Shocking, creepy, scary, disturbing - these photos are all that and more! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the scariest and most famous photos with mysterious backstories.
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00:00 "And those photographs were published all around the world,
00:02 and nobody's been able to prove that the images are not real."
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:09 for the scariest and most famous photos with mysterious backstories.
00:13 "The camera looks down through the doorway and sees in as far as here."
00:17 Number 30. The Baltic Sea Anomaly
00:21 People love them some underwater mysteries,
00:24 and the Baltic Sea Anomaly has to be one of the most famous.
00:27 "This strange, odd thing just turned up on the monitor."
00:33 The widely circulated sonar image depicts a large structure at the bottom of the ocean,
00:38 and may we say it looks suspiciously like the Millennium Falcon.
00:42 "It was almost perfectly round, 180 feet in diameter, and it looked like a UFO."
00:48 This picture was taken in 2011 by a Swedish diving team looking for underwater treasure.
00:54 Many people assumed it was a sunken UFO, while others speculated that it was some type of
00:58 giant human-made structure that was long lost to history.
01:02 Others have provided more down-to-earth suggestions,
01:05 like a school of fish or a simple rock formation.
01:08 "But in my eyes, I see a crash site."
01:12 Number 29. The Mysterious Hand
01:15 Back in 2016, Belfast Live was sent a creepy photograph by a woman named Linda.
01:21 Dated from 1900, it shows a group of female factory workers with their arms crossed.
01:27 One of the women is Linda's grandmother Ellen Donnelly,
01:30 and over Donnelly's shoulder is what looks like a disembodied hand with clear, prominent fingers.
01:36 This photo was quickly disseminated through the media,
01:39 with Inside Edition calling it a "mysterious ghost hand."
01:43 "Check out those fingers resting on the girl's shoulder."
01:46 It even made its way to Snopes, but they were unable to properly debunk the photo.
01:52 The likely answer is that the mystery hand resulted from a long camera exposure.
01:57 The supernatural answer is, of course, "Well, we don't want to think about that."
02:01 "So far, no one's confirmed either were ghosts,
02:04 but the new Ghostbusters movie is coming out. Maybe they can weigh in."
02:09 Number 28. Michael Rockefeller
02:11 In November of 1961, 23-year-old Michael Rockefeller ventured into the jungles of
02:17 modern-day South Papua and never returned. He was declared legally dead in 1964,
02:22 and the common opinion is that he was killed by the natives.
02:26 "Despite such an intensive search, nothing was found."
02:29 But that doesn't explain this eerie photo of a man who looks suspiciously like a bearded
02:34 Michael Rockefeller spending time with the locals.
02:36 "Is it possible this is Michael Rockefeller? Well, we don't know."
02:40 This footage was taken by a videographer hired by journalist Milt Macklin,
02:44 who was investigating the disappearance in 1969.
02:48 The photo was finally shared in the documentary "The Search for Michael Rockefeller,"
02:52 inciting more than a few raised eyebrows.
02:54 "The more you blow something up, the grainier it becomes."
02:57 Number 27. The Moon Pyramid
03:00 Obviously, there's not a secret pyramid hidden on the moon, right? Right, guys?
03:05 Apollo 17 was the final mission of the iconic Apollo program,
03:09 occurring over 12 and a half days in December of 1972.
03:12 "We'd like to dedicate the first steps of Apollo 17 to all those who made it possible."
03:20 The astronauts ventured to an area known as Geophone Rock and took a number of photos,
03:25 one of which was simply labeled "blank."
03:27 But if you turn up the contrast, you can clearly see what appears to be a pyramid.
03:32 Simple trick of the eye? The result of film grain and bad lighting?
03:36 Some other pyramid-shaped device or structure? Maybe a genuine pyramid? You be the judge.
03:42 We're just saying this was the last time that humans stepped foot on the moon.
03:46 Number 26. The Cooper Family Photo
03:53 This is one of the most famous paranormal photographs circulating the web.
03:57 Known as the Cooper Family Photo, it shows the family sitting by a table,
04:01 having just moved into a new Texas home.
04:04 To the right of the family is what appears to be a clear human body falling from the ceiling.
04:09 Despite valiant attempts to debunk the photo, no clear consensus has been reached.
04:14 If it's fake, it was likely staged by the family themselves,
04:18 as the photo is poorly framed to include negative space for the body.
04:22 Some have also theorized double exposure.
04:25 Whatever the case, it is still creepy as hell.
04:28 Number 25. The Photos of Chris Kramers and Lysana Frone
04:33 Blank photos are not inherently scary, but they take on fear when context is taken into account.
04:39 On April 1, 2014, Dutch hikers Chris Kramers and Lysana Frone went missing while hiking in Panama.
04:45 Ten weeks later, a local woman found Frone's backpack and reported it to police.
04:55 Inside was a camera, and investigators discovered 90 photos taken between 1 and 4 a.m. on the morning
05:01 of April 8. Most of these photos are blank, having been taken in complete darkness,
05:08 but a few show objects like a twig in the back of Kramers' head.
05:12 Unfortunately, their bones were later found scattered on a riverbank,
05:16 proving that the two had perished. The reason for the 90 photos is still unclear.
05:21 Number 24. The Madonna of Bachelors Grove
05:31 Located 20 miles south of Chicago is Bachelors Grove Cemetery,
05:38 which is said to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in America.
05:42 One particular ghost said to be haunting the grounds is the Madonna or the Lady in White.
05:47 And if you believe this photo, the Lady in White was captured on film back in 1991.
05:57 Judy Huffels was exploring the cemetery with the local ghost research society when she fell
06:02 to presence. She took a photo with an infrared camera and captured what is clearly a woman
06:07 sitting on a nearby stone. If this is real, it is solid proof of the paranormal. Of course,
06:13 it could also be staged. What do you think?
06:16 Number 23. The Mars Monolith
06:22 Alright, Kubrick fans, get in here because we have a real monolith on our hands.
06:27 Okay, it's probably just a rock, but hey, one can dream. Back in 2005, the Mars Reconnaissance
06:33 Orbiter was launched from Cape Canaveral with the objective of finding water on the dry red planet.
06:38 What they found instead was the Mars Monolith, a giant structure in the middle of a barren plain.
06:44 The photo was taken from a distance of 180 miles and depicts a massive rectangular structure
06:50 casting a huge shadow. This bears a very close resemblance to another monolith found on Mars'
06:55 moon Phobos, which experts theorize is just a giant rock. So what do you think? Rock or magic
07:02 interdimensional structure? Number 22. Fairy Circles
07:13 Found primarily in the Namib Desert of Africa but also appearing in Western Australia, Fairy
07:19 Circles make for striking and difficult to explain photos. The odd patches are large circles of
07:25 barren land in the middle of an otherwise grassy area. There are various local myths that attempt
07:30 to explain the phenomenon. According to some, there is a dragon that lives underground,
07:35 and its poisonous breath has killed the vegetation above. And according to the Himba people,
07:40 they may be the footprints of gods. As for the scientific explanation, well, no one really knows.
07:47 Some blame termites, others an echo hydrological feedback in which the circle acts as a water
07:53 reservoir for the surrounding grass. Number 21. The Battle of Los Angeles
07:58 It's one of the most famous photographs in UFO lore. A number of spotlights shoot from the
08:03 darkness and pierce through the night sky, illuminating some type of object hundreds
08:08 of feet above the ground. This retouched photo graced the front page of the Los Angeles Times
08:16 on February 26, 1942. The so-called battle occurred over the night of February 24 and 25,
08:23 with anti-aircraft forces attacking an object that was flying over LA.
08:27 "But were these objects Japanese planes? Or could they have been something else?"
08:33 The attack is officially attributed to a stray weather balloon that caused panic in the aftermath
08:37 of Pearl Harbor, which occurred just three months earlier. However, many people are not convinced,
08:43 with some insinuating that it was a UFO or a Japanese aircraft that was covered up by officials.
08:50 "People still debate whether a firefight with extraterrestrials actually took place."
08:55 Number 20. The White Lady of Worcester Church A couple's trip to Norfolk's Worcester Church
09:01 produced what's arguably one of the most convincing ghost pictures in modern history.
09:05 Peter Bertilow snapped a photo of his wife praying alone on one of the church benches.
09:10 When the photo was developed, it showed that the wife was not alone at all,
09:15 as there appears to be a whitish figure sitting behind her. Further investigation revealed that
09:20 the ghost of an 1800s healer called "The White Lady" was long believed to haunt the church grounds,
09:27 and that the photo apparently captured the entity. Diane Bertilow believed in the validity
09:32 of the photo so much that it resurrected her religious verve.
09:36 Number 19. The Extra Hand
09:44 Back in 2013, Reddit hosted a thread about glitch in the Matrix events that its users
09:51 had experienced. One of the most popular stories from the thread came from user TheForbiddenOne.
09:56 They included a photo of four young boys, each of whom can be seen making a hand gesture.
10:01 On the right side of the photo, between the shirtless boy and the one in black,
10:05 is a mysterious hand giving a thumbs up. The hand obviously does not belong to any of the boys,
10:12 and the poster claimed to have no idea who it belonged to.
10:16 So how the heck did that mystery thumb come to be? Or do we even want to know?
10:21 Number 18. The Grand Canyon Grim Reaper
10:28 This photo surfaced on Reddit in the early 21st century,
10:31 and has been the subject of much scrutiny ever since. The poster claimed that the photo,
10:36 taken sometime in the 70s or 80s, shows his uncle standing on a rock ledge overlooking the Grand
10:42 Canyon. What they didn't realize, until the photo was developed that is, was that a figure was
10:47 standing in the foliage behind him. The person appears to be wearing a black cloak, looks much
10:53 taller than a human, and very much resembles the uncle and his friends who took the photo,
11:01 claimed that they never saw the figure, and were the only ones occupying that spot of the canyon.
11:07 Anybody else have goosebumps?
11:08 Number 17. The Sulwe Firth Spaceman
11:12 An astronaut? A ghost? A beekeeper? This mysterious figure in white has fascinated
11:18 people for decades. On May 23, 1964, English firefighter Jim Templeton was on a day trip in
11:25 Cumbria with his wife Annie and daughter Elizabeth. He snapped three photos of his
11:29 daughter, only to discover that the middle photo included someone standing behind her.
11:33 After he brought it to the press, the photo went viral, and naturally, we guess,
11:38 a lot of people concluded that extraterrestrials must be to blame.
11:41 Investigative journalist David Clark has suggested the figure was Templeton's wife,
11:46 and that her dress showed up as white due to overexposure. A trick of the camera or aliens?
11:52 We'll let you decide.
11:53 Number 16. The Hook Island Sea Monster
11:57 Located off the coast of Queensland, Australia, Hook Island is one of the beautiful Whitsunday
12:02 Islands. It made international news in 1964 after a man named Robert LeSirec released a series of
12:08 photos he took in Hook Island's Stonehaven Bay. The photos seemed to depict a massive
12:13 tadpole-like creature under the surface of the water. A small boat with a human passenger can
12:17 be seen near the monster's tail, giving the photo a sense of scale. It is by far one of the most
12:23 popular photographs in cryptozoology, and has been widely discussed and theorized about for decades.
12:29 Number 15. The Hampton Court Ghost
12:33 By the River Thames in the Greater London Area is Hampton Court,
12:36 a popular royal court palace dating back to the early 16th century.
12:40 In the winter of 2003, security was continuously called to the palace's clock court,
12:52 as a fire-escaped door kept opening on its own. Upon looking at the security footage,
12:57 they were met with a horrifying sight.
13:07 What looks like a cloaked and skeletal figure can be seen opening and closing the doors.
13:12 That very same day, a tourist had reported seeing a ghostly figure in the exact same area.
13:18 If this is indeed a ghost, then the Hampton Court Palace needs an exorcist.
13:23 Number 14. The Falcon Lake Incident
13:32 Canada is home to one of the most documented and convincing UFO stories in modern history.
13:38 A man named Stephen Michalak claimed to have been burned by a UFO near Manitoba's Falcon Lake in May
13:44 1967. In fact, the supposed attack has become such an integral part of Canadian legend that it was
13:56 depicted on the Royal Canadian Mint's $20 silver coin. The famous picture shows Michalak sitting
14:02 in a bed with numerous circles burned into his skin in a grid-like pattern. One skeptic believes
14:08 that Michalak was injured while prospecting for ore, and that he lied about a UFO to scare other
14:13 prospectors away. However, that's just one theory of many. The truth remains unknown.
14:24 Number 13. The Skunk Ape
14:27 Every region has its own unique cryptozoological creature, and Florida has the skunk ape. As its
14:33 name suggests, the skunk ape is said to resemble a walking ape, specifically an orangutan, and
14:39 carries a horrible odor. It's essentially the Sasquatch of the East, and a stinky one at that.
14:50 The most famous photo of the skunk ape is known as the Myakka photo, and it depicts a large,
14:55 black, and hairy creature with red eyes and sharp bottom teeth. The photo was taken by a Florida
15:01 woman who noticed that a creature was stealing apples from her backyard. Believing it to be an
15:06 escaped orangutan, the woman notified the police. However, the creature had escaped by the time
15:11 they arrived. Number 12. The Backseat Ghost
15:20 In 1959, Mabel Chinnery took one of the most famous ghost photographs of all time.
15:26 Chinnery was visiting her mother's grave and had brought along a camera. She took a spontaneous
15:31 photo of her husband, who was waiting in the car nearby. When the picture was developed,
15:35 the couple noticed the eerie visage of a mysterious person sitting in the backseat.
15:40 The person appears to be wearing glasses, and their white-collar shirt is readily apparent.
15:46 Chinnery claimed that the mystery person looks exactly like her deceased mother.
15:50 Some skeptics believe this is a case of double exposure,
15:54 or some type of reflection or trick of the light, but others are not so sure.
15:58 Number 11. The SS Watertown Haunting
16:06 In 1924, two crew members of the SS Watertown died mysteriously while cleaning a cargo tank.
16:13 The deaths were attributed to leaked gas fumes in the closed quarters,
16:16 and since the ship was nowhere near land, the bodies were buried at sea.
16:20 In the days following the burial, the crew reported seeing the faces of the dead in the waves,
16:25 and several photos were taken of the water. All of them came out normal, except for this one.
16:31 What's more, this photo reportedly survived several investigations by experts,
16:36 who concluded it has never been doctored. While a few articles like those in the Fortean Times
16:42 claim to debunk the photo, conclusive evidence against its veracity has yet to be agreed upon.
16:47 Number 10. The Hessdalen Lights
16:50 Since at least the 1930s, strange lights have appeared in the skies around Norway's Hessdalen
16:56 Valley, balls of light of different colors that hover or move sharply across the night skies.
17:02 Occurring with alarming regularity between 1981 and 1984, the lights attracted tourists,
17:08 who could see the lights 15 to 20 times a week on average. One photo captured the phenomenon
17:14 incredibly, with the lights appearing as a giant ethereal cluster with a prismed
17:18 rainbow reflected underneath. Though UFOs are often cited as the supposed culprit,
17:24 scientists have come up with several hypotheses ranging from the combustion of natural elements
17:29 to the ionization of certain particles. The lights still occur in the early 21st century,
17:35 but less frequently than before. The picture remains unexplained.
17:39 Number 9. The Spectre of Newby Church
17:43 This 1963 photo taken of the Newby Church in North Yorkshire, UK, features an unexpected
17:49 figure in the right corner. The spectre, the supposed ghost of a 16th century monk,
17:54 appears to have a shroud over his face and his hands in a position of worship or mourning.
17:59 Experts have examined the photo, and though the figure was theorized to be a case of double
18:04 exposure, it was concluded that this is not the case, and that the photo is genuine. But that's
18:10 not even the spookiest part. In relation to the items in the photo, the figure would be 9 feet
18:16 tall. Number 8. Goddard's Squadron Ghost, also known as the Ghost of Freddie Jackson
18:22 If you're a connoisseur of ghost photos, this is your holy grail. Freddie Jackson was reportedly
18:28 an air mechanic who was accidentally killed by an airplane propeller. Two days after the accident,
18:33 the squadron of Sir Victor Goddard took a photo together without Freddie. But sure enough,
18:38 Freddie turned up when the photo was developed. In the back row on the left side, the face of
18:43 the dead mechanic, not wearing a hat, appears behind one of the soldier's heads. Believers
18:49 insist that this photo is evidence of the presence of spirits in our physical world,
18:53 especially considering it was produced in 1919, many years before modern photo tampering software
18:59 could have rendered such a believable fake. Number 7. The Babushka Lady
19:04 No JFK conspiracy would be complete without the Babushka Lady. Many photos and videos of
19:10 the assassination capture the lady in close proximity to the attack, including one taken
19:15 moments after the shooting. Curiously, she doesn't duck or flee when it occurs. Instead,
19:21 she's shown filming from a valuable point that would have provided priceless footage, which is
19:26 why everyone tried to find her. Despite numerous claims by individuals, the Babushka Lady's identity
19:32 has never been confirmed. The mystery surrounding her identity, attire, and actions puts her in the
19:38 center of the conspiracy, with some thinking she might have had a role in the assassination itself.
19:44 Number 6. The Black Knight Satellite This photo, released by NASA in 1998,
19:50 shows a large, irregularly shaped object orbiting the Earth. Conspiracy theorists believe this is
19:56 an alien satellite that's been surveying our planet for 13,000 years. Their evidence runs
20:02 all the way back to Nikola Tesla's 1899 radio experiment, in which extraterrestrial sounds were
20:08 recorded, and the supposed satellite has been the supposed culprit for nearly every unexplainable
20:14 radio signal in the years since. Space journalist and former NASA engineer James Oberg offers a much
20:20 more reasonable explanation. It's a thermal blanket confirmed lost on one of the space missions,
20:26 or some other type of debris, but this has yet to be proven.
20:30 Number 5. The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall For 400 years, Raynham Hall in Norfolk,
20:37 England has served as the seat of the Townsend family. Within its walls is the purported ghost
20:42 of Lady Dorothy Walpole, the sister of Britain's first Prime Minister and wife of the violent
20:48 Charles Townsend. It is also the setting of what's perhaps the most famous ghost photograph
20:53 of all time. Taken by Hubert C. Provend and Indra Shehra, the photo seemingly depicts the
20:59 ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole descending the estate's main staircase. It was spontaneously
21:03 taken after Shehra noticed a misty form on the stairs. The famous photograph was published in
21:09 Country Life magazine in December 1936 and became a sensation.
21:14 Number 4. The Deceased Husband This famous photograph shows an elderly
21:19 woman sitting on a chair and posing for the camera. Standing directly behind her is an elderly man.
21:25 The story goes that the woman had been suffering from dementia and had been speaking out loud to
21:30 her long-deceased husband. The woman's daughter took a photo of her mother and, upon development,
21:35 saw the ghostly image of her deceased father. She also uploaded a black-and-white photo of her
21:40 mother and father from their younger years, and the man in question shares an eerie resemblance
21:45 to the one seen in the ghost photo. Number 3. The Tulip Staircase Ghost
21:50 In 1966, a former clergyman from White Rock, British Columbia paid a visit to the Queen's
21:56 House in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. Believing he was alone,
22:01 he took a photo of the historic tulip staircase. But after development of said photo, a mysterious
22:07 figure is seen. An unmistakable entity, shrouded and despaired, looks like it's holding onto the
22:13 railing and trying to climb the staircase. This section of the museum has long been rumored to
22:19 be haunted, with strange paranormal phenomena having been reported in prior years. The photo
22:24 was reportedly submitted for examination, and the findings stated that no alterations had been made.
22:31 Number 2. The McMinnville UFO Photos They're among the most iconic UFO
22:36 photos ever taken. In 1950, Paul and Evelyn Trent noticed a mysterious object hovering over their
22:43 farm in McMinnville, Oregon. Paul was able to snap several photos before it zipped off.
22:48 The photos caused quite a stir, appearing in Life magazine and newspapers, and igniting a debate
22:54 that's never really ended. Various explanations have been suggested. Physicist Bruce McAbee
23:00 argues that the UFO was a quote "real physical object." Skeptics are nonetheless convinced they
23:06 were faked. The truth may be out there, but for now, it remains a mystery. Before we continue,
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23:32 Number 1. The Tank Man One of the most famous photographs in
23:38 human history depicts an unknown man standing in front of a column of tanks in China's Tiananmen
23:44 Square. Taken in June of 1989, the photo remains censored in China, as is all mention of the
23:50 Tiananmen Square Massacre, in which hundreds to thousands of civilians were killed. Despite being
23:56 an iconic photograph, the fate and identity of the tank man remains unknown. Some people believe he
24:04 was taken and executed by the Chinese Communist Party. Others believe he escaped to Taiwan and
24:09 became an archaeologist. Yet others believe that he was never in danger and continued to live a
24:14 normal life on the Chinese mainland. It remains a tantalizing, fascinating mystery. Do you have
24:25 plausible explanations for these photos? Let us know in the comments below.
24:30 "Skunky! Skunky! Arrrr! Skunky!"
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