13 Creepy Historical Photos That Are Totally Real
These eerie photos from the past are 100% real — and they’ll send a chill down your spine.
- Chris Graciano
- 3 min read
History isn’t always neat and tidy. It may be downright eerie at times. These real old photographs document eerie events that are both interesting and eerie. Here are 13 scary photos that demonstrate that reality is stranger than fiction, ranging from eerie medical procedures to spectral imagery.
1. The Real Annabelle Doll
Bernard Spragg. NZ on Flickr
Forget the porcelain version in the movies — the actual Annabelle is a raggedy cloth doll locked away in a museum. Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren claimed it was cursed.
2. Post-Mortem Family Portraits
Wikimedia Commons
In the 1800s, families took photos with deceased loved ones posed to look alive. It was seen as a way to remember the dead, but today, it looks downright morbid.
3. The Cottingley Fairies
roujo on Flickr
Two young girls in 1917 claimed they had photographed real fairies. The black-and-white images fooled many — including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
4. The Burning Monk – Thích Quảng Đức
Ngô Trung on Wikimedia Commons
In 1963, a Buddhist monk set himself on fire in protest in Vietnam. A photo captured him calmly sitting as flames engulfed his body.
5. Victorian Surgical Tools in Use
Wikimedia Commons
Photos of 19th-century surgeries reveal a grim reality — no gloves, no anesthesia, and lots of blood. Surgeons stood in bloody aprons as they operated.
6. Nikola Tesla Sitting Next to His Giant Coil
Wikimedia Commons
Tesla once posed in a room while his massive electrical coil sparked dramatically around him. The image looks otherworldly and almost supernatural.
7. Radiation Experiment on a Baby
Saúl Sigüenza on Pexels
During the mid-20th century, scientists conducted experiments with radiation — sometimes on children. One unsettling photo shows a baby strapped down under a machine.
8. The Last Public Execution in the U.S.
Wikimedia Commons
In 1936, thousands gathered to watch a man hang in Kentucky — the last public execution in the country. Photographs captured the smiling crowd and the grim event.
9. Ghost Girl in Fireman’s Photo
Zachary Kadolph on Unsplash
After a 1995 fire at a historic English building, a firefighter’s photo revealed a mysterious girl in the doorway. Locals claimed she resembled a child who died in a previous fire.
10. Asylum Restraints and Conditions
Wikimedia Commons
Photos from 20th-century mental institutions show patients in brutal conditions — restraints, filthy rooms, and vacant expressions. These haunting images exposed a cruel chapter in mental health care.
11. Serial Killer H.H. Holmes’ “Murder Castle”
Stephen Hogan on Flickr
Photos from inside Holmes’ hotel show trap doors, hidden hallways, and soundproof rooms. This was no urban legend — he confessed to multiple killings there.
12. Radiation Victims from Hiroshima
Wikimedia Commons
Images of survivors’ burns and shadows etched into walls tell the horrifying aftermath of the atomic bomb. These are not artistic renderings — they’re real and raw.
13. Smiling Faces at a Lynching
Wikimedia Commons
One of the most chilling aspects of some old lynching photos is not the act itself, but the grinning crowds. Men, women, and even children posed proudly.