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10 Creepy Photos with Disturbing Backstories



Estimated reading time — 10 minutes
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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ObqIEtozaA[/embedyt]

A picture’s worth a thousand words, but some leave us with a million questions. Here are 10 truly disturbing photographs with creepy backstories. Warning: some of these are truly scary!

Timestamps:
1. Gladbeck – 00:23
2. Collapse – 02:42
3. Crasher – 03:33
4. Wink – 05:27
5. Tinder – 07:19
6. Hike – 10:32
7. Snyder – 14:20
8. My Lai – 15:15
9. Hill – 17:26
10. Day Off – 19:09

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Produced by: Lazy Masquerade

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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT (MAY CONTAIN ERRORS)

#1: The Gladbeck Hostage Crisis
Her expression says it all.
This was 18-year-old Silke Bischoff.
She’d been taken hostage by two bank robbers: Dieter Degowski and Hans-Jürgen Rösner.
The pair of gangsters were on the run from the cops, and took a bus full of civilians hostage in Huckelriede, Germany.
At the time this photo was taken, the duo had already executed a 15-year-old Italian hostage,
and a police officer had died in a crash while pursuing them.
Over time, most of the hostages on the bus were released.
Only Silke and one other female hostage were left behind as bargaining chips.
They were forced into a getaway car and the robbers took them on a long journey into the Netherlands.
The situation was handled extremely poorly by the police, and media outlets were even able to hold interviews with the two armed convicts,
giving them not only exposure, but leverage as well.
Authorities watched on as journalists brought the criminals cups of tea and coffee.
Some reporters even helped to prolong the incident guiding the abductors on their way,
and handing them pictures of the police officers involved in the case so that they wouldn’t be tricked during a hostage exchange.
During an interview, one reporter even asked Silke, “What’s it like to have a gun held to your neck?”
The ratings were through the roof.
Near the end of the whole ordeal, a police cruiser rammed into the robbers escape vehicle, rendering it immobile.
Rather than come out with their hands up, the gangsters decided to make their last stand
all guns blazing with Silke still in the car.
Silke was killed in the ensuing gunfight.
The same can’t be said of both the hostage-takers— they survived.
With no more hostages left, they were forced to surrender.
But Rösner received a life sentence. Degowski got off light with 24 years.
Since this all took place in 1988, he is a free man.
#2: The Collapse
In 1976, photographer Stanley Forman took this Pulitzer Prize winning photograph
entitled “Fire on Marlborough Street.”
It captures the chilling moment that a fire escape collapsed in Boston,
sending 19-year-old Diana Bryant and her 2-year-old goddaughter plummeting down 50 feet.
Bryant didn’t survive the fall. Her goddaughter, however, did, but only because she landed on top of Bryant’s body.
And this remarkable image went on to be awarded the title of World Press Image of the Year.
As a result of the collapse, fire escape regulations were strengthened throughout the entirety of the United States.
#3: The Anniversary Crasher
Joe Martinez was at his in-laws’ 50th wedding anniversary enjoying a night of festivities along with his wife, Patty.
Unbeknownst to most of the other guests, Joe was battling a severe drug problem— one that he says was killing his soul.
Still, Patty stood by her husband in spite of his addiction,
Hoping that one day, Joe would see the light and finally get clean.
Little did they both realize that Joe would indeed see the light that evening, and it would come in the form of a camera flash.
The couple posed together for this photo.
At first glance, it’s a fairly ordinary image.
But something appeared alongside Joe which wasn’t there when they took the picture—
a doglike face leering over his shoulder.
There were no dogs at the party, no animals of any kind, and the creature didn’t appear in any other photographs taken that evening.
Nobody at the event remembered seeing anything even remotely resembling it. By all accounts, it shouldn’t be there.
The couple themselves truly believe that it’s demon.
Believing that it was following him, Joe took this photo as a sign to finally kick his drug habit.
“And there’s good and evil in this life,” said Mr. Martinez.
“There’s the good on the right side of me, and there’s the evil on the left.”
Joe now carries the photo with him wherever he goes as a reminder to keep himself clean.
#4: The Most Sinister Wink of all Time
And that’s what many people believe this is, at least.
The photo was taken just after Lyndon. B Johnson had been sworn in as President on Air Force One.
In the foreground, you can see a grieving Jackie Kennedy.
Her husband, JFK, had just been assassinated.
His blood and brains were still on her coat.
And there’s obviously a somber atmosphere on board the jet, a sorrowful expression on every face.
That is, with one exception.
As Jackie mourned the death of her husband, LBJ turned to one of his longtime cronies, Texas congressman Albert Thomas.
He gives LBJ a secret wink and smile,
not realizing that Cecil Staughton, the White House photographer, was taking a picture of the scene.
According to the man in charge of Air Force One at the time, President Johnson’s behavior on the flight was, quote unquote, “obscene.”
And this image is certainly something for conspiracy theorists to chew on.
Then again, there could be a much more innocent explanation for the wink.
And that doesn’t explain LBJ so-called “obscene” behavior during the flight, though.
Even if things aren’t as menacing as they appear, it’s still disturbing to see such high-profile figures
so pleased with themselves in the presence of a grieving widow and in the wake of their president’s murder.
The photographer himself said, “The wink could have been innocent or sinister, and I would lean towards the latter.”
#5: The Tinder Date
People have mixed opinions about Tinder,
but I think the majority of us agree that it’s not the best place to go looking for long-lasting romance.
Still, millions of people use the app for hookups and dates all the time.
Problem is, when you’re interacting with someone through a screen for a while,
it’s easy to forget that the person you’re talking to is still a complete stranger,
And agreeing to meet that stranger is, unfortunately,
not completely risk-free.
It was August of 2014, and Warriena Wright, a New Zealander in her mid-twenties, was in Australia for a friend’s wedding.
The Gold Coast was providing her with both sun and sea, but something was missing.
She opened Tinder to secure the final “S.”
She matched with a guy that she thought was cute: Gable Tostee, a self-proclaimed Gold Coast playboy.
The pair met up and Warriena agreed to go back to his apartment…
… Alone. A decision that would cost her her life.
This is the last image taken of Warriena while she was still alive.
Audio recordings found on Tostee’s phone revealed that she was begging for him to let her go home.
Tostee refused to let her leave, saying, “I would, but you’ve been a bad girl.”
Later in the recordings, guttural choking sounds could be heard, as if Warriena was being strangled.
At various other points he threatens to knock her out and push her over the edge of his balcony on the 14th floor.
Well, the exact events of that night remain unclear, but at some point during the early hours
Warriena either fell or was thrown from the apartments balcony.
Her body was apparently folded over on itself.
There were indeed red marks around her neck, indicative of strangulation.
It was originally alleged that Warriena was so scared of her date and that she tried to climb down from the building to escape him.
After she fell, Tostee called up his father and asked him, “Why does this keep happening to me?”
CCTV footage showed him walking around outside the apartment eating a slice of Domino’s pizza only five minutes after Warriena’s death.
Tostee’s legal team managed to convince the jury that he had locked Warriena out on the balcony for his own safety.
Her death was not Mr. Tostee’s fault since he had used a reasonable force to subdue her after she became aggressive.
The fact that she fell was her own fault.
Ultimately, he was found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter.
Not satisfied with the result, the coroner reopened the case in 2016, and that’s where things stand today.
#6: Kris Kremers & Lisanne Froon
In 2014, two young Dutch women disappeared on a hike in Panama.
Ten weeks later, after an intensive search,
some of their bone fragments were discovered along with their phones, and one of their cameras.
On it were a series of photos chronicling the final days of Chris Kremers and Lisanne Froon.
Here are those images.
Things start off as you’d expect, with the girls cheerfully posing for the camera at various points along the hiking route.
Lisanne continues to take pictures of Kris as they move deeper into the jungle.
Then, the pictures stop abruptly.
Eight days later, about 90 photos were taken in the early hours of the morning.
87 of them were apparently of near complete blackness.
They still haven’t been released to the public.
Of the three that have been released, one was of this patch of earth.
One was of this— potentially a marker that one of the girls had made.
The final discernible image was a close-up of the back of Kris’s head.
Her temple appears to be bloody.
Some think that we were using the camera’s flash to signal for help.
Others think that they were using it to light their way as they navigated through the wilderness,
To make sure that they weren’t walking in circles.
In their weakened state, perhaps they were using the flash to scare off predators.
At this point, they would have been starving, dehydrated, and completely disoriented.
After checking their call history,
investigators learned that the girls had tried to make over 80 distress calls.
It also became apparent that the girls were desperately trying to conserve their battery power.
Lisanne’s phone died on the fifth day in.
Kris’s phone was switched off for the last time at 11:56PM, on the tenth day.
It’s likely that Kris died on day eight, hence the bloody photo, and Lisanne took her phone in hopes of finding a signal.
That would explain why, after day eight, the wrong PIN was repeatedly entered into Kris’s phone and the device remained locked.
The main theory at this point is that in the darkness, the girls somehow became separated.
Kris fell, hit her head, and died as a result.
Lisanne may have taken the rest of the pictures to mark the way back to Kris’s body
hoping that the authorities may be able to use them to find her remains.
Does it sound like I’m speculating a lot? Well, that’s because I am.
Nobody knows the exact fate of those girls during and after those ten days.
There are of course many theories flying around, and even some evidence that may suggest foul play.
It’s possible that a local guide with a history of inappropriate and aggressive behavior
may have led the girls deep into the jungle.
Then, when they fought off his advances, he may have left them stranded in the wilderness.
Whatever the case, it’s hard to imagine being lost in the jungle for ten days straight.
No food, no water, and no phone signal.
These last dark images give us a sense of the desperation those girls must have felt.
What a nightmarish scenario.
#7: Ruth Snyder
This almost looks like a charcoal drawing.
In actuality, it’s a photo taken way back in 1928
capturing the execution of Ruth Snyder.
Thousands of volts of electricity were being pumped through her at the moment this picture was taken,
Making it the first photo to capture an American execution in progress.
If you’re wondering why her face looks so distorted, it’s because there’s a sack over her head.
In a way, the graininess of the picture gives it a truly haunting, other-worldly quality.
When you realize that this is actually the picture of a woman during her last painful moments of existence…
Well, it’s unsettling to say the least.
#8: The My Lai Family Portrait
Another trip back to the past now, this time to the hamlet of My Lai, Vietnam.
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the massacre that took place there in 1968.
For those of you that skipped that history lesson, here are the cliff notes.
During the Vietnam War, a company of US soldiers entered Son My village,
rounded up as many as 504 unarmed civilians—
men, women, children, and infants— and gunned them all down.
As you can imagine, the incident prompted global outrage.
One person present that day was Army photographer Ronald Haebearle.
In the midst of all the carnage that surrounded him, he snapped this picture.
It shows a small group of terrified villagers, most probably a family, mere seconds before they were all killed.
You’ll notice that the teenager on the right is preoccupied with buttoning up her blouse while the rest of the victims huddle in fear.
That’s because some of the soldiers had just had their way with her.
When the soldiers assaulting them noticed Haebearle and his camera, they quickly stopped what they were doing.
Haebearle took his picture.
Then, as he walked away, he heard the distinctive sound of an M60 going off.
He turned to see what had just happened.
And, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the group of villagers he had just taken a photo of
collapsing to the ground.
They were dead.
Only one of the soldiers that took part in the massacre was convicted of any criminal offenses.
He was originally sentenced to life, but ended up only serving three and a half years under house arrest.
Haebearle’s photo is not only a reminder of the extreme cost of war,
but also the dark depths that humans are able to sink to.
#9: Down the Hill
This is the last picture taken of Abby Williams captured by her friend Libby German in February of 2017.
The pair of young teenagers were out on a hiking trail in Delphi, Indiana.
Sadly, they were never to return home.
They were brutally murdered shortly after this picture of Abbie was captured, and, despite over
26,000 tips, the police have yet to identify their killer.
Which brings me to the next entry in this list.
Libby also took these two photos of an eerie figure following behind them on the trails.
The police believe that this is the man who killed the girls.
Question is: Who is he?
Libby not only managed to capture these images of her soon-to-be killer, but also took a short
audio recording of his voice using her cell phone.
In the audio, you can hear the man saying down the hill
All of the evidence that Libby was able to secretly capture was quickly released to the public.
Sadly, to no avail.
Not only does the killer’s name remain unknown, so does his motivation.
One man was identified by the police as a person of interest, but it was later determined that he wasn’t involved.
If anyone can identify the man in the images, there’s a $200,000 reward up for grabs.
#10: A Lovely Day Off
Ah… There’s nothing better than a well-deserved day off work.
And that was as true back in the day as it is now, as can be seen in this set of black-and-white photos.
These people are obviously enjoying their break, laughing and joking in their casual clothes.
Things get a little darker when you see them in their uniforms.
This photo album is entitled
“Laughing at Auschwitz.”
And these smiling, happy people were SS officers, Nazi guards, and female staff members
stationed at the death camp.
While off-duty they bask in the glory of the surrounding countryside eating blueberries, singing songs, and sunbathing together.
Less than a mile away, people were suffering and died at the world’s most famous concentration camp.
Browsing through these photos, it becomes clear just how normal and everyday the people carrying out these atrocities were.
There are no pictures of monstrous acts being committed,
no soulless eyes or hateful faces to be observed.
These people who killed others in the thousands were just like us,
and that’s perhaps the scariest thing of all.
Hey guys, Lazy here, and thank you very much for listening.
I know there are quite a few of these types of videos out on YouTube,
So I tried my best to use photographs that I don’t think have been used by many other content creators,
but inevitably some will slip through the cracks and um,
I don’t think I’d seen many of these before in fairness, so, hopefully you hadn’t either.
I actually found a bunch of really horrifying images that I don’t think I could get past the censors on YouTube,
put it that way. Might have been breaking a few terms and conditions.
But anyway, that’s the way it goes sometimes, huh?
Let me know if you did enjoy this video by smashing that like button
and be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and all that jazz.
Until the next time Lazy Legion, you all stay spooky.
And remember:
The best things happen
in the dark.

Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.

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