When something disastrous happens, you can usually count on at least a few people turning up just to stop and stare at it. Although rubbernecking is generally considered distasteful behavior, most of us have to admit that on some level, we can understand the fascination.
But even if we understand it, we often have a hard time explaining it. It shouldn’t make sense that something can horrify us in a way that transfixes us, but some things legitimately do make us stare in wonder.
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After all, there are a lot of fascinating parts of this world that are waiting to be discovered and there’s no rule stating that these discoveries have to be pleasant.
As sad as it is that a poor deer had to go through this, it’s also easy to forget that this is even possible.
In case it isn’t clear, what happened here was that a deer survived being hit by an arrow, but it was never removed.
This allowed its rib cage to actually grow over the arrow and permanently embed it into the deer’s bones.
If this seems like a human ear is growing out of a rat, that’s because that’s essentially what’s happening.
According to the BBC , researchers from Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital grew a flexible human-like ear on the rat back in 2013 with the hope of one day being able to replace malformed, damaged or lost ears in people.
If you search for “John Doe” in Google, you will likely have this image staring back at you.
It’s creepy to behold, but it actually becomes haunting when you realize this photo shows a facial reconstruction rendering of a unidentified man whose skeletal remains were discovered near East Troy, Wisconsin back in 1979.
His case remains unsolved.
I’ve seen some strange taxidermy in my time, but I wouldn’t have guessed you could make it serve this kind of purpose.
It’s difficult for me to understand why someone would want a dead rabbit staring at them every time they make breakfast, but somebody had to have requested this.
This may not seem like much, but the way it vibrates around can make it pretty unnerving.
As far as anyone can tell, it seems to be some kind of larvae that burrowed into a sprout and the strange movement is part of how it’s making itself at home.
This photo can bring up a lot of understandable emotions once it becomes clear what we’re looking at.
This bird collided so forcefully with a plane that it actually embedded itself in the nose of the aircraft.
On one hand, it’s unfortunate that this happened to it, but it’s also a little scary when you consider how much critical damage a bird can do if it ends up striking the wrong part of a plane.
That’s not even mentioning how insane it is that the bird managed to get stuck like this.
Although being surrounding by human bones isn’t normally our idea of a good time, the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic is considered an amazing place to visit.
As beautiful as it may be, however, I doubt it’s particularly easy to feel comfortable in a place like this.
While we may have seen people with enough rage to know a door off its hinges, that’s not the only way the normally sturdy fixtures can come apart.
It’s unclear how exactly this happened, but this hinge was worn away to such a degree that a nest of spiders were able to take shelter in it.
Yes, that’s what we’re looking at.
With that unnerving photo in mind, it then becomes pretty easy to get worried about what’s going on behind this wall.
However, while this is certainly bad news for the homeowner, they can rest assured that a massive swarm of insects won’t fly out of this.
That’s because this is what happens when water manages to seep in between the paint and the wall. So again, it’s a big problem, but an easily explained one.
While it’s kind of cute to see a baby flying fox cling to its mother like this, her facial expression makes this photo a little startling.
And if we happened to turn our heads right as this duo was coming at us, we’d probably end up making the same face.
The uploader described this mess as “nodegurt” and I think it’s safe to say that we don’t want any.
That said, mold cultures somehow get a lot more interesting when we get such a dense collection of them together like this so we can see how complex they are.
Once we’re finished vomiting, anyway.
Not only is this a flying flamethrower, but its actually available for purchase.
Granted, the risk of making such a purchase likely depends a lot on the laws of a potential customer’s state, but anyone with a spare $1,500 lying around can technically get one.
While it’s probably quite an achievement to catch a lancetfish, it’s not hard to understand why these fishing buddies look kind of uncomfortable about it.
The knowledge that this fearsome-looking creature was swimming around a lake all along serves as a great reminder to stay in the boat.
This mask is already pretty creepy to behold before you learn what it was used for.
It was apparently worn by medieval executioners because such a fate wasn’t terrifying enough without making this the last thing someone sees before they die.
While it’s definitely not news that insects enjoy fruit, we don’t really expect so many to subtly invade a peach at once.
I suppose we now need to resign ourselves to a life of obsessively checking every peach we find to make sure we’re not about to bite into this nightmare.
While we should definitely appreciate our gastrointestinal tracts, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re always happy to see one.
And while the mesentery we’re seeing throughout the intestinal tract are important to keeping our intestines connected and in place, their resemblance to millipede legs isn’t really comforting.
This isn’t actually a praying mantis, but rather a layer of “skin” that managed to stay intact after molting.
It seems almost friendly and it’s certainly a fascinating and rare find, but there’s something eerie about what seems like a completely hollow mantis.
This sunken building serves as a strangely haunting reminder of a time before a dam project flooded this area.
Once upon a time, this was Willow Grove School but it ended up standing abandoned before it was claimed by what is now Dale Hollow lake at the Kentucky/Tennessee border.
When “The Silence of the Lambs” becomes way too real for you to handle.
This cluster of lambs gathered for a candid photo-op, which ultimately led to the ones at the back of the herd becoming just a pair of spooky, glowing eyes in the dark.
This sign has me intrigued, although I’m not sure I should be.
A person discovered this sign and its warning while diving underwater, and it was positioned right in front of a particularly eerie cave. Obviously they heeded its warning and stayed away.
Someone photographed what appeared to be a woman just standing on a roof at dusk.
There’s no explanation given for why this woman decided to stand on her roof in such a creepy way. But I think it’s safe to assume no good came from it.
Or she was taking down Christmas lights. Who knows?
Don’t be fooled, you’re not looking at some cluster of symbiote from “Venom.”
This is actually a spiderweb that has been covered in soot, resulting in this spooky, black tangle that I’m sure no one was too eager to volunteer to clean up.
What you’re looking at here is the skull of a child.
The scariest part about this also happens to be the most fascinating. We can see exactly how a child’s mouth looks when it’s full of both its baby and adult teeth. The effect? Chill-inducing.
This photo was taken of a secret bunker someone discovered in their home.
They weren’t able to actually access it themselves, so they just took a picture of it by squeezing their phone through a crack in the door.
And I’m sure the resulting photo has them super, super happy they can’t get inside.
This barn appears to be in the process of slowly being taken over by nature.
The effect is totally creepy, but it’s also fairly fascinating to witness nature in action, reclaiming its land and devouring whatever was abandoned there.
I think perhaps this 7-foot statue of the Hamburgler got lost on its way to McDonald’s.
What other explanation is there? This thing has absolutely no business being out in the middle of the forest, but that’s exactly where it was discovered.
Believe it or not, this diving suit was designed by Leonardo da Vinci.
I can see where good ol’ da Vinci was coming from with this one, but the result is more akin to a Cthulhu costume than anything I’d want to wear in the water.
Someone stumbled across this elaborate altar (shrine?) in the woods.
First, I’d like to commend the creator on their eye for detail, because this thing is seriously cool.
But it’s also ridiculously creepy, especially since it was found in the middle of nowhere. What was the purpose? I’m not sure I’d like to know.
There are some differing opinions on what exactly we’re seeing here.
The original posted dubbed it “the fossil of dragon man”, though some Reddit users suspect it’s a bunch of bones someone glued together.
Others, however, speculate this is actually the remains of someone with the disorder that turns muscle into bone. Whatever the case may be, this thing is creepy.
Fancy a little game of chess?
These pieces have been made from mice thanks to the practice of taxidermy. I can’t say I’m particularly eager to touch any of them to play though, let alone look at them.
Check out those black, soulless eyes. No thank you.
An artist with dementia documented his mental decline with self portraits.
It’s honestly devastating to witness his work go from realism to something more abstract, to utter nonsense at the end.
Someone came across this door in their basement, and it’s sealed shut.
The best part is they just bought this house, so I’m sure coming across this absolute nightmare of a surprise made them feel super good about their purchase.
“Xylaria Polymorpha is a saprobic fungus commonly known as dead man’s fingers.”
Yep, and that’s exactly what it looks like. Imagine stumbling across these digits in your garden.
I’d say that would be the end of my time living there. I don’t care if they’re fungus, they’re creepy .
Much like with any old pictures, the age of this snap makes it pretty spooky already.
But it’s made all the more disturbing when you find out this is a photo of Ruth Snyder in the very first picture of a person dying in the electric chair.
“The truth is under.”
Someone on Reddit looked up these coordinates and found out they point to some sort of a target range in Florida. So, maybe someone should follow up on this.
A blustery day caused this tree to uproot, but it brought a friend with it.
When it ripped from the ground, it also happened to lift a surprising coffin that had apparently been buried there long ago.
The tree’s roots had merged with the coffin and, well, this is clearly the end result.
Smile!
This mannequin is used for dentists to practice on, and I’m really hoping this thing is outdated because just look at that dead-eyed stare. I would want absolutely nothing to do with this thing.
There’s something chilling about the way a horse looks when it loses an eye.
It’s still heartwarming to see this person show it affection, but that clean socket almost makes it seem like part of its skull is visible while it’s still alive.
When these two common sights come together, one of them becomes surprisingly hard to recognize.
What we’re seeing is blood drops mixing with the sand in such a way that they now look like larger models of red blood cells.
The only question is what actually bled here?
