We're often so caught up in the moment that we fail to see the bigger picture. Quite literally. Mobile phones have made it easier, faster and cheaper to take photos. Some of us snap away without paying too much attention to the smaller details. It's only afterwards that we might realize there's a hair out of place, the horizon is a bit skew, or a lamp pole is sticking out of someone's head. But sometimes, it's something a lot more creepy or sinister that reveals itself only after the photo has been captured...
Someone asked, "What’s the scariest thing you’ve found in a photo after taking it?" and the responses spoke a thousand words. There was someone who had no idea three mountain lions had been following them, and another person who accidentally captured an attempted child abduction on camera. Bored Panda has put together the best answers for you to scroll through while you contemplate whether you should take a closer look at your own photo gallery.
#1
A mate of mine is an urban explorer. He was in an abandoned building one night and took a flash photo of a pitch dark room.
He took a quick look at the picture on his camera and noticed a woman crouched under a table in the corner of the room.
All sorts of thoughts ran through his head. Was she a ghost?!
He called out "Hello?" and she switched on her flashlight and responded.
She was homeless and squatting in the building and had hidden because she was afraid he might be a cop or someone who might do her harm.
He ended up buying her some food and it all turned out pretty wholesome in the end.
He took a quick look at the picture on his camera and noticed a woman crouched under a table in the corner of the room.
All sorts of thoughts ran through his head. Was she a ghost?!
He called out "Hello?" and she switched on her flashlight and responded.
She was homeless and squatting in the building and had hidden because she was afraid he might be a cop or someone who might do her harm.
He ended up buying her some food and it all turned out pretty wholesome in the end.
133points
Spotting something unexpected in a photo can be creepy but it can also be the very miracle that's needed in certain high-stakes situations.
For example, in 1984, a 14-year-old named Tina Faelz lost her life while on her way home from school in Pleasanton, California. She had been stabbed 44 times. Despite combing the crime scene, and Faelz’s route home, police couldn't find any clues to lead to an arrest. There was no weapon, and no fingerprints were left at the scene.
The case went cold and remained unsolved for decades. Until a tiny detail in a photograph changed everything...
#2
Not me but my aunt. TLDR at the end.
She was scuba diving in Mexico somewhere with a new gear. She is super trained and has decades of experience in diving.
She was diving with a video camera too.
Into this dive with her new gear she got caught in a current and was separated from her dive partner. Because of this she decided it was safer to go to the surface. As she was ascending from around 180 feet she saw a dolphin.
She loves dolphins and swam up to it and did the whole holding on to the dorsal fin thing. She swam with it for about 5 minutes before continuing her ascent. Gets to the surface and she says something felt wrong during the ascent.
Well she had done her mixtures wrong on her tank ratios. Around 160ft of depth right after she was separated she later realized that she had had nitrogen narcosis. Pretty benign case of it but still. She had it. Thankfully the effects go away at the surface.
Once she got home and was looking at the videos she took of her trip and during her dives she realized, that was not a dolphin. It was a shark.
She had been telling anyone who would listen about how she had this beautiful encounter with a dolphin.
She's done shark dives before. So have I. They're my favorite dives but you go into them with a different mindset. More safety and planning and avoid unnecessary encounters if the situation isn't ideal.
TLDR: Aunt got high underwater. Filmed herself with a dolphin. Later realized that she was swimming with a shark when she watched the video at home.
She was scuba diving in Mexico somewhere with a new gear. She is super trained and has decades of experience in diving.
She was diving with a video camera too.
Into this dive with her new gear she got caught in a current and was separated from her dive partner. Because of this she decided it was safer to go to the surface. As she was ascending from around 180 feet she saw a dolphin.
She loves dolphins and swam up to it and did the whole holding on to the dorsal fin thing. She swam with it for about 5 minutes before continuing her ascent. Gets to the surface and she says something felt wrong during the ascent.
Well she had done her mixtures wrong on her tank ratios. Around 160ft of depth right after she was separated she later realized that she had had nitrogen narcosis. Pretty benign case of it but still. She had it. Thankfully the effects go away at the surface.
Once she got home and was looking at the videos she took of her trip and during her dives she realized, that was not a dolphin. It was a shark.
She had been telling anyone who would listen about how she had this beautiful encounter with a dolphin.
She's done shark dives before. So have I. They're my favorite dives but you go into them with a different mindset. More safety and planning and avoid unnecessary encounters if the situation isn't ideal.
TLDR: Aunt got high underwater. Filmed herself with a dolphin. Later realized that she was swimming with a shark when she watched the video at home.
91points
#3
My mom, who was separated from her wildly toxic husband, decided to throw a party for a family friend. Our little family was on edge because she had just filed for divorce and she decided we needed a night to relax and have fun. Lots of food, friends and laughter. At one point she snapped a picture of the birthday boy goofing around. Later that night my dad took me back to his home for the weekend.
The next morning my aunt called him to say mom was in the hospital and he'd need to keep me for a week or so. Dad told me mom had gotten sick again but would be better soon. I didn't see her again for maybe two or three weeks. During that time the birthday boy came by to hang out and show us the party pictures. 30 years later I can still see the photo of him goofing around, all covered in ribbons and playing with balloons, this huge grin on his face. And there behind him, looking through the window where we were missing a blind, was my stepdad.
He had been waiting for the party to end.
My dad told me she was sick so that I wouldn't know what had really happened. Once I saw him in the photo, even as a kid, I knew why she was actually in the hospital.
The next morning my aunt called him to say mom was in the hospital and he'd need to keep me for a week or so. Dad told me mom had gotten sick again but would be better soon. I didn't see her again for maybe two or three weeks. During that time the birthday boy came by to hang out and show us the party pictures. 30 years later I can still see the photo of him goofing around, all covered in ribbons and playing with balloons, this huge grin on his face. And there behind him, looking through the window where we were missing a blind, was my stepdad.
He had been waiting for the party to end.
My dad told me she was sick so that I wouldn't know what had really happened. Once I saw him in the photo, even as a kid, I knew why she was actually in the hospital.
83points
While investigating the cold case, Detective Dana Savage looked back at crime scene photographs and spotted Tina’s purse in a tree. Wondering how it got up there, the detective strongly believed it was the work of whoever had hurt Faelz.
Upon inspecting the purse in 2011, FBI analysts found four drops of blood. They matched it to one of Faelz's classmates. Steve Carlson was finally arrested and was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
After years of denial, he wrote a confession to the Faelz's family in 2020–36 years after they lost her.
#4
I had a project for my high school photography class and, like everyone else, I thought a cemetery would be a great place to shoot in black and white. I went right after a storm and caught some great shots of mist rising from the ponds and streams, overflow racing through debris stuck in storm drains, wet mausoleums, all the hits. I developed and submitted four prints to my teacher who immediately picked out the last photo I took, saying the figures in the background added a lot of atmosphere and drama.
I had no idea what he was talking about. When he pointed out the two people, something immediately seemed off. It looked like a man just starting to turn and run, while grabbing an older child or young teenager by the arm so violently that they were flying sideways off of a bicycle. They were framed in the center background between two headstones, facing away from the camera. To the left and almost out of frame was a fuzzy black car. I hadn't even seen them in person while taking the shot. I showed my parents that night and they flipped out. On the day I took the photos, a week before, there was an attempted abduction of a girl taking a shortcut home by riding her bike through the cemetery. The abductor dropped her and fled when he saw a car approaching and was later arrested after the drivers called 911.
Apart from accidentally capturing an attempted child abduction on film, the fact that this stuff happens in plain sight was probably scarier.
I had no idea what he was talking about. When he pointed out the two people, something immediately seemed off. It looked like a man just starting to turn and run, while grabbing an older child or young teenager by the arm so violently that they were flying sideways off of a bicycle. They were framed in the center background between two headstones, facing away from the camera. To the left and almost out of frame was a fuzzy black car. I hadn't even seen them in person while taking the shot. I showed my parents that night and they flipped out. On the day I took the photos, a week before, there was an attempted abduction of a girl taking a shortcut home by riding her bike through the cemetery. The abductor dropped her and fled when he saw a car approaching and was later arrested after the drivers called 911.
Apart from accidentally capturing an attempted child abduction on film, the fact that this stuff happens in plain sight was probably scarier.
79points
#5
I did wildlife and nature photography for awhile when I was in high school and just out of. I was on the School Newspaper all 4 years of high school, so I had connections at the Printers, and would often get calls from them saying, "Hey, we have someone for this magazine or this newsletter" etc. I'd take on the odd jobs and go get pictures. Sometimes it was of Houses for a "Parade of Homes" kinda thing, sometimes it was pictures from little nature parks for stories. It was all really, really random stuff, usually.
One time, they asked me to go get a picture of a local "Park" around a lake in the foothills, since they were going to be having some sort of 4th of July Celebration in a few weeks.
I went out and got several amazing pictures. Lagoon, Walking Trails, Picnic area, etc. I spent about 3 hours out there hiking around cause it's actually one of my favorite places to hike anyway.
I got home and went to do edits on the picture to send off to the people who requested it. What I wound up seeing... was 3 Mountain Lions. Following me. For probably about an hour.
One time, they asked me to go get a picture of a local "Park" around a lake in the foothills, since they were going to be having some sort of 4th of July Celebration in a few weeks.
I went out and got several amazing pictures. Lagoon, Walking Trails, Picnic area, etc. I spent about 3 hours out there hiking around cause it's actually one of my favorite places to hike anyway.
I got home and went to do edits on the picture to send off to the people who requested it. What I wound up seeing... was 3 Mountain Lions. Following me. For probably about an hour.
65points
#6
Absolute nothing. I was in my backyard semi-late at night and this small owl, like 6 inches tall and so poofy it was almost round landed on the ground about 10 feet from me out of nowhere, almost silent. So I snap a picture real quick, because an owl just landed near me and it's a cute little round thing. Long story short, I have schizophrenia.
49points
In another case, it was a simple yellow sock, spotted in a photo, that became the key to solving a crime.
Authorities had called on Byron Wolfe, head of photography at Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University, to help solve the case of a woman whose body was found in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 1991. 27-year-old Denise Sharon Kulb was wearing just a sweater, while the rest of her clothes were piled on top of her. Wolfe was tasked with restoring crime scene photos that were nearly 30 years old.
#7
I had a friend take a picture of me while we were working outside. Looked back at it a couple of hours later and to my horror realized that there was a giant tick climbing up my neck in the picture. Found the tick itself in my hair a little while later haha.
44points
#8
One evening back in college, I was getting ready for a night out with two friends but the friend’s apartment was supposedly haunted and we managed to take the scariest selfie of all time.
The friend who lived in the apartment would tell us all the time about her bathroom door randomly opening/closing and her dog barking at things she couldn’t see.
So, here we are, in this girl’s haunted af bedroom taking selfies before we leave for a party. It wasn’t until we were looking at the photos later that evening that we saw **the face**.
Behind the three heads, there is an unmistakable fourth face, grinning into the camera. It had a weird cat-like nose and was oddly round. No hair, and pale.
Unfortunately everyone I show the photo to believes that we made it in photoshop, but I swear that we didn’t. If anyone finds this interesting I’ll upload it...
Edit: here’s the image
The friend who lived in the apartment would tell us all the time about her bathroom door randomly opening/closing and her dog barking at things she couldn’t see.
So, here we are, in this girl’s haunted af bedroom taking selfies before we leave for a party. It wasn’t until we were looking at the photos later that evening that we saw **the face**.
Behind the three heads, there is an unmistakable fourth face, grinning into the camera. It had a weird cat-like nose and was oddly round. No hair, and pale.
Unfortunately everyone I show the photo to believes that we made it in photoshop, but I swear that we didn’t. If anyone finds this interesting I’ll upload it...
Edit: here’s the image
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42points
#9
I took a picture of my new coffee table, sent it to my mom, and realized there was lube in the background.
41points
"Wolfe was able to look at some of the 35mm negatives authorities had from the crime scene and restore them enough to note a yellow sock on Kulb’s body that matched one found in the apartment of the suspect, Kulb’s then boyfriend, Theodore Dill Donahue," reports Watchmojo.com.
Wolfe’s restoration of the photos proved to be an imperative component in solving the case, said Anthony Voci, chief of the homicide unit at the District Attorney’s Office of Philadelphia. Donahue was finally arrested in 2019. He passed away while in custody the following year.
#10
So went to school camp up in the Australian bush way back in the 90s. I brought a disposable camera for photos. I was about 9
Dropped it off to get it developed. Never got the pictures. Turns out I'd accidently taken some pictures of a corpse in the bush. My parents turned the photos over to the police.
It was a big drama at the school as several kids photos "disappeared* eg parents gave them over to the police.
Yep. Not a single student or teacher had noticed the apparently obvious corpse while bush walking. They didn't run a rural school camp for two years after that.
Dropped it off to get it developed. Never got the pictures. Turns out I'd accidently taken some pictures of a corpse in the bush. My parents turned the photos over to the police.
It was a big drama at the school as several kids photos "disappeared* eg parents gave them over to the police.
Yep. Not a single student or teacher had noticed the apparently obvious corpse while bush walking. They didn't run a rural school camp for two years after that.
34points
#11
So I took a picture with an old digital camera that I got when I was younger but I was supposed to be in bed. So it’s about midnight and I tried to take a picture of myself to see if I could get it on a good angle. After looking at it I saw glowing yellow eyes in a small crack in my closet. I freaked out but it ended up being my cat who knew how to open my closet and liked sleeping in there but apparently woke up when I was moving around and was watching me!
34points
#12
A crocodile about 10m away from my (now ex) boyfriend. In hindsight it would have been better if he'd been eaten that day...
32points
Another criminal was caught thanks to a pill bottle in the background of a photograph.
Stephen Keating was arrested in November 2012 for producing illicit material of minors. He’d shared a photo of one of his victims, and upon thorough inspection, investigators spotted the one clue they needed to crack the case.
"Special agents removed motion blur to decipher Keating’s first name and the first three letters of his last name on a prescription pill bottle in the background, along with part of the prescription number," reported Watchmojo.com. "After contacting the pharmacy, they identified Keating and arrested him."
#13
When my brothers and I were kids, my uncle gave each of us a camera (1965). We would take black and white pictures of all kinds of boring stuff. One of my brothers kept all of his pictures in a drawer and ignored them for many years.
He came across them 15 years later and showed them to our good friend who grew up a few houses down from us. The friend was going through the stack of pics and they were reminiscing about the old days. The friend held up a picture of my oldest brother holding our kitten next to my dad's old truck. He asked who's dog is in the truck?
My brother looked at the picture and inside the cab of the truck was a dog looking at my brother and the cat. It was a large white furry dog that looked to be happy with it's tongue hanging out of its mouth.
We were between dogs at that time. Our first boxer passed away almost a year earlier. We didn't have another boxer until the cat was a year old. The dog is not a boxer. No one in the neighborhood had a dog like that, nor any family friends. The truck was always locked, and we would never have let a strange dog into the truck.
We asked my mother about where dad bought the truck, she said it was owned by a man who raised chickens for a living. She said he had a friendly, big white sheepdog. We think the good boy liked to ride in the truck and still liked to hang out in it.
He came across them 15 years later and showed them to our good friend who grew up a few houses down from us. The friend was going through the stack of pics and they were reminiscing about the old days. The friend held up a picture of my oldest brother holding our kitten next to my dad's old truck. He asked who's dog is in the truck?
My brother looked at the picture and inside the cab of the truck was a dog looking at my brother and the cat. It was a large white furry dog that looked to be happy with it's tongue hanging out of its mouth.
We were between dogs at that time. Our first boxer passed away almost a year earlier. We didn't have another boxer until the cat was a year old. The dog is not a boxer. No one in the neighborhood had a dog like that, nor any family friends. The truck was always locked, and we would never have let a strange dog into the truck.
We asked my mother about where dad bought the truck, she said it was owned by a man who raised chickens for a living. She said he had a friendly, big white sheepdog. We think the good boy liked to ride in the truck and still liked to hang out in it.
29points
#14
A shark. And I was photographing surfers and waves from the water at the time. Luckily for me it was just a juvenile but looking at the images later was a shock.
26points
#15
Took a tour of the region's "most haunted house" and in one of the bedrooms a random doll appears in one picture but not another. Both pictures were taken from the same perspective and one has the ghostly doll but the other there is no sign of it anywhere.
What's even spookier was that the doll was looking straight at the camera, with no reflection in the mirror on the wardrobe it was sitting right next to.
What's even spookier was that the doll was looking straight at the camera, with no reflection in the mirror on the wardrobe it was sitting right next to.
24points
"After Danish police first discovered the photos, and less than 24 hours after we identified Keating as the perpetrator, HSI and a host of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies were searching his residence, putting him in handcuffs and rescuing his victims," said Brock D. Nicholson, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Atlanta.
Keating was sentenced to 110 years in prison in 2013. "Hopefully his victims can find some comfort in the fact that he will never again be a free man," Nicholson added.
All thanks to what some may deem as a minuscule detail in a photo…
#16
I guess this could be scary for some people but my husband and I were on a group expedition in california, we were in the middle of the desert, it was honestly pitch black except for flash lights that we had. We all were sitting in chairs in a circle and we decided to shut off all lights and just sit back and enjoy the darkness.
While this was happening i decided to turn off my flash on my phone camera and snap a few pics. What showed up surprised me. In only one picture(of about 20 i took rapidly back to back) a huge redish orange fire orb showed up. It literally took up almost the whole picture. It was the only thing in the pic, and the rest was pitch black. I never saw it with my naked eye. We tried to debunk it but we had nothing in our possession that could make that sort of light. It was pretty cool.
While this was happening i decided to turn off my flash on my phone camera and snap a few pics. What showed up surprised me. In only one picture(of about 20 i took rapidly back to back) a huge redish orange fire orb showed up. It literally took up almost the whole picture. It was the only thing in the pic, and the rest was pitch black. I never saw it with my naked eye. We tried to debunk it but we had nothing in our possession that could make that sort of light. It was pretty cool.
23points
#17
Oh I know this one!
I too, a photo of my Dad and Brother in a Thornton’s cafe (don’t think they have Thornton’s in America, it’s basically a cafe owned by a chocolate company), and I took the photo, and in the background is the most cursed photo of this woman who was there spitting out her hot chocolate, it was such perfect timing it’s beautiful!
(Also want to note I no longer have the photo, it was on my old phone).
I too, a photo of my Dad and Brother in a Thornton’s cafe (don’t think they have Thornton’s in America, it’s basically a cafe owned by a chocolate company), and I took the photo, and in the background is the most cursed photo of this woman who was there spitting out her hot chocolate, it was such perfect timing it’s beautiful!
(Also want to note I no longer have the photo, it was on my old phone).
19points
#18
This picture always creeped me out. My gf (wife now) took this picture of the dog. That "face" in the background was certainly not there when the pic was taken.
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19points
#19
Took a picture of my friend when we were scuba diving. A tiger shark!
17points
#20
Took a picture of me my sister at summer camp. I loved the picture and added to my scrapbook and had a copy framed. I would take it out over the years show family.
15 years later I'm looking at the picture and right behind us is a girl who looks absolutely terrified. She is mid scream and sprinting toward something off camera.
I guess someone had fallen in the fire and everyone was rushing to put her out while me and my sisters were posing for pictures!
How narcissistic and vain were we that not only at the time we were too busy trying to look cute but it took 15 years to stop staring at ourselves and look in the background?! 😂😭😂😭😂😭.
15 years later I'm looking at the picture and right behind us is a girl who looks absolutely terrified. She is mid scream and sprinting toward something off camera.
I guess someone had fallen in the fire and everyone was rushing to put her out while me and my sisters were posing for pictures!
How narcissistic and vain were we that not only at the time we were too busy trying to look cute but it took 15 years to stop staring at ourselves and look in the background?! 😂😭😂😭😂😭.
17points