As a photographer, you hold a lot of power in your hands in terms of making your audience feel a certain way. When you focus on spine-tingling subject matter and play around with the lighting, you can create images that might chill people decades after being taken.
‘Old School Creepy’ is an online community that embraces the slightly cursed vibes found in vintage photos. We’ve curated some of the scariest ones for your viewing pleasure. But be warned, you might not want to look at some of these twice.
#1 A 16th Century Plague Doctors Mask
Image source: Cj_stricklen111
#2 22 Yr-Old Charlie Johns Reading The Bible To His 9 Yr-Old Bride, Eunice Winstead. They Married In 1937 And Went On To Have 9 Children Together
Image source: TheOddityCollector
#3 Two Psychologists In The 1930s Adopted A Baby Chimp And Tried To Raise Her Alongside Their Own Baby Boy, Donald, To See If This Caused The Chimp To Learn Human Behavior. After Nine Months, They Stopped The Experiment Because Their Son Started Behaving More Like A Chimp
Image source: TheOddityCollector
Typically, when somebody gets scared or finds themselves in a dangerous or stressful situation, we talk about their fight or flight response activating. However, your body can also go into freeze or fawn mode, two lesser-discussed stress responses.
Broadly speaking, these stress responses are your body’s way to survive and return to a calm, relaxed state by decreasing, ending, or evading danger.
#4 A Rare Photo Of The Notorious Couple Bonnie And Clyde, 1933
Image source: TheOddityCollector
#5 A Clean-Cut Charles Manson On His Wedding Day In 1955
Image source: Dia-fu**in-rrhea
#6 17th Century Metal Mask That Was Used To Restrain Individuals Who Were Considered To Be Insane
Image source: Sleeeepy_Hollow
The fight response activates if your body perceives that you can realistically outfight the danger you’re in. Similarly, your flight response is your body signaling that you have a chance of outrunning the source of the danger, WebMD states.
A freeze response is exactly what it sounds like: you freeze up and feel stuck in place because your body doesn’t believe that you can either outfight or outrun the danger.
Meanwhile, a fawn response is typically used after an unsuccessful attempt to fight, flee, or freeze up, and involves you becoming highly agreeable and helpful to the source of the danger to try to soothe them.
#7 It Drinks
Image source: cacatuca
#8 Behind-The-Scenes Of Teletubbies’ In The Late-90s
Image source: Sleeeepy_Hollow
#9 Max Schreck Relaxes Behind The Scenes Of Nosferatu, 1922
Image source: TheOddityCollector
The ‘Old School Creepy’ subreddit’s roots stretch all the way back to 2014, when it was first created. Originally, it was meant to be a place for “eerie nostalgia, vintage horror, and creepy things from the past,” and the group has stuck to this ever since.
For more than a decade, the members of this online community have been gently scaring each other, as well as casual visitors from other groups, with photos that they’ve dug up from the past.
According to the moderators, you shouldn’t post anything modern or off-topic in the group. “If it doesn’t feel like it crawled out of the past, it doesn’t belong here,” they stress. What’s more, everyone is encouraged to avoid reposting photos that have already been shared before.
#10 Empress Elisabeth’s Mourning Mask And Veil, 1889
Image source: CelebManips
#11 Photo Of Two Women With Super Long Hair
Image source: digital_dysthymia
#12 A Letter From Schizophrenic Patient Emmy Hauck To Her Husband. It Consists Only Phrase “Herzensschatzi Komm” (Darling Please Come) And “Komm Komm Komm” (Come, Come, Come ) Repeated Over And Over
Image source: froggysaysno
Previously, during an in-depth interview, Bored Panda spoke with two of the moderators of the subreddit, Seryan_Klythe and TheOddityCollector. They shared their thoughts about both the online community they’ve built and the unsettling vintage photos that the members of the group focus on.
“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,” moderator TheOddityCollector told us earlier.
#13 The Other Kids Were Scared Of Him And He Cried When He Looked In The Mirror
Image source: MadeEntirelyOfBeans
#14 The Moon From The French 1902 Movie A Trip To The Moon
Image source: nostalgic_hug1
#15 My Mom And I On Halloween In 1989. Note The Fact That She Has A Cigarette And Is Also Pregnant With My Brother
Image source: creepy_robot
Moderator Seryan_Klythe told Bored Panda that the thing about disturbing vintage photos that truly fascinates them is that they were taken using much simpler technologies.
“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,” they said.
#16 James Dean Posing Inside A Coffin For A Photo Just 7 Months Before His Demise In A Car Crash In September 1955
Image source: TheOddityCollector
#17 Maria Rasputina Holding A Portrait Of Her Father, Grigory Rasputin, 1972
Image source: TheOddityCollector
#18 People Used To Believe That Cavities Were Caused By Demons Boring Holes In Teeth.
Image source: TheOddityCollector
Meanwhile, moderator TheOddityCollector stressed the fact that looking at unsettling photos shows us a world that is at the same time familiar and very 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,” they told us earlier.
#19 John D. Rockefeller, America’s First Billionaire
Image source: TheOddityCollector
#20 Carved Ivory Sculpture Of Tenjiku Tokubei: Master Of Frog Magic, Japanese, C. 1800-1850
Image source: chubachus
#21 I Don’t Like Clowns Anymore
Image source: WhoAmIToday451
There are a whole bunch of factors that help create the creepy atmosphere in these images. These include things like the subject, the focus, the color and mood, the original intent, strange expressions, as well as outdated medical or funerary practices, according to the moderators of ‘Old School Creepy.’
“Some photos have mistakes, like double exposures, that make them look ghostly without meaning to,” TheOddityCollector said.
#22 An Early Version Of Ronald Mcdonald Photographed Alongside A Crying Baby
Image source: TheOddityCollector
#23 W.c. Fields As Humpty Dumpty In Alice In Wonderland (1933)
Image source: CelebManips
#24 1953 Halloween Goblins
Image source: CryptographerKey2847
According to moderator Seryan_Klythe, some of the reasons why the community is so popular online include people being “drawn to a life that existed without Photoshop, film effects, and blunt macabre.”
Moderator TheOddityCollector added: “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.”
#25 Carved Ivory Sculpture Of A European Archer, Japanese, C. 1700-1800
Image source: chubachus
#26 The Infamous Ted Bundy Playing With His Ex-Girlfriend’s Daughter
Image source: TheOddityCollector
#27 Creepy Vintage Halloween Costume
Image source: ATI_Official
Once you’ve spooked yourself to your limit, we’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments down below. Which of these photos creeped you out the most? Why do you think they had such a strong impact on you? How much horror content would you say that you consume on a regular basis? Let us know.
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