Why do horror movies always depict toys as scary things? That's because they are absolutely horrifying!
Remember the clown from Poltergeist? Chucky? Portraying dolls as sentient little terrors dates back as far back as a famous Twilight Zone episode in which "Talky Tina," a creepy living doll, terrorizes a dysfunctional family.
Yeah, some of the things that are perceived as cute can be exactly the opposite–a concept that was explored when Redditor TERMINATOR103 asked:
"What seems innocent, but is actually very creepy?"
Aren't kids adorable? Sure, but sometimes, their behavior can give you night terrors.
The Things They Say
"Children. Not always, but sometimes they say really creepy things."
– rachaelonreddit
"Mom, can I sleep in your room tonight? The man with the wrong face and big hat comes and plays with my Legos every night. His face is all wrong, I don't like it. "
– ErdenGeboren
Demon Child
"When I worked in customer service I was helping someone and their maybe 2 year old was sitting in the cart. He turned and looked at me and just slooowly drew down his eyebrows and scowled at me in the most evil way and just stared at me like a freakin demon kid. Kids are definitely creeps sometimes."
– Anticrepuscular_Ray
Exploitation Of Innocence
"Child beauty pageants."
– reigndrops17
New At Conversation
"Children. I mean small children. Just learning to talk. They can say things that will put chills down your spine for the rest of your natural born life. Past life, 'Imaginary' friends, ect. Way too much creepy sh*t comes out of their mouths for me to fully think that they are just 'Cute.'"
–Trixxter_RD
These innocuous interactions between people are strange the more you think about it.
Physical Contact
"Touching a pregnant woman's belly."
– boppy28
Charity For Show
"People who record themselves giving food or money to homeless people. I get the whole point but the idea of recording someone on the lowest point of their life then posting it on social media sounds creepy. The fact people think 'Hey a homeless person' whips out camera"
– nivem94
Oversharing
"Posting pictures of yours kids in the bath on Facebook there's alot of f'ked up people who can get those pics."
– Ben62194
Young Love
"Little kids trying to kiss or touch eachother when one of them clearly doesn’t want to and all the adults are like 'aw they’ll get married when they’re older.'"
– yourmumhasIBS
Disrespecting Boundaries
"Women touching men without their consent. It’s not ok just because the genders are switched."
– atamicbomb
Why are stuffed animals so popular? Because they're cute in inanimate form, that's why.
Friends Of The Deep
"Dolphins. You look into news articles etc about them and they really aren't nice."
– Mystictempacv
An Ulterior Motive
"Find it creepy that cute animals are manipulating us by being so cute."
– D-Rez
Beware Of Bears
"They're the most dangerous type of bear, probably because food is scarce where they live so they will actively attack humans for food unlike most other bears."
"The super general advice is:"
- "Black bears:. Make yourself seem as big and threatening as possible while slowly getting away. Shows of aggression can scare them off. Attacks are rare but black bears may attack to kill."
- "Brown bears: Make yourself seem as nonthreatening as possible while slowly getting away. They're territorial so shows of aggression will provoke them but they may ignore you if you are clearly no threat. Attacks are rare, but Brown bears are not usually attacking to kill, more to scare you off, so people do survive maulings, and many encounters have the bear just walk on by."
- "White bears: No real advice. If you cannot get inside a bearproof structure before a polar bear gets to you, it will kill you."
"'If it's black: attack. If it's brown: lay down. If it's white: goodnight.' Is the version I'm used to."
– SteamboatMcGee
Everyone loves McDonald's. But I've always wondered why the franchise's mascot was a clown–not even a cartoony clown, but like, a human harlequin.
Any of the characters from the burger chain really.
Imagine, Hamburglar or Grimace standing in your bedroom doorway at night, with only the hallway light illuminating them from behind.
That imagery used to keep me up at night, that one day I'll be visited by one of them.
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Reddit user lgo21 asked:
"What are some dark facts about specific animals that make them not seem as cute anymore?"
So yeah. Brace yourself.
Trigger warning: EVERYTHING.
R*pe, murder, cannibalism, snacking... it's all here and it's all bad.
The Lion King
"The first thing a male lion does when he takes over another male's pride of female lions is go around and kill every single cub."
"That way the females don't have to nurse/care for their young and start ovulating sooner. The sooner they ovulate, the sooner he can get them pregnant with HIS cubs."
- fishnwirenreese
"Isn’t there evidence that lionesses can/will abort a pregnancy if this happens so that she won’t waste energy on growing a cub that will be killed anyway?"
- LordSoupSoup
"Lion king alternate ending"
- Mloxard_CZ
GiphyDuck Tales
"A group of bachelor Male ducks will find a mating pair (male and female duck) beat up the male and gang r*pe the female."
"Sometimes the will gang r*pe her so severely that the female will die in the process."
- el-mojo-
"Jesus I’ve WITNESSED this firsthand and was horrified."
"My parents live next to a pond and I like to read books by it. Was just trying to enjoy a nice spring day and witnessed duck gang r*pe. I chased them off but every spring it happens."
- crazygourdlady
"Was at Disney and saw this happen right outside Crystal palace."
"A lady jumps the fence to 'save' the female and proceeded to yell at park employees for letting the males hurt the female."
"The manager explained to her that it’s a duck natural behavior, they are federally protected, that Disney cannot interfere, AND that the lady was now trespassing and would be arrested if she’d didn’t leave immediately."
"That was a fun day of people watching."
- mtndew01
GiphyCasually Munching
"Sometimes deer will casually munch on live baby birds."
- NightSkies2019
"Which is why salt licks are important on a farm!"
"Generally, herbivores do that when their bodies give signals they lack certain nutrition. If they don’t have access to other animals to eat, they will also eat dirt and rocks (geophagy)."
- moxfactor
"Pretty much every herbivore is an opportunistic omnivore, they're just really bad at catching meat so usually go for stuff that's smaller then their mouths."
- stonedPict
GiphyHannibal Hamster
"Hamsters are cannibals. I don’t know if it’s only dwarf hamsters but they eat their own newborns and eventually each other."
- Catpix_
"This reminds me when my hamster gave birth to 7 babies and straight away ate 2 of them. Not something I wanted to see as 11 year old but oh well."
- Curious_Sandpaper
"I think this might be a rodent/small prey animal thing."
"Hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits and gophers will all eat their new born. Mice and rats eat each other all the time and I've seen gophers eat their dead brothers/sisters while the body is still warm."
- Sufficient__Phrase
"A lot of the 'cannibalism' of newborn rodents and lagamorphs is because they aren't healthy at birth, and an unhealthy baby can bring a lot of attention and extra risk to their nest, along with extra work for the mother."
"Rats and mice will actually eat their dead to prevent attracting predators in a lot of cases."
"In captivity, this is often an indication that your husbandry is very wrong and the mother does not feel there will be enough resources, safety, etc. People don't realize how much space and effort these animals really take."
"I've owned rats and mice for well over a dozen years now, along with rabbits, hamsters, all those small animals, and I've never seen any rodent eating another unless they were already dead or sickly."
- The_Lab_Rat_
GiphyFlower's Grandkids
"The dominant female meerkat in her clan will kill the babies that aren’t her own to make sure only her own survive and have the best chance of survival."
- KingFlame66
"As a kid I learned this from watching Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet."
"Watching the cute leader named Flower go and murder her daughter's babies (yes, her own grandkids!) kinda made me realize nature gets pretty metal pretty fast."
- Uceninde
"I was about to mention meerkats, but because they eat little chicks (baby chickens.)"
"At least they do at my local zoo. That's one way to permanently scar my little niece."
- nyanbran
"Meerkats aren't these sweet little things that only eat apples and pears."
"It was feeding time at the zoo, this one meerkat caught a full (dead) mouse and happened to run right up to the glass fence in front of a crowd of 40 people."
"He looked right at us then used his sharp teeth to rip the head off the mouse in one go, while maintaining eye contact. Metal as f*ck lol."
"The whole crowd went 'ewwwww!' Really loudly and now they are fed their meat later in the day when visitors aren't there lol"
- wizard7846
GiphyFlutter
"You ain't never seen butterflies drinking the fluid from around the eyes of a dead deer.""
"I have. I have."
- rvralph803
"Males of lots of butterflies will flock to dead or rotting meat."
"It's one of the few sources of sodium available to them, which they bundle up in their sperm packets as a 'gift' for the female during copulation. It's a bit sweeter when you look at it that context."
- scipio323
"This is called puddling!"
"Mostly male butterflies do this to get the salt and other nutrients to give to females during mating. But females will do it too to get the nutrients themselves."
- ER1536
"Butterflies are not herbivores!"
"They will drink your sweet, sweet, decomposing body juices. The next time a butterfly lands on you, take a closer look, realize how creepy they look, and that it would happily stick it's little tube tongue into your veins."
- Apageo
GiphyThe End Of 'Horse Girls'?
"I once saw a horse eat a live chicken."
"I was one of those little girls who adored horses up until that point so it was kind of traumatic, but I guess the silver lining is that it saved my parents from having to pay for a very expensive hobby."
"I just couldn’t see them the same way after that."
- Elvis_Take_The_Wheel
"My mom had a horse that was straight up demented about his love for eating baby chicks."
"If he saw a chick had gotten out (it was very hard to contain them when you were going in and out of a coop to feed and clean) he'd stop whatever he was doing and run over to eat it."
- imcoolthankstho
"There was a vid on Reddit of horse munching little chicken. Just pop and its gone. I don't think hen even noticed."
- ExcellentHunter
"I used to feed my horse ham."
- BobertoM
GiphySnack Attack
"Bears will eat you alive instead of killing you first."
- Zestyclose_Seaweed74
"Predators subdue their prey as much as possible, but they don't always waste the time or energy to completely kill."
"They have to eat as quickly as possible to get their meal in before scavengers come running in. The point to which they subdue their prey would be 'til the point the prey can’t fight back effectively anymore (i.e. kicks can’t hurt)."
"They usually don’t kill them outright before they start eating."
- Stagamemnon
"I heard a story where the bear put it's weight on a part of the person so that it could chew them casually."
"I don't remember where, but this reminded me of that."
- Plus-Creme
"This is the case with most large predators."
"They don't kill you to kill you so much as disable you so you'll stop resisting being eaten. I've seen enough wildlife kills to know they don't wait until you're dead."
"They are in a hurry to eat as much as possible as fast as they can before some scavengers or other predators show up to start something."
- -_Empress_-
GiphyKittens...
"Everyone talking about natural predators and other wildlife. Time to bring home reality."
"Kittens contain multiple viruses and bacteria which are transferable to humans, usually through a scratch. If left untreated, these can really screw a person up, even leading to death."
"Cat Scratch Fever is a legitimate medical term, and requires proper care to diagnose and treat. Symptoms are very closely related to the common cold, but can persist due to the bacteria."
"A more terrifying dark fact is cats can hide symptoms of rabies far longer than most other domesticated animals due to most people believing they may have cat scratch fever instead of rabies."
"This unhinged fact is why so many cats were killed during the Black Plague days, as people feared they were spreading the disease. Turns out, it was fleas via rats, which was discovered once the cats were killed but the plague spread even faster."
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to apply some antibiotic ointment on my recent scratch since I only learned of all this after adopting one."
"Enjoy!"
- WhiskersWithClaws
GiphyTrying To Help A Baby
"Bush Babies calls sound like, well, babies."
"An unsuspecting person might head toward them thinking there’s a crying infant that needs help and end up with half their face ripped off, deep skin lacerations, and they’ll be tripping balls."
"Bush Babies (particularly the galago is what I’m referring to) are highly defensive and territorial little menaces."
"They have needle-sharp teeth and grippy little fingers that can peel you apart. Their saliva is so toxic it is considered by many to be a 'venom.' "
"There have been reports from those envenomated to experience symptoms like they’ve been poisoned. Fevers, dizziness, sweating, nausea, rapid heart rate, audio and visual hallucinations."
"And what’s worse? For some, some of the symptoms don’t go away ever."
"In some cases, they’re left in a state of anxiety, depression or a post traumatic stress disorder-like reaction with vivid nightmares when they sleep, random bouts of anxiety, sweating and shaking, etc."
"I have a former coworker who worked with the primates alongside me at a zoo who was attacked by the bush baby who now has crazy nightmares and is now medicated for depression when he claims his mental health was fine before he was attacked. It’s scary stuff."
"They’re adorable but people wear full protective gear when they go in the enclosure now."
"They also piss all over each other to communicate. So they be stinky. And you end up stinky too. Insult to injury."
- wilder-side-pod
GiphyPenguin Presentation
"Necrophiliac penguins."
"Apparently, a face-down dead female penguin doesn't look sufficiently different than a presenting female penguin, and the males just go for it..."
- Zebirdsandzebats
"Adelie penguins will mate with ANYTHING."
"Dead females. frozen dead females, the decapitated head of a dead animal, their own offspring, fish, and even the ground. THE GROUND. To them, even baby seals are fit mating."
- NegativeAd99
penguin swimming GIFGiphyBaby Bunnies
"Bunnies will kill their own babies due to any amount of stress..."
"... or if anything goes slightly wrong, or if they are in a bad mood."
- GenderNotFound
"Weirdly enough, in domestic rabbits you can feed a pregnant doe some raw hamburger shortly before the birth and she usually won't try to snack on the babies."
- Askater_620
Sweet Kisses Bunnies GIFGiphySo Cute!
"Slow lorises are venomous. Their venom glands are in their armpits."
"So when people see this cute little primate put their arms up they think to themselves 'OMG SO CUUUUUUUTE!!' but it's not cute."
"They are, in reality, activating their defenses. At this point they are actively secreting venom which they then lick, the venom mixes with their saliva to make their bites toxic."
"This has only been observed as a defense against other slow lorises, which have been observed with rotting flesh around the site of venom delivery. One case researchers observed one with half their face 'melted.' "
- senatedestroyer
tummy loris GIFGiphyAdorable Death
"Black footed cats are the most successful feline hunters. More than 65% of their hunts are successful."
"They hunt rodents, lizards and other smaller animals, but they are quite aggressive so when threatened they might even attack humans."
"But they are only a a little bit bigger than house cats and REALLY CUTE, so they aren't a threat to humans."
"To anything smaller, they're death incarnate. To adult humans they're just adorable sassypaws."
- folgore248
GIF by SkabGiphyAnteaters Are Extreme
"Anteaters are some of the most homicidal and dangerous creatures in the animal kingdom and can scare off predators easily. They are near-totally blind and react to movement by attacking anything that comes near it."
"They happen to live in the same environments as jaguars who are considered some of the best hunters among the big cats and regularly hunt alligators, but jaguars won't go near them."
"This is because anteaters have huge claws that will utterly wreck anyone who tries it - either by cutting a major artery or just gutting someone. One unfortunate zookeeper was attacked by an anteater while cleaning its cage and her coworkers weren't sure whether she would die on the way to the hospital or before the ambulance even arrived."
"And the way they eat is also pretty messed up. Anteaters don't have stomach acids strong enough to digest their prey so they crush up ants and digest them in the ant's own digestive juices."
- res30stupid
hungry planet earth 2 GIF by BBC EarthGiphyThose Beautiful Birds
"Storks sometimes (not always) will pick the weakest and youngest chick and fling him out of the nest to die if they consider that there’s the possibility of scarcity of food in the future."
"I know they are not evil, this is instinct and probably the best chance of survival for the other siblings and all. But when I found out I was disturbed and never looked at those beautiful birds the same again."
- cerenir
white stork bird GIF by Head Like an OrangeGiphyIf It's White, Say Goodnight
"Polar bears are one of the most deadly apex predators on the planet."
"There's a saying about bear attacks: 'If it's black fight back, if it's brown lie down, if it's white say goodnight.' "
"Black bears attack mainly for food and are easily frightened (basically they're big raccoons) so if you make yourself seem not worth it they'll give up."
"Brown bears mainly attack out of fear / defensiveness and will leave if they think you're not a threat or are dead."
"Polar bears, though? They see humans as prey, are several times stronger than any other bear on the planet, and if one sees you you're pretty much as good as dead."
"There are places in the arctic where it's illegal to leave settlements without a firearm to defend yourself from polar bears."
- minnieboss
"Polar bears are not cute, fluffy little creatures that drink Coca Cola. They are one of the few species that seem to kill humans for fun."
- FraudulentCake
scratching polar bear GIFGiphyGod Help You
"A Cassowary's existence is dark enough."
"It looks like a pretty Emu, but it's more like if you mixed an Emu with a coked-up T-Rex."
"They got a reputation as the world's most dangerous bird, and may god help you if you ever accidentally piss one off."
- IceFire909
Australia One Planet GIF by BBC AmericaGiphyBubbles
"Chimpanzees."
"Case of humans trying to successfully domesticate chimps do not always go so well. The older the chimp gets the more aggressive it can become."
"In one case, a chimpanzee known to be friendly throughout the neighbourhood by everyone suddenly turned a corner one day and savagely attacked the owner’s friend."
"Not to get too graphic, but some limbs were removed and surgery was required."
- W4T3RM3LONS
"It didn't work for Michael Jackson and Bubbles, it's not gonna work for anyone."
"Not that Michael was some sort of primate expert, but he had more than enough money to afford care and access to every specialist he wanted. Chimps are wild animals, they are not pets or babies - Bubbles got way too aggressive and had to go."
"They're scary-strong and can rip your limbs or face off quite easily. It's happened more than once."
- [Reddit]
baby animals chimp GIF by BBC EarthGiphyCute Little Clocks
"Do you know about the cuckoo?"
"These little jerks go around to other bird's nests and replace the eggs that were there with their own eggs. Then the 'foster' parents raise the cuckoo as its own."
"Evolutionary genius? Perhaps."
"But why the f*ck do we make cute little clocks about these insidious a-holes?"
- Loki_Dar
GiphyThis whole thread deserves a collective:
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang Nature, you scary!"
Now that you're thoroughly horrified, or at least concerned for your mental health after a Bush Baby attack (which is a new thing I have anxiety about now, thanks!) it's your turn to spread some trauma!
What's an awful animal fact you know?
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The carnivorous dinosaur appeared to look harmless and playful, almost like a puppy needing love and attention.
Unfortunately for Nedry, karma got him in the end, as a Dilophosaurus suddenly appeared in Nedry's getaway jeep and devoured him alive after spitting venom in his eyes.
The scene may have been a general reminder never to underestimate the aggressive nature of an animal, living or extinct.
Curious to explore this notion, Redditor Farkle_Griffen asked:
"What animal is way more dangerous than people assume it is?"
They may be small and slow, but they sure carry lethal microscopic friends.
Slitherers
"Slugs and snails! They can transmit a lethal disease that infects the brain called rat lungworm through contamination of food. Always wash your produce, and wash your hands if you handle gastropods!"
– synapticrelay
Bad Escargot
"Slugs. They are crammed with bacteria. If you ate one raw you are in for a really bad time and likely a trip to the hospital."
– Carrelio
Many reptiles are considered to be dangerous and aggressive, while some appear less harmful.
Don't Be Deceived By Its Speed
"Turtle, there are some that bite you like you are a lettuce."
– xleaxfeli
Do Not Pet
"Armadillos. Getting bit by one is a big deal, you'll need about 10 shots to inoculate you for all the junk you might have gotten infected with."
– CaffeinatedHBIC
They are furry. And that's about it going for their cuteness factor.
Leave The Biting For The Trees
"Beavers. They can get to about 65 lbs, are pretty agressive when provoked, and gnaw on trees. It will bite you like you're butter."
– TheRealOgMark
Admire From Afar
"Koalas! They look like teddy bears and will rip your face off."
"And not only are people surprised by how sharp their teeth and claws are, but they're ALSO surprised by how many vaginas they each have!"
It's All About Their Venom
"Platypus."– Cautious-Quantity-28
"Oh yup def, people always forget/never know that they're actually venomous as well (while it prob won't kill you, apparently it hurts like hell)."
– will-o-the-wisps
The great outdoors can be breathtaking. But a wrong encounter with one of the environs will leave you with your last breath.
Stay Out Of Their Way
"Moose. They're huge, bigger than people believe them to be, and quite aggressive."
– SendMeNudesThough
D'oh!
"Deer. Stop trying to pet deer! Stop encouraging your pets to go over to deer! They weigh more than you do, half of them have bone spikes sticking out of their heads, and they are dumb as sh*t."
"A doe will attack a threat to fawns if it can, and a buck is an extra moron and will attack just because."
– Redqueenhypo
Majestic Killing Machines
"Horses and cows."
"They are big, they are heavy, they are VERY strong, they have bricks for feet, and they are nervy prey animals that see EVERYTHING as a potential threat."
"I've grown up around farms, and I've seen several people kicked. Half a ton of muscle power concentrated into one hoof will smash bones like a cheap dinner plate."
"A lot of people also don't realise that Horses can and will bite, and when they do, it hurts like you wouldn't believe. Their teeth aren't sharp, but their jaws are strong, so it's like having a handful of your flesh put into an industrial vice."
– DendroNate
Basically, never underestimate the strength of animals, regardless of size, speed, or how cute they look.
Animals are unpredictable, but as long as we respect the boundaries of undomesticated species when we encounter them in the wild, they should pose no harm to us or feel the need to aggressively protect themselves.
Otherwise, you may go by the way of Nedry.
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