Some photos send shivers down your spine, even if they weren’t meant to. A harmless snapshot can feel unsettling when viewed through the lens of history or stripped of its context. Why does it feel so eerie? What’s the story behind it?
Throughout time, cameras have captured moments that spark curiosity, unease, and countless questions. These haunting images weren’t created to be creepy, but their mysterious details or forgotten histories make them unforgettable.
Sometimes learning the truth behind them eases the tension—but other times, it only deepens the mystery. Ready to uncover the stories behind these chilling glimpses of the past?
Mountain of bison skulls (1892)
This haunting photo, taken in 1892 outside Michigan Carbon Works in Rougeville, Michigan, captures a shocking moment in history. It shows an enormous mountain of bison skulls, harvested to be processed into bone glue, fertilizer, and charcoal. What makes this image so unsettling is the story it tells — not just about the exploitation of natural resources but about a massive loss tied to colonization and industrialization.
At the start of the 19th century, North America was home to 30 to 60 million bison. By the time this photo was taken, that number had plummeted to a staggering low of just 456 wild bison. The westward expansion of settlers, coupled with market demand for bison hides and bones, fueled a brutal slaughter that decimated the once-thriving herds. Between 1850 and the late 1870s, most herds were wiped out, leaving behind both environmental and cultural devastation.
The towering pile of bones in this photograph isn’t just a testament to industrial greed; it also reflects the deep connection between Indigenous Nations and bison, a connection forcibly severed by this large-scale destruction. The bones, stacked like a man-made mountain, blur the line between natural and manufactured landscapes, a concept that photographer Edward Burtynsky later described as “manufactured landscapes.”
Today, thanks to conservation efforts, roughly 31,000 wild bison roam North America. This photograph serves as a stark reminder of how close we came to losing them entirely—a chilling glimpse into a past shaped by choices that still echo today.
The sleeping mummy trader (1875)
Mummies have always fascinated humanity, with ancient Egyptian mummies captivating imaginations for over 2,000 years. But the way they’ve been treated throughout history reveals a strange and, at times, unsettling story.
During the Middle Ages, Europeans subjected mummies to all sorts of uses—ground into powder to create supposed medicinal cures, turned into torches because they burned so well, or even used in treatments for ailments like coughs or broken bones. The belief that mummies were embalmed with healing bitumen drove this trend, though that wasn’t actually true. By the 19th century, the medicinal use of mummies had waned, but the fascination remained.
Grave robbers fueled the demand for mummies, and merchants shipped them from Egypt to Europe and America, where they became prized possessions of the wealthy. They were displayed as symbols of status or used for research. One of the more bizarre trends of the 1800s was the “unwrapping party,” where mummies were ceremoniously unwrapped in front of curious onlookers—blurring the lines between science and entertainment.
This image of a merchant resting amidst a trove of mummies highlights how these ancient artifacts became commodities, exploited for everything from medical experiments to drawing-room spectacles. It’s a reminder of how cultural treasures were once treated — and why their preservation today is so important.
A young mother and her dead baby (1901)
The haunting image of Otylia Januszewska holding her recently deceased son, Aleksander, not only captures a profound moment of grief but also speaks to the Victorian tradition of post-mortem photography. This practice, which gained popularity in the mid-19th century, served as a way to honor the deceased and preserve a final, tangible connection to loved ones, especially when the reality of death felt too overwhelming to bear.
Rooted in the concept of memento mori, meaning “remember you must die,” the idea of reflecting on mortality has deep historical roots. During the Middle Ages, paintings often included reminders of death, and earlier cultures created trinkets depicting skeletons, offering a somber but necessary acknowledgment of life’s fragility.
As photography emerged in the 19th century, it became the perfect medium to make these reflections personal and intimate. Families, now able to take photographs, would immortalize their deceased loved ones in an attempt to hold onto them, keeping their faces forever within reach. It allowed the living to mourn, yes, but also to create a lasting bond, a sense of connection beyond death.
Interestingly, today, when a loved one passes, we tend to focus on celebrating their life, often avoiding the harsh reality of their death—almost as if it’s taboo to mention it directly. In stark contrast, Victorians embraced death with a fervor, incorporating it into rituals that acknowledged its inevitable presence.
Post-mortem photography, which reached its peak in the 1860s and 70s, was a key part of that. It began in the 1840s with the invention of photography, and while not all Victorians were comfortable with capturing images of the dead, the practice became widespread, especially in the UK, USA, and Europe.