In 2020, TikTok users joined in with a sound called Rhythm Thief but cursed, using it for quick video edits packed with strange photos. Why do we keep looking? Part of it is curiosity. Our brains love a puzzle, and a photo with no explanation is a puzzle with the key piece missing.
Part of it is the joy of sharing, because sending a cursed image to a friend is a small, harmless prank that says, now you have to carry this too. And part of it is relief, since most of these pictures turn out to be more silly than scary. The owner of the original Tumblr blog even told Paper that one favorite picture is the perfect cursed image precisely because nothing in it is inherently unsettling, which says a lot about how much of the cursed feeling happens in our own heads.
So as you scroll through the pictures below, keep an eye out for the usual suspects. Watch for the stare into the lens, the mystery lighting, the food in a strange place and that nagging question of who took this and why. If one of them makes you laugh and shudder at the same time, congratulations, you have found a properly cursed image. Just do not blame us if it follows you into your dreams.
