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People Break Down The Disturbing Backstories Behind Famous Pictures

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

brittwithouttheney

Watched the documentary about that. She was a psychotic, sociopath.

amphibious_rodent13

A Slow Fate

Omayra Sánchez - Every time I see her photo, it breaks my heart.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/omayra-sanchez

nagese

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

Catezero

LBJ getting sworn in

This one?

Tartooth

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Landsburg?wprov=sfti1

Ryukotaicho

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.

kibufox

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

hjonk

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.

TizzleDirt

For those who are interested (trigger warning obviously but there's no blood) this is a good write up about the story around it.

https://www.codex99.com/photography/43.html

Obligatory: suicide is not pretty so please don't let this photo romanticise the idea.

changyang1230

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

MissSara101

They look like the Menendez brothers? Not twins! Their story is crazy though.

Bac0s

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

doned_mest_up

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.

giraffevomitfacts

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

Oxymoronic_geek

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

TuxedoFriday

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

rollplayinggrenade

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.

italianstallion6589

She's Definitely Not Enjoying That Kiss

V.J Picture

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.

JosephTheWXMan17

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.

AmigoDelDiabla

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

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_family_crash

DangerousCranberry_

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.

Patches67

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.

MrWetPoopz

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

boyerling3

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/

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.