At the time the person took the photo, they had no idea what was coming. But only moments later--or perhaps moments before--horror lurked.
When the dust settled, the news was written, and the horror of the moment was fully understood, that once innocent photo then takes on a whole new, terrible significance.
Redditor KermitTheFraud92 asked:
"What is a seemingly normal photo that has a disturbing backstory?"
Some photos were taken just before a catastrophic accident took place. These were the final moments of peace before a terrible twist of events resulted in tragedy.
Studying is One Thing
"There is a photo of an American volcanologist sitting down while studying volcanic activity at Mount St. Helens."
"Article."
"13 hours after the photograph was taken, on May 18, 1980, the volcano erupted and killed 57 people including the volcanologist."
The Last Moments of Bliss
"this photo was taken at a nightclub before it caught on fire by fireworks leaving 100 people dead" -- AffectionateBat2687
"A few years after the fire I visited the area and there were burn victims everywhere we went. I don't think I truly appreciated the scope of the fire until then." -- onekrazykat
Just a Guy
"This was the last picture taken of Dale Earnhardt. it's weird because the race was televised and 10-15 million people were watching at the time, but this is the last one that shows him as a person and not just a car."
"This is a replay of the crash along with an onboard (roof, he didn't have an onboard camera) view, and the half-speed doesn't do justice as how hard and fast it was hitting the wall head-on at 190 miles per hour."
"He was the face and living legend of what was the second most popular sport at the time and 20 years later fans who were watching at the time still haven't gotten over watching their hero die live on TV."
A Historic Tragedy Was In the Wings
"This photo always gets to me somehow. Just a couple of astronauts posing in zero gravity happy to have such an incredible opportunity, like astronauts often do. Meanwhile they have no idea that their space shuttle is irreparably damaged, and in fact will be dead in a few days during reentry (which was considered 'safe' until then)."
"It's the crew for Columbia for those who don't know, whose tiles were damaged during the launch of the shuttle into space by foam. No one knew how bad the damage was until it disintegrated."
-- Andromeda321
Proposal
"A man who swam to his girlfriend in their underwater hotel room while on vacation in Tanzania, and proposed to her with a note and a ring. He died before he could resurface from the water."
"Louisiana man dies during underwater proposal"
-- tojoso
A Dangerous Rustling
"A kid went missing hiking a spot on the Big Island of Hawaii. He texted some pictures of the scenery while he was hiking. After he never showed up at home, his family noticed somebody lurking in bushes in the photos he sent. Iirc, my family that live in Hawaii said the spot is illegal to hike at, so it's not like it would have been a heavily populated trail."
More info, and the photo in question:
-- forcehatin
High High Speeds
"This image may seem quite insignificant, but this was Marco Simoncelli's (#58, white and red motorcycle in the middle of the pack) last race."
"It's on YouTube and there are plenty of articles about it, but there was a crash and his helmet came off. His good friend, Valentino Rossi (also in that shot, #46) was unable to avoid him and went over his head."
"Ten years ago this year, still one of the most horrific live sporting events I have witnessed."
-- Counteract92
Others chose to share the photos that were taken just before a horrifying act of murder took place. The calm demeanor of the murderers are especially unnerving.
A Powerless Infant
"This photo. John Edwards Robinson (yellow sweater) is holding baby Tiffany, whose mother he murdered the day before."
"He gave baby Tiffany to his brother, saying she was adopted. His brother, along with Tiffany, didn't find out the truth for 15 years."
People Share The Dumbest Purchases They Have Ever Made | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
A Brutal Scheme
"2 brothers smiling, kevin and bart whitaker. Hours later after arriving home from dinner, Bart killed Kevin and his mother after conspiring with a friend. He tried to kill his father as well, but he survived."
"It's a horrible story. I don't know what became of Bart though, all I know is that his father somehow found the courage to forgive him."
Playing the Part
"The Lawson Family Portrait always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Wikipedia tells their awful tale, which has been memorialized in murder ballads. Dressed in their finest, a picture made for the holidays, and no one knowing that the father would kill most of the family days later. Brutal stuff."
Seconds Before
"I've posted this before: A politician at an election rally"
"Last photo of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Taken moments before a suicide bomber, (wearing orange flowers, lower left, also on the inset, top left) hugged him bent down and touched his feet and detonated her bomb."
-- tinkrman
Way Too Calm
"This is a photo of Tyler Hadley holding a cup in a party at his house."
"Just before this party he had murdered his mother and father and hid their bodies in the master bedroom."
"Murder of Blake and Mary Jo-Hadley"
-- your-playboy
The Yosemite Killer
"These photos were found and developed after the three women went missing near Yosemite National Park. Turns out they had been murdered by serial killer Carey Stayner."
"Carole Sund, her teenage daughter Juli Sund and their friend Silvina Pelosso; and later naturalist Joie Ruth Armstrong were all murdered shortly after these photos were taken."
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-yosemite-murders/#app
-- nutmegtell
Broken Down
"Brandon Price. The picture in the article is the only known picture of him. He was living with his grand parents and being abused. He was dead when his grand mother brought him to the hospital. She has been charged and the last I heard was still awaiting trial in his death. The community took up donations to pay for his burial and headstone."
"He looks completely demoralized in the picture and I've always felt so bad for the guy."
https://www.walb.com/story/31193639/woman-indicted-for-young-grandsons-murder/
-- Wastedgent
The Details Are Shocking
"If you're British, and of a certain age, you'll probably be as haunted by this grainy image as I am. I still distinctly remember the first time I saw it."
"At the time, James Bulger was only missing, and it was regarded as a cause for optimism that he was last seen with other children. The truth was far worse than anyone imagined, and still inspires a visceral reaction unlike any other crime in my lifetime."
It's important to remember how many other, not terrifying photographs are being taken every single second. It's nice to know these kind of eerie premonitions are not commonplace.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
***WARNING-SENSITIVE MATERIAL AHEAD***
Lights. Camera. Pose. Now what? I remember recently looking through an old photo album. And in it was a photo myself and some college friends. The moment that was captured was our last before we said a round of drunken goodbyes on a raucous New Year's Eve. In the photo one of our friends took her last snapshot. Because five minutes later, stone cold sober, she was killed by a drunk driver. In the photo, she's the only one not smiling.
1-
The picture of a family photo, the guy taking the picture also caught the guy about to kill him:
He was a cop and it was probably revenge from guys he arrested.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/01/04/132648941/chilling-image-filipino-official-takes-photograph-as-his-killer-takes-aim?t=1616066896753.
2-
The Columbine 1999 class photo
In the top left corner there's a small group of people pretending to shoot at the camera. The one in the black hat is Eric Harris and the one with the sunglasses is Dylan Klebold, the shooters of the Columbine massacre. This photo was only taken a few weeks beforehand.
3-
Air New Zealand Flight 901, a passenger caught the moment of impact on their camera as the plane slammed into Mount Erebus.
A very interesting and gruesome account. I recommend the documentary/dramatization "Erebus: Into The Unknown", which tells things largely from the side of the NZ police investigation.
4-
Couple having a swim, on their honeymoon if I'm correct, this is just a picture of a video on youtube actually, you can see they both get in the water, having some fun and it looks like the boy slips away and goes into a shock pulling his girlfriend with him into the water. If the video ends you can still hear the underwater screaming. It's horrible.
Edit: what makes it even more horrible, in the video the girl actually gets out but the boy pulls her back in.
5-
This picture of the BTK killer always stuck with me. It's just his overall vibe here. He's so uncomfortably close to this tree, like he doesn't really know how to stand or behave in front of a camera. Almost like he's so uncertain that he can't just "be." It'd be an absolutely hilarious photo if he hadn't killed 10 people.
Yeah, those are some pics that we'd be better off not having to scrapbook. It's amazing what moments can be caught without explanation. Let's see what other mysteries and horrors made the list.
6-
Although this just looks like a creepy, poorly made doll, it is actually the mummified remains of a little girl that was robbed from her grave. Anatoly Moskvin dug up her and 20 other women and dressed them up and mummified them. He was arrested in 2011 and refused to apologise to the families of his victims.
7-
In this photo a man took of his wife diving, you can probably see another diver on the sea floor. That's Tina Watson. A few minutes before this photo, her husband turned off her air supply and held her underwater until she drowned. He then went up to the surface and told the other divers she was "in trouble", and you can see someone else swimming to try and save her.
He did serve 12 months in prison in Australia for Manslaughter, as a plea bargain (Neither he nor the court knew if he was going down for murder). When he returned home to Alabama, the US courts tried to get him on the grounds that he'd planned the murder there, but he got off due to lack of evidence. Australian authorities refused to help with the American trial, as they'd broken an extradition clause not to push for the death penalty.
8-
Omayra Sanchez. It's a creepy picture but the story behind it is heartbreaking. This 13-year-old girl was trapped in the water for three days before passing away. No one could help her.
She was stuck in a kneeling position, with concrete trapping her legs under the water. The options were to amputate (under the water) which surely would have killed her, or to let her die naturally. Really sad stuff.
9-
This picture of the "Elephant's Foot" courtesy of the University of Washington
The elephant's foot is a lump of radioactive slag that was formed during the disaster at Chernobyl. It emits a high amount of radiation, even to this day, but what is especially creepy about this photo is that the man who quickly took it four years after the disaster still died from the radiation dose he received. In the words of the professor who obtained it (which you can see at the link) "this picture cost a man his life."
I first learned about this particular photo and the Elephant's Foot in more detail from this video by Kyle Hill.
10-
Photo taken in the black of night by Kris Kremers, Lisanne Froon, or an unknown person before disappearing in a Panama jungle. The picture is thought to be of a trail marker crafted by one of the two girls. Their bones were found months later but the cause of death remains unsolved.
11-
This one taken by serial killer Ben Robert Rhodes before killing his victim Regina Kay Walters:
https://www.sickchirpse.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Regina-Kay-Walters.jpg.
I knew this one would be here.
If anyone wants to read about the world of Roberts, trucker culture and teenage runaways in the 80s - this is one of the best articles I have ever read. I wish someone would make a film about this writer's experience.
12-
How Two Murderers Were Spotted on an Old Mark Jackson Trading Card
The Mark Jackson basketball card that features the Menendez Brothers. They brutally killed their parents for their inheritance/insurance money and then went on a spending spree, which included a Knicks game as Madison Square Garden. They sat in the front row and a picture was taken that wound up being used on NBA player Mark Jackson's trading card. Nobody made the connection until 30 years later: https://www.slamonline.com/nba/how-two-serial-killers-were-discovered-on-an-old-mark-jackson-basketball-card/.
13-
Scared Dog GIFGiphyThe thing could just be a really freaky example of kenopsia, but it did help a man battle his addiction.
14-
https://abcnews.go.com/US/mystery-deepens-delphi-girls-double-murder/story?id=62571284
This is a case that has fallen out of popularity, sadly, though I still pray it will get solved one day.
This is the last photo of Abby Williams, 13, taken by her friend Liberty German, 14, on Monon High Bridge, in Delphi, Indiana. Quickly following the picture, a video is taken by German, an obscured one of a man, head down, quickly approaching the girls. After the girls fail to return to the location where one of the girl's father planned to pick them up, police come and search the area.
The effort is fleet as night quickly approaches. Believing the girls are in no immediate danger, it is decided to resume the search tomorrow. The girls' bodies are found the next day on the other side of the trail. Both the video and a snip of audio of their killer has been shared to the public, but no arrests have ever been made.
15-
Most photos of Kim Il Sung were taken at an angle to conceal the softball sized tumor he had growing out the back of his head. So, literally a creepy back story.
Kim Il Sung
I did not know this, looked up a pic for those who wanna see.
16-
The Pulitzer Prize winning Burst of Joy photgraph.
Lt. Col Robert Stirm, a Vietnam POW had been released after years of confinement. The family looks happy to see him, but three days before he arrived in the United States, the same day he was released from captivity, Stirm received a Dear John letter from his wife Loretta informing him that their marriage was over.
She had been openly dating other men while he was in captivity. They divorced, the kids sided with their dad, but he only got custody of the two older ones and he had to pay 43% of his retirement pay to her as alimony.
17-
Not exactly sure if this counts, but this is a photo of Darlene Elizabeth Ferren, one of the victims of the Zodiac Killer. the man next to her is unknown, but for reference, this is a composite sketch of the Zodiac Killer made from multiple witness statements.
19-
During the Ferguson riots, there were pictures going around about cops and people of color getting along. This picture here has a darker meaning to it.
http://media.heartlandtv.com/images/640x360_41129P00-XLTKK.jpg
The child went through extreme abuse and neglect and there was a homicide case involving the adoptive mothers and they haven't located Devonte's body. His tears were not because of injsutice in the country, but because of abuse and trauma.
He cried because he found someone that could protect him from the abuse and neglect he and his siblings received. He was basically the poster child for the family. There were tons of signs of abuse and neglect that came from the house. One of the daughters had a bruise, and the second adult Sarah took the blame. Basically the mother Jennifer was the abuser and Sarah was the scapegoat and enabler.
20-
john lennon GIFGiphyThe last photo of John Lennon, He publishes his autograph. In the background you can see the man who will kill him a little later. Sorry for my bad English
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/05/29/22/28990138-8371155-image-a-49_1590788517803.jpg.
Now there is quite a photo gallery. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, what about the price tag on the shots that leave you breathless?
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Nudes
naked george costanza GIFGiphyCoworkers nudes........ I worked at Walmart, happened a lot.
A really old woman, like 70s or so, posing in lingerie. Every few photos an article of clothing is removed. Up till the last photo spread eagle fully naked.....
Coworker had pics of 2 guys going at it. Guy picks them up. Order comes through again, we don't sell the nudes btw. Guy picks those up. Orders again. Comes in and then decides to complain.
Then there was one of a guy in an odd pose with a rolled sock over his junk and a stick of deodorant in one hand.
Had lots of requests from guys wanting to print their naked body on a blanket for their girlfriend.
Also forgot one. Had an 80 year old man who dumped his SD card on cds. Somehow the computer picked a very specific set of photos to print on the front of the cd for thumbnails. It was him with an equally aged sex worker in a hotel. He flipped out on us about how these photos don't exist and no one knows about this and he was gonna give these to his family for Christmas......
Negative Space
I used to work in a pharmacy 1-hour photo lab during high school. Digital cameras weren't really a thing yet - the only ones around were really expensive.
There were a couple instances of people bringing in sexy time photos, but honestly, that was pretty rare.
The weirdest stuff, honestly, was when someone would drop off an entire roll of film with only one or two pictures on it.
Or people that didn't know how to use their camera so the film wouldn't wind/advance far enough for the next shot and you'd get overlapping images on the negative. And then people would complain about us ruining their pictures and I'd have to explain that, no, they ruined them all by themselves.
The Ritz
I worked at a Ritz Camera in a mall, this was when digital cameras were pretty expensive for the average person so a huge portion of orders were film.
So many penis pics, like multiple every day for different orders. I still don't get it. Lots of naked people.
The police department photos were rough to do.
Too Much to Look
I also worked at a Ritz Camera, I think it was called Kits Camera for awhile before it became Ritz. We also had to do police Department photos. Usually my more experienced coworker who was a few years older than I was at the time would print them.
I remember one time an officer came in needing an order that day and I was the only one on staff. Case was a man who committed suicide by shotgun. He looked like he was just sitting down at the top of some stairs in most of them.
I have an older holiday photo of my brother who fell asleep at a family party in a very similar position and I just can't help but think of the man who committed suicide every time I see the photo of my brother.
I was really lucky my coworker insisted on processing most of the images.
Haunted Events
black and white horror GIFGiphyThe absolute most bizarre was when a local photo photographer accidentally double-exposed his sister's wedding photos onto his aunt's funeral.
There were strangely macabre images of the couple walking down the aisle overlaid atop the open casket.
Watch Closely
My brother works for a photo developers where they also transfer VHS to DVD and digital, he says about 30% of the videos are home pornography. The thing is, someone has to watch the entirety of the copy to check the quality, they have to watch everything!! I think most people think its all done by computers and no one will ever know whats on the tapes, boy are they wrong!! He has many stories to tell!
The Innocent
I was a photo lab manager for 5 years and can't recall ever seeing full on porn. We edited every photo that came through the system. There was no auto print. My volume was 2000ish prints a day.
But then again I wasn't working at a big store. Many average people complained that our prices were higher but the pros loved us because we actually kept our printers and monitors calibrated.
Most of what we printed was pro weddings and portraits. Some boudoir photography though! Tasteful nudes.
Lots of massive retouching jobs of antique family portraits.
When at Walmart
WalMart 1 hour photo mid 1990s checking in.
We had the occasional funny/depressing nudes (could not print, just put a preprinted "naughty note" in the envelope), wet t-shirt contests (mostly would print, unless the manager or the ex-nun was working). I also remember a totally scuzzy guy dropping off a roll of sad attempted glamour shots of his equally scuzzy girlfriend wearing a bikini on a sport bike in their super messy garage, but most difficult was parents with their stillborn infant.
Started off with first photos thinking it was just parents at hospital with their newborn. Then realized they didn't look happy. Then realized baby was not alive. Sad day. But appreciated these were likely the only photos they'd ever have of this child they'd been anticipating for months, and took more time color correcting for the fluorescent hospital lights than we were really supposed to spend per roll.
Not "Cool"
Called the Cops: Young parents with a toddler and they were holding guns to each others heads (including baby), and then at the camera. The poses seemed like they were trying to be "cool".
Sad: Parents posing with their stillborn child in all sorts of "alive looking" poses, like sitting on the dad's lap. But the last pic was the baby in the coffin.
Sad: We handled the film for the police assault team. Lots of bruises, black eyes, stab wounds and trauma wounds both inside and out.
That Day
American Flag GIFGiphyI developed photos from Ground Zero which was taken by a construction worker who was down there working on the clean up.
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/
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.