By just looking at some of these photos, you’ll probably notice that something isn’t right. But after looking long enough, you’ll soon realize how absolutely chilling some of these photos are. Be careful as you go through these images, they’re not for the faint of heart.
Princess Diana On A Yacht
This is an image of Princess Diana on her last holiday. She was on the private yacht “Jonikal”, owned by her boyfriend, Mohammed Al Fayed. She was attempting to reinvent herself by hopefully removing herself from the public eye, but this image shows how well that worked. Even when she was out at sea, the paparazzi were always hounding her.
Reynaldo Dagsa Before The End
This photo was taken by Reynaldo Dagsa, a Philippine councilman. It pictures his family and his killer. Off to the left you can see the gunmen about to fire from behind Dagsa’s family. The photo did help bring his killers to justice, who were believed to have had a grudge against Dagsa, as he had them arrested the previous year.
Flight 123
This is Japan Airlines Flight 123, August 12, 1985, mere moments before it crashed. Despite the situation, there’s a sense of calm and normalcy. Yet, out of 524 people on the plane, only four survived. 45 minutes after taking off, the plane crashed headfirst into Mount Takamagahara.
Jungle Pam
Jungle Pam was a drag-racing queen back in the 70’s. Not because she was a driver, but she was an assistant to the announcer, “Jungle Jim” Lieberman. Known for her tight outfits and showmanship, people always liked getting a look at her. She was more than just a pretty face, but the one she had helped out the racing community.
Buried At Sea
This is a burial at sea on the USS Intrepid in November 1944. The ship had only been out to sea for a little over a year, helping on the Pacific Front of World War II. A battle in the Philippines led to extensive damage on the ship and several casualties. The ship was saved, but it was forced to limp back home, as it was no longer functional in its current state.
Showing Off In The Courtroom
It’s a little surprising to learn that Florida of all states would arrest an exotic dancer for wearing “revealing” bottoms in the early ’80s. Well, apparently she thought the same thing. So, she bent over and showed her rear. As it turns out, this is what actually won her the case. The dancer had claimed that their shorts were too big to show what undercover officers supposedly saw, and the judge agreed. The image ended up circling the globe after it was picked up by Playboy.
A Wooden Box In Mongolia
This is a photo in 1913, taken by French photographer Albert Kahn. The woman in this photo was sentenced to death, so she was locked in a grate, left in a desert, and forced to starve to death. The bowls on the ground were filled with water, and the prisoner was allowed to beg for food, but all it really did was prolong the inevitable.
Sharon Tate On Cielo Drive
With all the media surrounding it, and how horrible an event it was in general, most people are probably aware of the murder of Sharon Tate by the Manson Family. This photo shows her at her home in Cielo Drive in Los Angeles, eight months pregnant. Surrounded by friends, Tate and everyone in her home was murdered by Tex Watson and his accomplices.
Maureen McCormick
One of the stars of The Brady Bunch, all of those actors had a rather wholesome appearance to them. Although, for the young Maureen McCormick, the pressure of that image caused her to start to act out. At one point, her parents even threatened to call the police on her.
Juliane Koepcke
Juliane Koepcke had been visiting Peru with her mother. On Christmas Eve, 1971 Koepcke and her boarded LANSA Flight 508 at Lima Airport in order to go home. But the plane was struck by lightning and crashed into the Peruvian rainforest. Koepecke was the only survivor. At age 17 she trudged through the rainforest with a broken collarbone and ruptured ligaments in her knees. She survived off of nothing but a bag of candy until she finally found her way back to civilization.
Marilyn Monroe At Santa Monica Beach
In this photo, Marilyn Monroe really looks like she has her whole life ahead of her. It’s a shame it was cut short. This was one of the last photos of Monroe ever taken. The photographer was George Barris, a close friend of her’s, who she called just a few days before she took her own life to see if he could come visit.
The Last Moments Of Anton Dostler
This is a photo of German officer Anton Dostler, just before his execution at the hands of Allied Forces at the end of World War II. Dostler had given the order to execute 15 U.S. soldiers, and this was discovered after he was captured. He was put on trial on May 8, 1945 and sentenced to death by a 12-man firing squad. The execution was carried out December 1st of that same year.
The Four-Legged Girl From Texas
This is Myrtle Corbin, also known as P.T. Barnum’s “Four-Legged Girl From Texas”. The young girl was born with two sets of legs and two sets internal and external reproductive organs. Her smaller, inner legs were functional, but not strong enough to support her weight and walk on. At the age of 13, she was used by her father as a sideshow performer, which eventually attracted the attention of Barnum for his own act. She retired at age 18 and settled down with a doctor in 1885. She lived a relatively peaceful life, passing away in 1928 from a streptococcal skin infection.
Thunderball
The filming of the James Bond film, Thunderball, involved several famous actors. Here is pictured a young Sean Connery, Terence Young, and, the Bond girl of the film, Claudine Auger. Auger played Domino in the film, being signed to the film on the spot after running into the producer, Kevin McClory.
Undercover At A Playboy Club
Gloria Steinem is associated with the 1960s and ’70s wave of feminism. As it turns out, she gone undercover at a Playboy Club for an expose. This isn’t a photo of Steinam, but it’s an accurate portrayal of her “uniform” at the time. As it turns out, the woman were underpaid and expected to wear tight fitting clothes, very high heels, and undergo invasive medical procedures to even get the job in the first place. Steinam’s expose “A Bunny’s Tale” ran in Show magazine, but she didn’t get work for years as a result of it.
An Icebox Facial
This is known as an icebox facial treatment. Originally, it was used by starlet’s to keep their makeup in in place between takes. The cold ensured that nothing melted under the studio lights. And, supposedly, after this Hollywood secret got out, women all over the world had begun using these face masks. Cold can actually be good for your skin, but a mask like this isn’t exactly necessary.
Bonnie And Clyde
People think of Bonnie and Clyde as these suave, unstoppable criminal couple, inspiring all kinds of legends. But this photo really shows just how young they were, and how much they really cared about each other. People were truly fascinated with the pair, to an almost disturbing degree. And on May 23rd, 1934, they were gunned down.
Donald And Ivanka
Having listened to some of the things Donald Trump has said about his eldest daughter makes this image a bit more uncomfortable. Sure, it may look like a father just cuddling with his daughter, but that’s not the way the former president makes it sound. He’s described her as having “the best body” among other things. Most notably is when he said “…if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
Mannequin Survivors
This is all that was left at the scene of the horrible fire at London’s Madame Tussauds in 1925. Human casualties were low, the real loss from inside were the wax mannequins. The ones in this picture were the only mannequins to survive the fire. And how realistic they look is rather unsettling.
Hans Georg Henke
Hans Georg Henke was a 16-year-old German soldier that fought in World War II. His parents had died in 1944 and he had no choice but to join the Luftwaffe. When the photo was taken, claimed he was crying because the Germans had lost the war. However, American photojournalist John Florea claimed that Henke’s tears were actually the result of stress upon his position being overrun by American forces.
Demi Moore
Demi Moore’s well known for her roles as seductresses in films like St. Elmo’s Fire and Ghost. But originally, she was just a model, albeit a little too young to actually be modeling in some of these shoots. The photo here is from a photo shoot with French magazine, Oui. At the time, Moore had lied about her age, and later revealed that she was either 16 or 17 when the photos were taken.
Ian Curtis With His Daughter
Listeners of Joy Division could probably tell that Ian Curtis was depressed. The lyrics of his music perfectly accompanied the cold, distant music of his bandmates. It brimmed with loss, anger, and sadness. On May 19th, 1980, the day before Joy Division was set to head on their first American tour, Curtis hung himself in his kitchen.
Irish Guard Fainting
The Irish Guard in Great Britain are supposed to stay stoic, unmoving, and completely mute as long as they’re on duty. During a parade for the queen’s birthday, this member of the guard passed out after being overheated. As it turns out, the Irish Guard are also supposed to fall at attention, so he just fell straight down onto his face.
Farrah Fawcett By Andy Warhol
Farrah Fawcett is one of the most beautiful women of the 1970s, with even a hairstyle being named after her. This photo here is a copy of the original polaroid that inspired two paintings made by Andy Warhol. While polaroid didn’t prove to be much issue, the paintings became a massive point of contention in her family after she passed away. Her former partner, Ryan O’Neal fought tooth and nail to keep a hold of one them, eventually winning it in a court case.
John Lennon With Mark David Chapman
John Lennon has appeared in many photos, but on his own and with his former band. However, what’s interesting about this one is that he’s picture with Mark David Chapman, the man who took his life. The photo was taken December 8, 1980, outside the apartment building where he lived. He signed a few autographs and later returned to his apartment building, where Chapman brandished a gun and shot the legend.
Miss Beautiful Eyes
Well this one just looks disturbing. Between the 1930s and 1950s there was a pageant known as “Miss Beautiful Eyes”. These competitions were supposed to take women that weren’t exactly “pin-up types” to show off how beautiful their eyes were. Some contests had women wear a simple handkerchief, but this one had all the contestants wear an insane face mask.
Duchenne De Boulogne
The Duchenne smile refers to a particular look on one’s face using the mouth and eyes. The man this smile was named after carried out several electrophysiological studies in order to figure out how the muscles of the face work. They involved stimulating certain muscle groups in order to get strange reactions like the one pictured here. Fortunately, while the photos look rather disturbing, and the experiments weren’t very comfortable, they looked far worse than they actually felt.
Isaac Woodard
This is Isaac Woodard, an army veteran. He was 26 at the time this happened to him, but it wasn’t because of a battle. He had just returned home after being honorably discharged and got in an argument with a bus driver after he asked if he had time to use the restroom. The driver told local police in Batesburg, South Carolina about the altercation and Woodard was beaten and arrested by local police. Woodard was later taken to a veteran’s hospital where he was informed that the beating had made him permanently go blind.
Blanche Monnier
Blanche Monnier was once a beautiful, young woman, with many suitors. But when she told her mother that she wanted to marry a near-penniless lawyer, her mother became furious. She locked her in an attic for 26 years. This starved the young woman, leading to her entering a decrepit state. It wasn’t until 1901 when an anonymous letter alerted the authorities of her situation.
Ella Fitzgerald In Jail
The singer Ella Fitzgerald was arrested October 7th 1955 and jailed in Houston, Texas. And her only crime was performing in front of an integrated audience. By this point in time, segregation had been made illegal, but not everyone was ready to let go. Tour managa, Norman Granz, had taken down the “White” and “Negro” only signs in the venue. The theatre owner got mad and alerted the police, which led to Fitzgerald, along with Duzzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet, to be arrested on false charges.
Above The North Tower
The North Tower of the World Trade Center began in the summer of 1968. Construction of the South Tower began six months after that. Hundreds of laborers constructed it using American and Bethlehem steel. And some of the people working on the buildings were laborers such as these men. It was a dangerous job, with 60 workers dying during its construction. The Towers were finished in 1970 and 1971 respectively, and the official dedication was in 1973.
Toy Guillotine
One of the most recognizable medieval execution tools was the guillotine. And the event it’s most heavily associate with was the French Revolution. It was an incredibly bloody and terrible time for France. And that’s probably why this toy guillotine is such a disturbing idea. Children had plenty of questionable toys made for them in the past, but this one served no real purpose outside of pretending to execute your friends.
Montparnasse Station
The Granille-Paris Express was going just a little too fast when it came in at the Gare Montparnasse terminus on October 2nd 1895. The train ended up overrunning the buffer and crashing through the back wall of the station. The locomotive and one of the cars dangled above or otherwise hit the ground below. All of the passengers and crew survived, but a woman was killed by falling debris. It took several days before the mess and the train were finally cleaned up.
Famous Diver Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was better known as an aviator, but she did briefly dabble in deep-sea diving. Inventor, Simon Lake, had designed a submarine and offered Earhart the opportunity to explore the ocean floor. However, despite being known as a thrill-seeker, Earhart just didn’t have the stomach for diving. She got cold feet rather quickly into the whole process, saying that divers really “must have their nerve”.
Marching Past The Gulags
This photo from 1943 is of German prisoners being taken to a gulag in Siberia. Vladimir Lenin, the head of the Soviet government, had many forced labor camps in this inhospitable environment. They weren’t just used to house prisoners of war, but political dissidents and rivals as well. Sometimes even a petty criminal could be sent to a gulag. Not only was the weather terrible, but the labor conditions were much worse. They weren’t properly fed or clothed. Getting sent to a Gulag was akin to a death sentence.
Early Office Life
AutoCAD really made things easy for engineers and drafters. But before 1982, these people had to make their designs by hand. You’d need a lot of supplies, including pencils, rulers, T-squares, protractors, and massive sheets of paper. A lot of the time people had to lay on the ground in order to their work.
Bella The Hippo
During the Siege of Leningrad, the Leningrad Zoo needed to be evacuated. Many of the animals were transported elsewhere, but some were too large to be able to move. One such animal was Bella the Hippo. She, like other animals stuck in the zoo, were doomed to die of starvation. But thanks to their caregiver, Yevdokia Dashina, they were kept fed well enough to survive the 872-day siege. She transported barrels of water to the zoo via sled and brought vegetables from her own garden for Bella to eat.
A Burning Tank
The M4 Sherman tank was the most commonly used medium-sized tank used by the Allied Forces in World War II. It was a useful tank, but the one thing it lacked was durability. But it was quite easy to return them from the front and either repair them or strip them for parts. However, not all tanks were able to be recovered, such as the one pictured here. And sometimes, not every member of the crew was able to make it out.
New Prussia
During both World Wars, the Allied Forces used a lot of propaganda to drum up support and get people to enlist in the military. This is a map that was released in 1916, implying what would happen if the Allies lost the war against the Central Powers. According to the map, most of the US would be controlled by the Germans and be referred to as “New Prussia”. Japan would take the West Coast and call it “Japonica”. The Native Americans would get a small portion of New Mexico, Turkey would get Florida, and for some reason Canada would become a lawless land ran by barbarians.
Dunnotar Castle
Since it was built in the Medieval Era, Donnattar Castle in Scotland has been reduced to ruins. It had been the hiding palce of the crown jewels of Scotland when Oliver Cromwell invaded in the 17th Century. It also served an important role in the Jacobite Rising 100 years after that. In the 20th Century it was mostly restored and is not open as a tourist attraction.
Running Off The Rails At Union Station
Here’s another image of a train going off the rails, albeit a little bit more modern. The California train’s brakes failed when it was departing from the Los Angeles union Passenger Terminal. It broke through the guardrail and barrier before stopping. The engine was left dangling about 20 feet off the ground. Fortunately there were no fatalities, and property damage was kept to a minimum, but it took a few days for the engine to be safely backed up.
House Dresses
Until the 1900s, it was expected that a housewife would sew all the clothing for the family. The textile industry exploded, clothing could be mass-produced at a more affordable price. These are all images of the “casual” house dresses that housewives could wear while at home.
The Tomb Of Ramses II
Ramses II was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. Perhaps one of the most powerful and effective to ever rule the land. There were several monuments dedicated to his rule, built out of loyalty to him. His life was also incredibly long, with some historians believing he died in his early 90s. While he was buried in the Valley of the Kings, it was later moved to prevent it from being stolen by tomb raiders. Pictured here was his tomb, one of the largest and most elaborate in the whole valley.
A Fair Ride
This was a thrill ride made at an amusement park. It was built by amateurs and is likely one of the reasons we have theme park regulations nowadays. Injuries were common and that led to a series of death. Since then, several safety regulations were put into effect. This included seatbelts, automatic shut-off mechanisms, and actual safety testing.
A DC Car Crash
Automobiles became more widely used between the 1910s and 1920s. And with that increase in cars came an increase car accidents. The one pictured here is a colorized photo from 1921. Of course, there weren’t any real auto safety features in cars yet. People had to learn about those with more trial and error. Forget safety features in the cars, they didn’t even have traffic lights or signs yet.
Janos And Istvan Lukacs
These two were Janos and Istvan Lukacs, a pair of Hungarian twins and bachelors. They lived their entire lives on a rural farmhouse with no electricity or running water. They worked ten or more hours a day tending to their farm and animals. Janos Stekovics, a photographer, was so enamored by their lifestyles he captured this photo and many more of the twins.
Tiananmen Square, 1989
If this year and location sounds familiar, then you probably already know the story. During a time of political and social reform in China, thousands of students packed into Tiananmen Square in protest. They wanted free speech, press, government accountability, democracy, and due process under the law. The protests were initially small, but at their peak there were one million people in the square. On May 20th that year, the government declared martial law and sent 300,000 troops to Beijing to break up the protests. And on June 4h, tanks rolled in. That same day, the military opened fire on the students. China never released an official death toll, but experts believe as many as several thousand protesters were killed.
The Real Ingalls
The Ingalls Family were the ones that inspired the television series Little House on the Prairie. There were some differences though, such as the family moving around much more often. The parents ended up eventually settling in DeSmet, South Dakota, eventually moving into town with their daughter, Mary. Funnily enough, Mary never married.
A Trio Of Princesses
In this photo is Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, and Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. A mother, a daughter, and her sister. The women were all known for their beauty, charm, and intelligence. They each spoke multiple languages, played several instruments, and had such impeccable fashion sense they inspired some styles still around today.
Pearl Bailey And Louis Bellson
Pearl Bailey and Louis Bellson had a long and loving marriage. But it almost never happened. In the 1950s, interracial marriages were looked down upon. It was Bellson’s father that was most against their union. However, this didn’t stop them in 1952, when they took a flight to London to officially wed.
Abandoned Farmhouse
This building in New Hampshire was built over a century ago. And despite the fact that it’s fallen into disrepair, it’s still standing. The family that once lived there was likely more well-off, but it’s truly a shame the state the home has fallen into.
The Pony Express
Legends of the Pony Express are intertwined with people’s understanding of the Old West. However, the Pony Express didn’t actually last that long. It was a massive money sink in the first place and riders were hard enough to come by. Just looking at poster shows you how high the likelihood of injury of death actually was. And they didn’t even want anyone over 18. The specifically wanted young, resourceful kids that didn’t have anyone to return to at the end of the day.
Ice Delivery
Before the invention of the refrigerator, people had to make do with iceboxes. The man pictured here was an ice delivery man. Their job was to take large blocks of ice (so that they wouldn’t melt to fast) and transport them to families in need of ice. It wasn’t exactly as easy as one might expect, as that ice turned out to be really heavy. And you had to transport it fast.
Sonny And Cher
This photo didn’t age particularly well. Before becoming famous as a solo act, Cher was more well-known as just Sonny’s wife. And they did make a popular duo at the time. But when they met in 1963, Cher was a wannabe singer while Sonny was hitting on her friends after separating from his first wife. And it’s important to note that they were 16 and 27 at the time. They say their early relationship was platonic, but it was still rather odd. They were officially divorced in 1975. To make things creepier, in an interview Cher’s mother actually stated that Sonny was the spitting image of Cher’s father.
Muhammad Ali Talks A Veteran Off The Edge
Muhammad Ali’s reputation as a brash, young fighter had all but disappeared by 1981. Not that he wasn’t still remembered for his boxing career, just that he had stopped taking on all comers. When this photo was taken, his final fight against Trevor Berbick was only a few months away, one which he lost. Ali was no longer in his physical prime, but he was still an incredibly popular man who defended those who couldn’t help themselves. It was January 19th, 1981 when a young man named Joe began threatening to jump out of a window in the Miracle Mile neighborhood in LA. The police were trying to talk him down, and others were telling him to jump, but Joe just kept telling everyone that he was “no good”. That’s when Ali arrived on the scene. He ran into the building to a nearby window and shouted for the man to reevaluate his life. Ali guided Joe back inside the building and took him to a nearby veteran’s hospital.
The KKK Out On The Streets
The 1950s were the time when the Civil Rights Movement was growing. It seemed as though the Jim Crow Era was about to come to an end. However, there were still many people that didn’t believe that Blacks were equal to Whites. And, of course, the chief among them was the Ku Klux Klan. Its hard to imagine now, but back then the KKK was a lot more shameless about their appearance in public. They did everything they could to terrorize non-white citizens, with even their mere presence eliciting fear. Such as what’s pictured here.
Budd Dwyer, Moments Before His Suicide
Budd Dwyer was a politician and is responsible for potentially the most shocking moment ever shown on live television. And it all has to do with his death. On January 15th, 1987, Dwyer had sat down for a meeting to discuss hosting a press conference. He was the acting Pennsylvania State Treasurer, but had recently been found guilty on 11 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, perjury, and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering. He was facing a 55 year imprisonment and $300,000 fine. People had assumed he would peacefully resign from his position, the result was anything but that. At the press conference, Dwyer shot himself after giving a speech, saying that he hoped his sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain and that it would make a great story.
A Black Officer Protects A KKK Member
If any two groups of people are expected to not get along, it would be KKK members and Black Americans. Even so, police officers are expected to protect and serve. Which is what makes this image all the more striking. During a rally in Austin, Texas in 1983, things quickly got out of hand when a group of 2,000 protestors surrounded 70 klansmen during their march near the Capitol. People were throwing bricks and rocks to get them to leave. The police had to step in to make sure no one got hurt. 13 people were arrested and 11 were injured, including four officers and a reporter.
The Final Moments Of MLK
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is perhaps the most famous of the Civil Rights leaders. He’s certainly one that everyone learns about in school. But it was on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee where he met his end. This photo was taken just moments before he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4th, 1968. Ray nearly escaped, but was captured and sentenced to 99 years to life in prison.
