There's an old expression about photos that surely everyone and their grandmother has heard or used: "Pics or it didn't happen." Unfortunately, sometimes the things that did happen are horrifying, monstrous events captured forever on film.
Reddit user, u/Nikku187, wanted to hear about:
What famous picture actually has a disturbing backstory behind it?
Final Moments
The last picture Jodi Arias took of Travis Alexander in the shower before she brutally murdered him. You can see the fear and realization of what was about to happen in his eyes.
Edit to add Travis Alexanders Photo
Watched the documentary about that. She was a psychotic, sociopath.
A Slow Fate
Omayra Sánchez - Every time I see her photo, it breaks my heart.
Not Knowing What's Happening
For me, its LBJ getting sworn in. For the record, im Canadian, but ive always found the Kennedy assassination fascinating.
In the picture, LBJ is being sworn in and Jackie is standing next to him. Theres blood on her coat but its not super obvs because the photo is so old and is b&w.
My dad told me that at the time (he was 4 but his parents related it to him later) they weren't sure at the moment who had assassinated Kennedy and thought maybe it had been the USSR So LBJ being sworn in so soon with Jackie covered in blood was a message to the USSR that "we are not afraid of you and we are still in power". I always found that incredibly powerful and cool but disturbing at the same time
LBJ getting sworn in
Saving The Evidence
There are some photos of Mount St Helens erupting. The photographer, knowing he was too close to get away safely, put the film in his backpack, and then laid over the backpack, protecting the film from damage at the cost of his own life
Tanks A Lot
It used to be famous, but its not so much now.
https://www.worldwars.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Death-of-a-Tank-1.jpg
So the story is that during the Okinawa campaign, this Marine Sherman tank was moving along a road area providing support for the infantry units. It happened to roll over a hidden Japanese soldier in a fox hole who detonated a large bomb under the tank, flipping it and setting it on fire. Because of the way the tank landed, the infantry couldn't get to it to dig the crew out (they couldn't open the hatches), and the angle prevented anyone from getting out of the belly escape hatch. So, the men around the vehicle could only stand by and watch (and listen) as the men inside the tank burned to death.
All Is Lost
The Weeping Frenchman of a man watching the French army regiments be dissolved and sent out of France in surrender to the Nazis
A Beautiful Horror
The most beautiful suicide. I won't link it but she jumped off a building and crushed a car roof. She looked peaceful. She fell to pieces when they had to move her. Literally.
For those who are interested (trigger warning obviously but there's no blood) this is a good write up about the story around it.
http://www.codex99.com/photography/43.html
Obligatory: suicide is not pretty so please don't let this photo romanticise the idea.
Caught Red Handed
There a basketball card from a Knicks Player, Mark Jackson. While it seemed like any other from 1990, you need to look at the crowd as it contains brothers who killed their parents.
Here's the picture if You're asking
They look like the Menendez brothers? Not twins! Their story is crazy though.
A Perfect Summary Of America
The Migrant Mother picture is kind of disturbing. The journalist allegedly promised that she wouldn't publish it, but published it the next day. She later gave the photo a false, sensationalized back story.
It's one of the most iconic pictures in American history, but it's subject felt misrepresented, lied to, and exploited, all while dealing with the harsh realities of the Great Depression.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Owens_Thompson
Not to politicize every damn thing on Reddit, but it's striking how an image of an American migrant with a bunch of kids becomes an iconic symbol of pride and resolve whereas a similar image of a Mexican or Guatemalan woman is commonplace and mostly inspires derision.
Standing Next To Your End
John Lennon signing a copy of his album for Mark Chapman (to the right). Mark shot and killed Lennon six hours later.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Lennon_and_Chapman.jpg
American..."Exceptionalism."
This photo from the Vietnam War.
I remember first being shown this picture in high school as just soldiers moving a family out of their village before a strike was called in, but in reality the strike had already happened, those children had survived a napalm strike, and the child in the center (Phan Thi Kim Phúc, or "Napalm Girl" as she's now known) had all of their clothes melted off by the chemical
I went to HS in America BTW, hence why I think I was told the photo was pre-strike
Unaware Of What Was About To Happen
The Execution of Nguyen Văn Lém. The photo was a complete accident as the photographer wasn't aware he was about to be executed. The photo and the subsequent fame he received for taking it haunted him for the rest of his life. Nguyen was summarily executed for allegedly cutting the throats of a Lt. Col, his wife, their six children and 80 year old grandmother. Link
Knowing What They Did Moments Before...
This photo of Tyler Hadley taken just hours after he killed his parents, hid the bodies and threw a party unbeknownst to anybody else.
God that story of how he actually did it. Just thinking about it makes me nauseous, I don't know why I even read it. And those pictures too. Why would those even get posted online?
Last I heard, the bank foreclosed the house and it's now demolished.
Not really a famous photo but it has a horrifying back story to it.
She's Definitely Not Enjoying That Kiss
This was taken after the end in the Second World War. And on first glance it looks unassuming enough but the body language & testimony from the alleged female in the picture portrays that this was not a consensual act & that the man is actually assaulting the woman. Again its alleged but disturbing nonetheless.
A Slow, Awful End
This picture of a starving boy (originally thought to be a girl) is pretty sad. The vulture was waiting for the child to die so it could eat it.
The photographer took his own life just a few months after winning a Pulitzer Prize for the photograph.
Seriously, People, Do Your Research On Anything.
The photo of Devonte Hart (a Black boy) hugging a police officer. He's crying and looks distressed and it looks like the officer is comforting him so it has been used as a symbol of racial reconciliation, but not only was it staged by his abusive and manipulative adoptive parents, but those parents ended up killing themselves and all their adopted kids in a murder/suicide a few years later.
https://observers.france24.com/en/20200603-usa-viral-photo-resurfaces-devonte-hart-racial-abuse
A Piece Of History
A lot of famous paintings we don't know actually had political messages to them that are completely lost in modern times. Let me give you an example, A Bar at the Folies Bergère by Édouard Manet. Sometimes known as the barmaid picture. One of my most favourite impressionist paintings.
At that time the barmaids were rumoured to also be sex worker. Manet was actually depicting a gentlemen picking up a sex worker. He did this deliberately because he wanted to show the seedy side of life in a fancy high brow art gallery, which of course caused a controversy that is lost in modern times because all we see is a beautiful bar with a barmaid.
So Real They Look Alive
A picture of a missing girl that wound up murdered by the serial killer Israel Keyes.
She was dead for a week, so he stitched her eyelids opened and took a picture of her, which ended up in local newspapers. At first glance, she looks alive. Chilling.
Not As Symbolic As You Might Think
The Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal.
The book, Flags of our Fathers does a great job telling the story of the men who raised the flag (which was actually the second flag raised). While it seems to be very triumphant, there's a bit of sadness too.
- Three of the six men were dead within a month
- Several misidentifications of the men that were in the photo that persisted for years
- Three surviving men were brought back to the US for bond drives while their unit continued fighting
- Ira Hayes, a Native American in the photo suffered intense PTS and died of alcoholism
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.