‘Tis the season to be feeling a little spooked. As the cold weather rolls in, autumn settles into place, and Halloween draws ever closer, it’s time for peak creepiness in the air, which can lead us to find even the most mundane things a little unsettling.
This is captured perfectly with the photos in this list that we can’t decide if we’re scared of or not.
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“My grandma’s titanium hip after the cremation.”
Metal joints and other implants were something I hadn’t even considered when it came to handling the bodies of the deceased. I imagine it would be either stored with the ashes or discarded entirely, but hopefully, it’s recycled in some fashion.
“The tail on this bacon is creepy.”
Yeah, it sure is. The tail alone makes this look like it came off some sort of alien livestock rather than a pig, or any other earthly creature.
Would you eat alien bacon? It certainly looks like the meat we know and love, surely it couldn’t taste too different.
“Finally dug up the slippery stone block outside my door, turns out it was a headstone.”
Thankfully, there were people in the comments who explained that this likely wasn’t someone’s actual headstone.
For starters, it’s probably a columbarium stone, which is a wall with cubbies that ashes are placed inside of that are then covered by these stones. Second, there was probably a typo on this stone, as stones with errors were often recycled.
“A single rocking chair at a rural airport.”
The picture itself isn’t creepy, but the thought of seeing a lone, abandoned rocking chair anywhere where rocking chairs shouldn’t be is kind of unsettling. Or maybe I just watch too many horror movies.
As long as it doesn’t start rocking on its own, it’s probably fine.
“This triangle shaped rock I found.”
This is definitely a key to something; it’s too perfect for it not to be. Pick it up and start looking around for triangle-shaped holes in other rocks, trees even. Once you slot that in, some secret door will open and will lead you down beneath the ground into your city’s forgotten catacombs.
“Saw a nine-legged spider earlier […].”
Aw man, who cleared this? Spiders already have such a vice grip on a big portion of the population just by being kind of creepy, there’s no need to make them even stronger by letting them evolve more legs! That’s just not fair!
“The first snow of the season at a rural mountain gas station.”
You did this on purpose, right? Framing this to be the creepiest shot you could take. It looks great, it’s just also bone-chilling. This has major ‘only landmark on a long stretch of eerie freeway where you haven’t seen another car for ages’ vibes.
“These broken chairs in hospital got bone cast.”
This probably does work perfectly, as the material they use for these types of casts are incredibly strong, but the fact that these are normally used on humans has put the idea in my brain that these chairs have bones that are healing, and that thought makes me squirm.
“[My grandpa’s] cool eye.”
Is your grandpa some sort of cyborg? Has he had any technological enhancements he might not have told you about? I’m only asking because that eye definitely looks like it holds some sort of special skills, like lasers or scanning technology.
“My city’s bus has blue lights inside(no filter) to prevent you from falling asleep.”
This is genuinely very smart, and I’m sure a lot of late-night bus riders appreciate the addition, but it is a little off-putting. Only because it’s so different than what we’re used to.
It feels like a totally different space, like you’ve been dropped into some hyper-technological future-bus.
“Tree consuming fire hydrant.”
That tree looks more like a slowly creeping spot of toxic sludge than it does a tree at this point. Let it keep going, let’s see what else it will consume on its slow, slow path of destruction and chaos.
“Chernobyl snow globe.”
This isn’t scary in a traditional sense, but it is incredibly weird. Snow globes are a popular vessel for souvenirs and often a collector’s item, but for there to be one of a massive disaster feels a little…distasteful. To each their own, though.
“I liked the way the clouds looked tonight with the moon illuminating them.”
If only there had been a perfect break in the clouds that displayed a big, bright, beautiful full moon, that would be the perfect Halloween sky.
Movies and shows I watched as a kid really lead me to believe those perfect skies would happen more often on Halloween, but most of the time it’s just overcast.
“Found what’s left of a car in the woods.”
Cars being abandoned in forests is nothing new, but every time I spot one it still sends a shiver down my spine and leaves me with a lot of questions. Who did this belong to? Why did they abandon it? How long has it been? Why does it look like the ground is eating it?
“One of the fortunes from dinner.”
Ignore is self-explanatory, to retry would mean to buy a whole other meal probably, but abort? What does abort mean in this context? It probably just means leave, but it feels a little ominous when presented to you by a cookie.
“Body heat making it look like little ghosts floating at the bus stop.”
That, or the bus was so late once that these commuters wasted away while waiting for it, and are now doomed to wait for the bus for all eternity.
They’re just only capable of showing themselves when the weather gets cold and ghost season is at its peak.
“Mushrooms are stronger than asphalt.”
Mushrooms are an incredible species of plant based on their resilience alone. They will grow anywhere they can manage, finding even the smallest section of survivability and grasping onto it before spreading, growing in strength and number until things like this happen.
“[The] local liquor store in my new town!”
Was the store named that because of the bird population, or did they open with that name and all the local crows decided to become their main clientele?
Also, what a frightening first impression of a town you just moved to. Hopefully you like birds!
“My eyeballs. My optometrist took pictures of my eye vs dilation. I definitely prefer this method.”
Anything is better than dilation, but this is only better by a little bit. I have no desire or need to see my eyeballs from that perspective. I already know they’re complex and delicate, I don’t need to be reminded.
“This tire cover I spotted earlier today…”
I actually find this pretty charming. A little thing to make your vehicle unique and give anyone driving behind you a good chuckle. Unless they’re following you for a while, in which case they may become a bit uneasy with you staring them down the whole way.
