would work very well in Kenya for those Deadbeat dads
A Bear Chasing A Skier
What? How?
So now we know that the best way to avoid the consequences of a threat is not to simply avoid it. "Avoidance might get you away once or twice, but it's not a good way to deal with future encounters," Scrivner explains. "It's more efficient and more productive to first learn something about the threat. This way you can know how to identify, avoid, or deal with it in the future."
Garter Snake Mating Ball Found In Manitoba, Canada
The Beginning Of A Disaster?
Someone In Oregon Caught This Ling Cod, Complete With A 'Belly Full' Of Octopus...
An Octopus With 32 Tentacles
Met This Guy Who Had His Wife's Eye Professionally Turned Into A Ring
It Is Made Out Of Cat Hair
Opened Up A Tin Of Peas
The Window
A Shoebill Visiting You Literally Sounds Like A Shootout At The Arcades
Coax Cable Removed From A Man's Bladder. "It Had Become Encrusted With Phosphate And Had Coiled To The Anatomical Curves Of The Bladder." Only One Way It Got Up There
Saharan Sand From Africa Covering Snow In Europe
Found A Scorpion Under A Gas Hob In Our Kitchen (Photo With It Under UV Light)
Someone Shot My Car On The Highway
Finger Turned White After Staying Out In The Cold Rowing
Reynaud's syndrome. I have this, it isn't fun - but more numb than painful
Just Moved Into A New Apartment And Happened Upon What I Thought Was A Piece Of Painted Over Tape Stuck To A Bookshelf. Peeled It Up To Find It Was Concealing A Mystery
Thought I Had A Broken Knuckle For The Last 2.5 Years, Last Night This Splinter Popped Out
How do you not know that you've got a foreign body that big in the back of your hand? I garden a lot and I can feel a tiny rose thorn. That must've stunk when it came out.
Wtf Is Going On Here
Ct Scan Shows A 10 Inch Sausage Within Rectum
Water And Power For The Favelas Of Brazil
Lina Medina, With Her Son, The Youngest Girl Ever To Give Birth At The Age Of 5
Stellar Sea Lions Can Reach 2,500 Lbs
Bath In My Milk
Melted And Damaged Mannequins After A Fire At Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum In London, 1925
That head looks pretty nervous about the posture of that mannequin above it...
Did Some Maintenance At A Supermarket. They Showed Me A Return They Got Today
My Brother Is A Home Inspector, This One Is Definitely Going In His Report
This Was Outside A Dollar Tree, In Sacramento
He’s Built Different
Maybe they're doing an underwater production of the Hunchback of Notre Dame 😅
Ladies And Gentlemen, I Give You Roadside New Orleans East. (Taken A Few Days Ago, Not From A Storm)
Is there any kind of coverage for this? I'd like to know more.
Whatever The Hell This Advertisement Is Meant To Be
In The Middle Of Mi-Toe-Sis
Man With Radium Poisoning, Ukraine 1990's
This Is A Jack-O-Lantern With Mold Growing From The Inside
South Bend, In. Those Are Mannequins
What In The Actual F
How Does This Even Happen
Fixed It For Ya!
Hyper Realistic Mask To Be Sold In Japan
There Are Plants Growing Through My Electrical Socket
There's An Optometrist Business Near My House That Has This Giant Poster Outside Advertising Colored Contacts. It Seems To Have Aged In A "Wtf Is That A Demon?" Way
Too Much Waste Along The Riverside
Oh Hell No
I Wish This Wasn't Real
Who figured out which mushrooms were good to eat? Just like:this tastes good in soup,this one makes you smell colors,and this one killed Jerry immediately
When The Electrician Gives F@cks About Structural Stability
And Connecticut Just Created Its New Tourist Attraction...a Mini Grand Canyon In Cromwell!
Flyart
A Caiman With An Unusual Tail
Ceiling Snake
"I'll Take The Pure Speculation Meat Please"
Our Office Stays Mostly Empty These Days, But I Popped In Today And Made Some Coffee. After It Brewed I Lifted The Pump Lever I Found This
This Thing My Dad Found On The Beach
Damage From Recent Flooding In Germany
This Elevator
If I was ready to move my body I wouldn't have taken elevator for the second floor!
Thanks, I Hate It
I Think This Is Amazing
Yes It's A Woman Walking Down The Street With A Pet Racoon. Never Seen Anything Like It In The UK
Oh my god I know exactly where that is! I’ll have to tell people to look out for Racoon Lady
Saw This Near My Local Target
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
I Came Here To Fish…i’m Not Leaving Without My Fish!
What In The Heck
Well...it's a Prius+. I dunno WTF they did but they managed to make this Prius look even more stupid.
What In The Mcf**k Is Going On Here?!
Thank you for giving me the next object in my nightmares for the rest of my life...
This Seems Safe
After 3 Years Of Marriage I Just Found Out My Wife Cuts Around The Sticker Instead Of Peeling It Off…
Just Read The Signs Please
Would Be Very Scared To Drive Under This
What Is Going On With This Person’s Hair?
I've heard this called a "Beaver's Tail" before. Basically, you don't wash, don't brush, don't do ANYTHING to it, and it turns into a giant mat.
No Power For 30 Hours. Came Home To Busted Water Pipe In Unit Above After My 10 Hour Night Shift. I'm Done. Happened In Arlington Tx
That Can't Be Good For The Key
Went Hiking In The Forest And Found An Unexploded Anti-Tank Grenade Just Lying Around. What. The. F**k
Russian Killer Tries To Escape From Court... In A Stupid, Funny Manner
Saw a video.of this the other day. He couldn't fit through the gap in the door without the guards noticing, so he instead squeezed between the bars in the ceiling of the holding cell and tried to climb into the suspending ceiling. When they finally got him out of the ceiling (thanks to a taser), he squeezed back into the cell through the bars again. Dude was a deranged killer contortionist, like something out of the X-Files.
Pandemic Keeping You From The Salon? Problem Solved!!!
Got A Surprise In My Lush Bath Bomb
Pizza Delivery Rolling Dumpster
Found This Thing At An Antique Store 5 Years Ago. Still There To This Day
Had A Great Day Drinking And Fishing
Crack In The Foundation/Wall Of The Basement Of The Building I Work At
Vertical cracks are still bad but not as much of a concern as horizontal ones
Homeless Encampment Treehouse In Los Angeles
Just Another Day As A Fibre Technician
Imagine Seeing This Cat Bed In A Stranger's House At Night
My University Is Burning 20 Minutes Into New Year
A Statue Of A Deformed Baby Unveiled By Grunenthal As A Commemoration To Pregnant Mothers To Whom They Advertised Thalidomide Was Completely Safe
So My Friend Suddenly Had Some Water Leaking Through His Wooden Floor In His Appartment
Is This Fashion?
Such A Lovely Dress
Hat From A Traveling Dentist From 1820's London Kept In The Southwark Heritage Archives
Brazil Man Known As "Diabão" (Big Devil), Famous For Doing Numerous Surgeries To Look Like The Devil, Celebrates The End Of Mask Mandate By Completely Removing His Ears
Helmut Marko's F1 Helmet After A Stone Thrown Up From Another Driver Hit Him, Leaving Him Permanently Blinded In His Left Eye. 1972
My Cat Had A Blockage In Her Stomach And Needed Surgery To Remove It. It Ended Up Being 26 Hair Ties
Found A 12 Year Old Steak Wedged In My Mom's Freezer
Furry Skeleton?
Massive Electrical Sparks Fly Across Power Lines In Louisiana As Dangerous Weather Batters The Region
Bruh
18 Year Old Mike Tyson's 20 Inch Neck
I’ve read old novels where women’s waists were expected to be 20 inches. The comparison is mind blowing
Took This Pic After A Fire Started In My Class Haha
Closet Improvement
When You Are Cutting Concrete And Hit The Pressurized Glycol-Filled Pex Heating Lines That Nobody Warned You About
Found This Chicken Glove On Facebook
Bruh
Why
A 6 Door Prius
Refrigerator Stopped Getting Cold. Technician Arrived This Morning And Found These Mofos Just Hanging Out Inside. Those Are All Ants
I Have Questions
Saw This “Cop” Car At Work Today, And My First Thought Was Who The Fuck Drives This
"Home Defence" Device I Found While Cleaning Out A Squatters Den. I Suspect Meth Was Involved
There Is A Cow In My Town That You Can Stick Your Hand In
Nightmare fuel most of these! And I have to sleep in a half hour 😭😭😭
Nightmare fuel most of these! And I have to sleep in a half hour 😭😭😭