Viral Images With The Most Terrifying Backstories
The internet is a bit of a double-edged sword. While it has nearly limitless content that we can use to entertain or better ourselves, it also means that there's no shortage of downright terrifying stuff that can be found online — and, once found, it's easy to go down a spooky rabbit hole.
If you're the type who loves to be mildly freaked out, you've come to the right place. Some of these backstories give us the whole picture, while others leave us with more questions than answers — but, in any case, the imagery is downright chilling.
Don't go down there.
This ominous-looking stairway leads to a dank and dark space. It's the kind of foreboding image that communicates that anyone who goes down there isn't coming back up again to see daylight.
The truth of the matter is pretty close to this, too. You're looking at a stairway at the Missouri State Penitentiary. Since the stairway led to death row and areas for the criminally insane, there actually is a decent chance that many people who walked down here never came back up alive.
It's just a natural wonder.
You're looking at something that looks off-putting at best as if zombies are crawling out of the ground at worst. Fortunately, the truth of the matter has nothing to do with zombies, even if it is a little bit unsettling to look at.
This is Xylaria polymorpha, a type of saprobic fungus. It's more commonly known as dead man's fingers — a name that fits perfectly once you've seen a few specimens. It's a hardy fungus, as it can be found in forest and woodland areas on every continent except Antarctica.
Someone left a light on.
There's something chilling about seeing a desolate building with one solitary light turned on. It makes you wonder why that one room needs a light and who's in it, particularly when the rest of the building is blanketed in darkness.
Considering that this is not just a lone light in a dark building, but a lone light in a dark building that's supposed to be abandoned, just ups the creep factor. I don't know what's going on in there, and I don't want to know either.
World's deadliest waterslide.
Anyone who's been to the Hoover Dam knows that, when it comes to big dams and spillways, things are built on a massive scale. This is true not just of the dam, but of all of its surrounding infrastructure.
This image shows the spillway tunnel at the Hoover Dam, which is dry right now but still emits sounds of water rushing and sloshing in the darkness. The tunnel is 50 feet wide and 600 feet deep - and if you fell in, it would be seriously bad news.
Thanks for the gift.
Crows, ravens, magpies, and other corvids are deeply intelligent birds, the kind that can form meaningful attachments and friendships with humans. Making friends with a crow might mean that your crow-bro brings you presents like random beads or stones.
In this case, a crow-bro brought its human friend an unusual gift: The skull of another crow. Maybe the crow meant well and didn't understand decorum. Maybe the crow is an avian serial killer. In any case, it's a pretty creepy gift.
Warning the future.
It's safe to say that humanity unleashed something truly frightening with the advent of nuclear weapons - destructive devices with the power to mess up an area for tens of thousands of years. This begs the question of how we warn future generations that may not understand the danger of nuclear sites.
This simple message is designed to be read by future humans. While it could be argued that this would do more to spark their curiosity, the intent is to dissuade them from getting too close.
Thousands of people ride this.
The combination of heavy steel, winter weather, and road salt can wreak havoc on bridges and other infrastructure in cold-weather cities. It isn't too surprising to see something like this in Chicago, a city that can experience nasty winters.
What is surprising — and disturbing — is that this rusted-out support is holding up Chicago's Metra UP-N Line, an elevated transit system that carries 34,000 passengers on 70 trains every single day. Let's hope that the other bridge supports are built a little better.
The joys of home ownership.
Unless you're moving into a brand new building, the experience of moving into a new house usually includes finding some questionable things that the previous owners did in the space or left lying around.
In this case, the previous owners must have been up to some shady business, as they've got a full-leg iron and weight in the basement. What's more, they didn't even take it with them when they moved out. Whatever its purpose was, it evidently served it.
It isn't what you think.
An image like this, taken at face value, would be enough to make most of us say goodbye to our former lives and prepare to embrace our new insect overlords. In this case, the giant insect is a mosquito — probably the last insect you want to make super-sized.
Fortunately, this haunting image is just an optical illusion that occurred by happenstance. A mosquito (a regular-sized mosquito!) flew in front of the camera lens just as the picture was taken.
Bland apartment blocks.
This high-rise tower certainly looks drab and depressing, but it isn't totally out of the ordinary, given the brutalist architecture that some cities have embraced. A closer look reveals that each window has no glass and is just a grid of metal bars.
So, is it a high-rise prison complex? No, this building isn't actually intended for humans at all. It's actually a pig farm, and the high-rise form factor is necessitated by a lack of space on the ground. Just imagine how it must smell.
Adorable, kind of.
Just imagine waking up in the middle of the night, flicking the light switch, and seeing this. Obviously, it isn't out of the ordinary for cat owners to be woken up by their cats in the middle of the night, but the Redditor who posted this says they were deeply unsettled to wake up to their cat sitting in this pose.
At least the cat doesn't seem perturbed. It's just sitting there patiently, waiting for something that we cannot possibly understand.
That's a joke, right?
Anyone who's seen Final Destination knows the importance of staying safe on the road. That means keeping a close eye on nearby vehicles to make sure that you're not stuck behind a logging truck or anything else that might be hazardous.
This might not be a logging truck, but it's arguably even more scary. It sounds like this truck is full of some kind of biohazard that we couldn't possibly understand. Either that, or it's a joke. Let's hope it's a joke.
I'll skip this book.
Old-timey kids' books are kind of weird to read because they use language and endorse social mores that aren't particularly common anymore. This isn't the fault of the authors, of course — sometimes, things just get dated.
This old book — Georgie Finds a Grandpa — is a different story. Where did Georgie find the grandpa? Why was this old guy so ready to be a grandpa? And, perhaps most importantly, what happened to Georgie's eyes? He may have found a grandpa, but he's definitely lost his eyebrows.
Nice night for a walk.
There's nothing like a quiet, contemplative walk around the neighborhood at night to clear your head. Usually it's a solitary affair, aside from encountering an occasional dog walker or jogger.
One Redditor decided to go for a nighttime walk and found something just a little more unsettling than what they're used to: A woman in a dress, standing on a roof, surveying the neighborhood. Maybe she just wanted the best vantage point for...reasons.
Hi, Mary.
This blackened human skull, embedded in what looks like a golden space helmet with sculpted hair, purportedly belonged to the Christian saint Mary Magdalene, one of the followers of Jesus Christ.
It can be found in a reliquary at the Basilica at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in France, along with several other relics. It isn't known whether the skull actually belonged to Mary Magdalene, and considering further testing would entail removing the skull, I think it's best to just leave it alone.
Cool shell!
Hermit crabs are remarkable creatures. They need shells, and seek them out, but don't need anything too specific — anything that protects their carapace and fits their body shape will do.
This hermit crab has found a creative way to adorn its body: By using what appears to be a human skull as its shell. The skull could be a replica, but it definitely looks real. It's hard to know how the crab found it, but the police should probably call the crab in for questioning.
Made by goth spiders.
This looks like some kind of awful black fungus or any other number of things that are potential nightmare fuel, but the real explanation is actually straightforward. It's just a spider web that's become coated in soot and ash.
While the new coating has understandably made the spider look elsewhere for greener pastures, it hasn't done anything to destroy the web itself. It's safe to say that this would be an unsettling sight after a fire.
Forever a mystery.
You're looking at one of the last known pictures taken by Soviet hikers before they died at Dyatlov Pass in 1959. The incident, which has not been solved, saw nine hikers flee their tents in the middle of the night for unknown reasons. They were found dead in the snow nearby with symptoms of hypothermia.
Numerous theories abound, but we're nowhere closer to discovering the reasons than we were in 1959. When you factor in creepy photos like this, the mystery only deepens.
Beautiful hardwood.
Many older houses with carpets actually feature vintage hardwood — often in pretty good shape — underneath the carpets. That means it's worth pulling up your old carpets to see if the underlying floorboards look any better.
That's what one homeowner did. The hardwood has seen better days, but it's still usable. It's unfortunate, and baffling, that there's a giant pentagram carved into the floor. Maybe it's best to just stick with carpeting.
Need a ride?
Horses are stalwart companions. They've helped humans traverse vast distances and carry heavy loads for centuries, all while displaying impressive loyalty and affection for their human handlers.
Horses are also incredibly creepy looking under the right circumstances. A Redditor stumbled upon a horse farm at night, where they quickly made an equine friend. I don't think this horse is trying to be creepy — it probably just wants to hang out — but the effect is deeply unsettling.
Room with a view.
The spire of St. Lambert's Cathedral in Münster, Germany, doesn't look too different from any other centuries-old church in Western Europe. A closer inspection reveals something that does set it apart, however.
Back in the 1500s, there was a lot of religious turmoil in the area, and opposing religious leaders were sometimes put to death with their bodies preserved in cages on church spires. Look closely at this church spire, and you can still see the (now empty) cages.
I hear you loud and clear.
When it comes to informative signs, you're far, far more likely to find one on dry land than on the seabed. But when a diving hot spot becomes deadly, it sometimes becomes necessary to put a warning sign in one of these unconventional areas.
This sign's message is clear: Don't go any farther if you want to live. The Grim Reaper art helps sell the message. There's something haunting about knowing that there are good reasons to find a sign in such a weird spot.
Bonus feet.
You're looking at a chicken (well, a chick) with a rare genetic defect that gives it extra feet. The little chick puts this to good use, as it's able to clamber around on four legs rather than two.
Needless to say, while the chick is doing fine with the defect, it's a weird sight to see. We're used to seeing certain things operate in a certain way, and seeing a four-legged chicken is definitely not an ordinary sight.
Send in the clowns.
Clowning seems to be on the way out, as public sentiment has shifted drastically. Clowns were once a welcome sight at birthday parties but are now more closely associated with John Wayne Gacy and Pennywise than with fun and merriment.
Spooky images like this aren't going to help matters for the clowning community. The unexplained photo was found in a pile of junk at an abandoned retirement home. It looks like the clowns had a nice time, at least.
Time to move, Nick.
This was found in a loft three months after move-in. It's unsettling to find a pentagram with someone's name on it at the best of times — and the details here make things even more chilling.
The person who moved into this loft three months ago has a boyfriend. Her boyfriend's name is Nick. Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's predestination, but in any case, I think Nick needs to stay away.
Blue screen of spies.
Anyone who's spent significant time running Windows operating systems over the years knows that, from time to time, you're going to get a blue screen of death.
The person who posted this got the typical blue screen of death, which looks pretty normal. What isn't normal in the slightest, though, is the fact that the blue screen showed some random guy on a webcam in the bottom right. The poster said the person isn't them, and they have no idea who it might be.
Move to Japan, they said.
One nice thing about discovering new places is seeing how the flora and fauna differ. Places with mild winters, for instance, might have more vibrant foliage and larger animals.
A Redditor who recently moved into an apartment in Japan helpfully posted this image of their newest roommate: Some kind of centipede that needs to be killed with fire. It won't be easy to track down, though, as the Redditor pointed out that these things move with disturbing speed.
Fortress of solitude.
This is a photo of "the toilets at my work," explained one Redditor, with not much more backstory given. It begs the question of whether this person's work is some kind of medieval castle or what.
In any case, it actually looks like a peaceful place to do your business (assuming there's some kind of door for privacy). A little more light would be good, though, as there's no way to know what else is hiding down there.
Time for garbage day.
"Our duplex neighbor of three years mysteriously moved in the middle of the night," wrote the person who posted this. "We had never seen the inside of his house the whole time. Now we know why."
There are examples of extreme hoarding all over the place, but it's still pretty jarring to see. It makes you wonder how the occupant here even managed to move around the place with so much garbage piled floor to ceiling.
A skull-forward design motif.
You're looking at the grand chandelier — the central piece, if you will — at an old church at Kutna Hora, near Prague in Czechia. The name of the church, in case you're wondering, is Bone Church (for obvious reasons).
Inside the church, you'll find the skeletons of somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000 people spanning centuries. Skeletons are evidently a popular tourist attraction, as this unusual church attracts around 200,000 visitors every year.
