The founder of the Instagram account told Bored Panda that their interest in these somewhat bizarre images started back in school. “I had Tumblr when I was in middle school or high school and Tumblr had a lot of ‘cursed images’ or ‘liminal space’ photos. I became super into them.”
They added that they wanted to bring what they saw on Tumblr to Instagram. “At first, I was mostly posting for just my friends and myself but I started gaining a following over the years over this shared aesthetic.”
“I find these images on Twitter or other mutuals on Instagram,” the creator of the account revealed. “My friends also love sending me cursed images they think I’ll like.”
They said that one of the things they love most about such pictures is how out of context they are most of the time. The curator of the cursed images admitted they like not knowing why or how the photos were taken. “I like the mystery!”
The mastermind behind ‘Cursed Images 2009’ told Bored Panda that in addition to the images they share, the thing they love most about managing the account is interacting with the followers.
“I honestly didn’t expect to get any followers, really, because I made this account for myself and to make my friends laugh. I’m really grateful I’ve built a following and a community,” they added.
When asked what kind of cursed images the founder themselves enjoy the most, they said that it’s basically anything car-related. “There’s so many I find that I think fit my aesthetic,” they pointed out.
(Un)fortunately, cursed images go beyond the limits of bizarre pictures on Instagram accounts. Some professionals devote their time and effort to creating something so hauntingly appealing that it can only be called cursed, whether it’s pictures, videos, or full-length movies.
Aperture covered the pictures of one of them—photographer Patricia Voulgaris—who was fascinated with what makes an image cursed. It also suggested that such works often have some sort of a push-pull effect that can be both disturbing and soothing at the same time.
But if cursed images are so disturbing, why do this and similar online accounts have so many fans, you might wonder? It’s likely related to the way we are affected by disgust. Even though it is typically evoked by something far from pleasant, researchers suggest that “disgusting stimuli both capture and retain your attention more effectively than emotionally neutral stimuli do”, as reported by Scientific American.
Psychologist Nina Strohminger pointed out to Scientific American that liking things despite considering them disgusting can be related to a human tendency known as “benign masochism”. It means that people might seek seemingly negative stimuli to enjoy “constrained risks”, for example, riding a roller coaster or eating spicy foods.