30 Photos From The Past That Are Incredibly Unsettling (New Pics)

Postmortem portraits, ghost photographs, and images of disfigured soldiers are just a few examples of photography from the past that might seem unsettling to modern viewers. The grainy and black-and-white aesthetic combined with the open acknowledgment of death and fascination with the supernatural world has produced many photos that now give off an eerie and disturbing feel.

For those who find this intriguing, we have a whole list of pictures from the past that are truly unsettling. Collected by the Old School Creepy subreddit, these images invite you to embark on a darker journey through history.

While you’re scrolling through, don’t forget to check out a conversation with moderators of this subreddit, nicknamed Seryan_Klythe and TheOddityCollector, who kindly agreed to chat with us more about old and unsettling photos.

#1 Behind The Scenes Of The Shining (1980)

#2 To Appear Headless While Taking A Photo, Known As “Horsemaning”, Was A Popular Way To Pose In The 1920’s

#3 Apache Ghost Dance Ceremony, Taken By Edward Curtis Circa 1906

The Old School Creepy subreddit has been around since 2014, which means that it has invited people to share disturbing vintage pictures for more than a decade now! In this time, it managed to gather a community of 81K members—all fans of the creepy and spooky.

We was lucky enough to get in touch with its moderators, who kindly agreed to tell us more about it.

“The subreddit was created for people who enjoy the eerie feeling of old photos. Unlike modern horror, old pictures can be creepy in a more subtle way—through strange expressions, outdated fashion, or imperfections in the photo itself,” told us moderator TheOddityCollector.

#4 Glazed Earthenware Rookwood Vase Featuring An Image Of A Skeleton, American, 1891

#5 Martin Laurello, The Only Man Who Could Rotate His Head A Full 180 Degrees, 1930s

#6 My Mother In Law And Her Twin Sometime In The 60’s

Its other moderator, nicknamed Seryan_Klythe, said that what fascinates them about disturbing vintage images the most is the fact that they were taken in the time of pre-technological standards and bare-bones inventions. “The world was different and saw things differently too. The fascination is part of understanding what was creepy to someone then was simplistic and played more with their blunt fascination to take things at face value or without the use of high-sophistication gimmickry.”

#7 A Boy On Krampus Shoulders During A Parade, Mitterndorf, Austria, 6th Of Dec 1949

#8 Behind The Scenes Of Max Reinhardt’s 1935 Adaptation Of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

#9 Stills From The Very Druggish Children’s Show “H.r. Puffnstuff” From 1969

Indeed, when people were taking postmortem photos with their loved ones, they weren’t thinking that they were doing something morbid—they were just trying to capture a simple photo they could remember them by in the future.

When postmortem photography was popular, deaths were a frequent occurrence, which meant that many people, especially children, didn’t have a photo taken of them while they were alive. So their relatives would usually take one after their passing.

#10 The Cabaret Of Hell , Paris, 1920s

#11 Actor Reggie Nadler Who Played The Vampire Kurt Barlow In Salem’s Lot, With Effects Mask From The Movie

#12 A Boy Named Rich Bundy In A Family Photo With His Brother, Ted, Before That Infamous Older Brother Was Caught

Having a trinket of a deceased loved one definitely wasn’t a new thing by then. People would cut locks of hair from the dead and put them into lockets and rings or create death masks from wax. However, attitudes towards them and post-mortem photography have changed as our view of death has evolved.

Our comfort with corpses decreased as the funeral industry appeared, the government removed post-mortem care from family members, and hygiene and modern medicine helped people live longer.

#13 Children Going To A 12-Hour Night Shift In The United States, 1908

#14 Photographed In 1880, Myrtle Corbin Was Born A ‘Dipygus’, Having Two Separately Functioning Pelvises And Four Legs. She Married And Had Five Children

#15 A Circus Performer In Germany C.1930, By Kurt Triest

What fascinates moderator Oddity Collector the most about old unsettling pictures is that they are able to show us a world that’s familiar but different. “The way people dressed, the way photos were taken, and the way time has changed them all add to the mystery. Some images weren’t meant to be scary, but they feel that way now, which makes them even more interesting.”

#16 A Colorized Photo Of Grigori Rasputin With The Last Empress Of Russia And Her Five Children In 1908

#17 With Father Christmas, 1920

#18 Parrot Costume

When asked what makes these pictures creepy in particular, moderators mention a mix of things: its focus, the subject, the color/mood, the original intent, strange expressions, and outdated medical or funeral practices. “Some photos have mistakes, like double exposures, that make them look ghostly without meaning to,” said TheOddityCollector.

#19 Ventriloquist’s Family Portrait, 1950s

#20 Dogon Stilt Dancers In Bandiagara, Mali, 70s, By James Morris

#21 The “Lunatic Chair” Given To Patients Who Had Poor Behavior Or Wild Outbursts. Dutch Mental Hospital, 1938

81K people were drawn to the subreddit thanks to these unsettling and disturbing photos, so naturally we were curious to know what the moderators thought was the reason. “I think people are drawn to a life that existed without Photoshop, film effects and blunt macabre,” said Seryan_Klythe.

“People love a good mystery, and these photos make us ask questions. Who are these people? What happened to them? Why does this image feel so unsettling? It’s a mix of history, curiosity, and a little bit of fear that keeps people coming back,” concluded Oddity Collector.

#22 Written On The Back: “Excuse Our Backs, Our Faces Are Dirty” (C.1899)

#23 Edna Tichenor As ‘Arachnida, The Human Spider’ In Tod Browning’s 1927 Silent Film The Show

#24 The “Double Exposure Girl”… A Haunting Photo Of A Girl Shot In Double Exposure [date Unknown]

#25 Art And Camera Magazine, 1952

#26 “The Temptation Of St Anthony.” Oil Painting By Joos Van Craesbeeck, C. 1650

#27 At 4:31 Am, An Unauthorized Photo Taken Of Stalin Inside Of The Kremlin Shows The Very Moment He Was Informed That Germany Had Began Their Invasion Of The Soviet Union

#28 9-Year-Old Child Bride Eunice Winstead Johns And Her Husband, 22-Year-Old Charlie Johns, Sneedville, Tennessee, United States. 1937

#29 My God, These Halloween Masks From The 1920s Are Scaring The C**p Out Of Me!

#30 A Young Woman Writing A Thank You Note To Her Boyfriend In The Navy For The Skull Of A Japanese Soldier That He Sent, 1944

#31 Wakefield, Massachusetts. Young Members Of The Payro Family Being “Photographed” By Their Cat, 1909. Photo By Joseph C. Payro

#32 Abandoned Artists House

#33 Abandoned Mansion In The Forest

#34 Carved Ivory Memento Mori Sculpture Featuring The Face And Skull Of A Monk, C. 1525-1550

#35 The Original Ronald Mcdonald 1963

#36 A “Two-Faced” Doll, C.1920

#37 ‘Fatso And Thin Man’— A Circus Act From Around The 1890s

#38 My Father, Halloween, 1940s

#39 ‘ Natural Creeping Baby Doll’ Created By George Pemberton Clarke, 1871

#40 Mr Noseybonk From UK Children’s TV Show Jigsaw Shown In The Early 80s

#41 A Newspaper Clipping From Harper’s Weekly. Jefferson Davis Is Portrayed With Deathly Eyes, Reaping Plants With Skulls On Them With A Sickle. Underneath Him Is A Snake And Above Him Is A Twisted Bare Tree With A Vulture Perched On It And A Noose Hanging From It. 10-26-1861

#42 Mr. Peanut In Times Square. Diane Arbus. 1956

#43 Frankenstein (1931)

#44 “Scenes Of Witchcraft: Morning.” Oil Painting By Salvator Rosa, C. 1645-1649

#45 Hedy Pfundmayr With Elektra-Mask, By Rudolf Koppitz, C. 1928

#46 Come Play With Us, Mickey……

#47 Leslie Caron As The Sphinx In Roland Petit’s Ballet “La Rencontre,” 1948

#48 Photo Of Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer At High School With A Fellow Student

#49 Untitled (Carnaval De Huejotzingo, Puebla), 1941, By Kati Horna

#50 Man Carries (Mounted) Head On Wheelbarrow – C. 1910

#51 These Old Toys My Friend Inherited From His Grandfather

#52 March Hares, C.1910

#53 An Ostrich Carriage Being Stopped By The Police For Crossing The Speed Limit, Los Angeles, 1930

#54 The Real Dracula’s Castle In Transylvania, Romania. Photo Taken In 1920s

#55 This Pork & Beans Set Up Is True Nightmare Fuel

#56 Jimmy Savile Meets The Beatles

#57 Children Like Sanitol – Creepy Ad For Toothpaste [1911]

#58 A Passing Woman Waves To A Baby In Her Cage, 1948. The Portable Baby Cage Was Patented In 1922 And Popular In Us & UK To Hang From Urban Windows Until Dwindling In The Later-1960s