Like sidewalks and billboards, people living in the 21st century read signs as second nature. It’s such a common way of conveying information, that we often absorb the information without really paying attention. But sometimes one may encounter a particularly creepy graphic or set of words that creates an implication dark enough to immediately draw your attention.
The “Scary Signs” internet group shares exactly that, signs that spooked or unnerved people for one reason or another. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share how they made you feel in the comments section down below.
#1 More Than Sad Scary, But Still
Image source: swagfugu
#2 Sign At A Gas Plant
Image source: PsychologicalSoup-
#3 Trailhead In Tennessee
Image source: fieldysnuttz
Since the dawn of time, humanity has harbored a peculiar, almost magnetic attraction to things that can poke, burn, or dissolve us. If you tell a toddler not to touch a hot stove, they will treat that instruction as a personal challenge. This innate human desire to poke the metaphorical bear is exactly why we spent the last few thousand years perfecting the art of the scary warning sign.
Long before we had neon yellow stickers, our ancestors relied on more “creative” methods to keep people away from trouble. Ancient Egyptians, for instance, didn’t have high-voltage stickers for their tombs, so they opted for elaborate curses that promised to have a giant snake eat anyone who disturbed the Pharaoh’s nap. It was the original “No Trespassing” sign.
#4 Road Sign I Found In Texas
Image source: reddit.com
#5 Scary-Sad, But Comforting To Know You Can Be Safe
Image source: Alwyslistn
#6 Beware Of Falling Deer. (X-Post R/Funny)
Image source: KickYourAss247
As civilization progressed and we started inventing more ways to accidentally injure ourselves through chemistry and industry, the need for a universal visual language became dire. Enter the skull and crossbones, the undisputed heavyweight champion of scary symbols. While we mostly associate it with pirates and “Arrr-rated” movies today, it was actually used as a memento mori on gravestones long before it was slapped on a bottle of bleach.
#7 Straight To The Point, Don’t Become Soup
Image source: MrBoko1234
#8 Found At The Boulders Scenic Reserve, Qld
Image source: withcorruptedlungs
#9 A Disease Which Has No Cure
Image source: ohyouarefunny
In the 1800s, various pharmaceutical associations realized that people were accidentally drinking things they shouldn’t, so they adopted the skull to signify “this will end your journey early.” The problem was that the skull and crossbones looked a bit too much like a cool pirate flag to children, who saw it and thought they were about to embark on a swashbuckling adventure rather than a trip to the emergency room.
#10 At A Nearby Wolf Sanctuary
Image source: Gymnos84
#11 Norwegian Border Caution
Image source: Specialist-Milk-8268
#12 Oh…ok I Understand
Image source: reddit.com
By the mid-20th century, humanity began playing with things that were invisible but extremely grumpy, like radiation. In 1946, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, realized they needed a way to label the spicy atoms they were working with. They came up with the radiation trefoil, which originally featured a magenta symbol on a blue background.
#13 Sign Near Nuclear Plant In NJ
Image source: selfawarefeline
#14 Nope
Image source: unfamiliar-ceiling
#15 This Sign Caught Me Off Guard During A Visit At A Religious Area
Image source: TheWebsploiter
The blue was eventually ditched because it looked too much like a standard “information” sign, and let’s be honest, you don’t want to mistake a vat of uranium for a water fountain. The yellow and black color scheme we know today was chosen because it screams “danger” louder than a heavy metal concert, mimicking the warning colors of wasps and snakes.
#16 You Don’t Know Who Is Lurking Here
Image source: TheWholesomeGod
#17 No Worries, 3 Layers Of Glass Still Remain To Protect You From The King Of The Jungle!
Image source: Tails_RulesTheWorld
#18 Spotted While Delivering Food Today
Image source: grandecoconut20
The 1960s gave us the biohazard symbol, which is perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing way to tell someone they are entering a zone of infectious doom. It was designed by Dow Chemical specifically to be “uniquely memorable but meaningless.”
#19 Sign Near A Dam
Image source: Salt-Abroad-218
#20 At The Entrance To One Of The Most Difficult And Dangerous Tracks In Iceland
Image source: basedrifter
#21 “No Safe Ppe Exists”, Found On A 4000-Amp Switch ⚡⚡
Image source: Shamrock5
They tested a bunch of shapes and picked the one that people remembered the best but couldn’t associate with anything else, like a logo for a local bakery or a car brand. It looks like a futuristic shuriken, but its sole job is to tell you that the air in the room might be full of things that want to take up permanent residence in your lungs. It is a masterpiece of psychological design: it doesn’t look like anything in nature, which makes it feel eerie and artificial.
#22 The Scary Part Is That They Must Get A Lot Of People Asking For Them
Image source: sirkidd2003
#23 Percy Preist Lake In Nashville, TN
Image source: aea27
#24 Something About This Unsettles Me
Image source: ubahsquid
As the 1970s rolled around, safety experts realized that the “cool pirate” problem with the skull and crossbones was still an issue for kids. This led to the creation of Mr. Yuk, a bright green, frowning face that looks like he just smelled a gym bag from 1985. The idea was that green is “yucky” and a frowny face is a universal sign for “don’t put this in your mouth.” It worked brilliantly, mostly because kids are surprisingly judgmental about facial expressions. If a sticker looks disgusted with the contents of a bottle, children are much less likely to treat it like a juice box.
#25 Fight Back
Image source: Scrot123
#26 Sign A The Vet
Image source: GameasauresRex
#27 Cute Cartoons Don’t Make Creepy Messages Better
Image source: jakeairforce
The most fascinating, and slightly terrifying, chapter in the history of warning signs is the one we haven’t finished writing yet. We are currently trying to figure out how to warn people 10,000 years from now about buried nuclear waste. Language evolves so fast that “Stay Away” might mean “Free Tacos” in ten millennia. This field of study, known as nuclear semiotics, has produced some truly wild ideas.
#28 No Bees, No Oranges
Image source: flamingred91
#29 Bronx Zoo
Image source: BVB77
#30 Outside Toilet. One Door
Image source: reddit.com
Scientists have proposed building “landscapes of thorns” made of massive concrete spikes, or even genetically engineering “ray cats” that change color when they get near radiation. The idea is that we would create legends and folk songs about the color-changing cats so future civilizations would know to run when the kitty turns neon. It is a long way from the Pharaoh’s curse, but the message remains the same: please, for the love of everything, don’t touch that. Whether it is a frowny green face or a field of concrete spikes, the history of warning signs is really just the history of humans trying to save ourselves from our own insatiable curiosity.
#31 The 2nd Scariest Sign In Big Bend National Park, Texas
Image source: reddit.com
#32 “Emergency Medical Staff Has Been Infected. We Will No Longer Treat Patients. Quarantine Underway”
Image source: gggggggggggggggddddd
#33 Found This Gem At A Local Bulk Foods Store
Image source: OnsetOfMSet
#34 Hikers Beware
Image source: CairnFilippelli
#35 I Explored An Abandoned Mine This Weekend. The Floor Drops Down Into An Abyss Past This Sign
Image source: reddit.com
#36 That Will Make Your Hair Stand Up
Image source: iswearitsnotme001
#37 A Sign In A Plaza Near My House. This Wall Backs Into A Deep Ravine
Image source: the_walls_have_noses
#38 On The Island Of Ischia (Italy) – Redux
Image source: TheTranc
#39 Unfortunately A Very Real Risk. Hits Way Harder On The Top Of A Mountain
Image source: TotalHotDog
#40 Border Zone In Finland-Russia Border. Going Beyond Those Signs Will Get You Fined, Going 1km You’ll Not Be Heard For Months
Image source: laitelaismo
#41 Overrepresented Can Lead To Entrapment
Image source: dr_lm
#42 “The Drowning Machine”
Image source: RenderTheGame
#43 Remembering The Black Plague From 1665 In London
Image source: tasgaum
#44 Ominous Signs Like This All Through Amarillo On People’s Property. Some Guy Named Stanley Marsh Put Them There And Then Died. That’s All We Know
Image source: reddit.com
#45 Decision Making Simulator
Image source: Pooper7899
#46 Saddle Mountain
Image source: Total-Pain-1181
#47 Don’t Go Near The Cliffs
Image source: DenverUXer
#48 Just Another Day In Alaska
Image source: electronicthesarus
#49 On A Gas Station Outside Of Valdosta
Image source: benderzgreat
#50 Stay Out Of The Water Or You’ll Get Burned
Image source: mcleanatg
#51 At My Local Park
Image source: Llyerd
#52 Oddly Poetic Sign In Sea Ranch, CA
Image source: horseonthefront
#53 Yeah I Think I’ll Pass
Image source: 210z
#54 I Work In A Foundry, Where At Any Given Time, Up To 26 Ton Of Molten Iron Could Be Going Right Over Your Head
Image source: Z3STYR4NCH
#55 Marble Canyon, Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada
Image source: meeshamayhem
#56 “Holy Water Removed Temporarily”
Image source: abaganoush
#57 At My Apartment Complex
Image source: protokitty
#58 Not Sure If This Counts
Image source: EnormousOctopus
#59 Turn Back Now!
Image source: RetiredAerospaceVP
#60 Ended Up Having To Put Up This Sign Today Myself. You Guys Wanna Know The Backstory? Oh, Well There Were Two Thirty Year Old People Walking On A Pond With An Inch Of Ice At Most
Image source: CoolSkeIeton-95
#61 If Polar Bear Attacks, You Must Fight Back
Image source: losandreas36
#62 This Sign By The Entrance To My Church
Image source: DemotivatedTurtle
#63 Escape Is Impossible
Image source: actual-catlady
#64 Casual Sign I Took A Picture Of In Cambodia
Image source: Tuubular
#65 Vancouver, British Columbia
Image source: sunnysstuff
#66 The School Lockdown Song
Image source: OG3XOG
#67 Inside The Boy’s Bathroom At School
Image source: SkyaGold
#68 Do You Know Where The Bears Are?
Image source: yaaaaasitshayden
#69 Good To Know
Image source: peteydubzzz
#70 Found In The Adirondacks. Explosive And Acid Is A Good Combo
Image source: reddit.com
#71 For Hours
Image source: bitchimalwaysright
#72 That’s Reassuring
Image source: 11flynnj
#73 Isn’t There An Old Movie About Being Snowed In At A Ski Lodge? The Shiny? Did It Have A Happy Ending? Asking For A Friend. 💀
Image source: mcutler
#74 Yeah, I’m Not Going In There
Image source: nugohs
#75 I Think I’ll Just Take The Stairs Next Time
Image source: cinedemon
#76 Stumbled Across This Sign In The Middle Of The Woods With My Girlfriend. The Access Road Leads To A Locked Gate. (We Were A Good Hour From Our Car, And Fairly Lost At The Time.)
Image source: maximusoverlord
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