The hooded figure is actually the children's mother, which, without further explanation, would only make this ten times weirder. Instead, this is a tragically failed attempt to make old-timey baby photos look naturalistic. See, back in the 1800s, cameras worked slowly -- you had to sit still for several minutes. Since that's impossible for an unattended infant, the mother had to hold her child while doing her best chameleon impression. At best, you got a portrait of a kid and a woman with a blanket over her head -- and at worst, it looked like the children were being haunted ...

retronaut.co
That's the ghost of her childhood.

... or about to be dragged down to hell by a disembodied hand.

dailymail.co.uk
Now we know why Alfred Hitchcock turned out the way he did.

Of course, the kids' traumatized faces didn't exactly help.

dailymail.co.uk
All of these kids are dead now. Coincidence?

This 1870 photo proves that ventriloquists were once somehow even creepier than they are today, a feat we previously thought impossible. Young Stalin there couldn't give less of a fuck that his doll looks like he's sizing up which audience member to murder first.

But, you know, it's not like ventriloquists intentionally make their puppets creepy. There's simply no way to give movable eyes to a doll and have it look normal. So what if we-

lostateminor.com
The only reason his butcher apron is clean is that he first drinks the blood of his victims.

NOPE, we take that back. The fact that this one appears to be standing on its own is the least creepy thing about it. Not even the puppeteer's flawless mustache can justify the existence of this photo. Come on, there has to be one old doll that looks normal. Right?

lostateminor.com
There's a 0 percent chance that anything but a knife was in that puppet's other hand.

Dear God, Stevil is back.

jonmwessel.wordpress.com
"You don't wanna know how this happened."

This lady looks like she's stuck in the 18th century equivalent of a Saw trap, or like she's already dead and dismembered and ready to be thrown into the river -- look at the cold, dead stare in her eyes. Also, judging by the shape of the bag, it looks like her killer took the opportunity to throw out some pizza leftovers, too.

However, this is actually driving headwear from 1906 France. Since cars were open back then, driving could be messy. Still, what the hell was she driving through -- mustard gas? As for the odd shape of the bag, that's because it also had to accommodate her French lady hat inside, obviously.

publicdomainreview.org
If a woman wasn't wearing a fancy hat in 1906 France, she was stoned to death on the spot.

And the best part was that once her limited visibility caused a traffic accident, they didn't even have to move her to a body bag.

This is what the soul of a rapist looks like. Look at the sunken eyes, the giant gropy hands, the unmistakable blowjob face, that haunting mustache. Jesus, he's even wearing a terrible scarf. It's that, or Chewbacca's molesty uncle. Either way, don't let it get close.

loc.gov
"You're my favorite nephew, Chewie. Let's shower together."

The person inside that monstrosity is a Koskimo native -- the costume is part of a ceremony, and the creature depicted is a Hami, which literally translates to "dangerous thing." Yeah, if one of those were lumbering in our direction, threatening to kill and/or blow us, we wouldn't pause to think up a good name either.

That's a medium from the 1930s by the name of Colin Evans who's in the middle of either a seance or a very elaborate seminar on autoerotic asphyxiation. The photo was published in the Daily Mirror in 1938, and it's still making the rounds today as evidence that human levitation is possible, because how else do you explain this freaky shit?

deadhorsebrooklyn.tumblr.com
It's hard for a psychic to look dignified when his "I'm levitating" face is also his "I'm pooping" face.

Other than "He jumped off a chair," of course, which is exactly what he did.

forgetomori.com
The trick is to sit on a very sharp nail.

Evans claimed that he could only levitate in total darkness, mainly so that no one would see him get on the chair, jump off and trigger the camera's flash with the string you can see in his left hand. Before you make fun of how gullible people from the '30s were for falling for this silly bullshit, consider the fact that Criss Angel probably owns a yacht.

This guy is about to either fight some zombies or explore an irradiated wasteland, and somehow, you get the feeling that there isn't a human face under that mask. If that is a mask.

He's actually a German soldier in World War I, back when the transition from horse to tank still wasn't fully complete. However, while we have to question the effectiveness of using a lance to take on machine guns, the psychological effect of charging the enemy with a sharp stick in a gas mask from atop a black steed can't be underestimated.

It turns out that melted wax figures look almost as disturbing as melted people. This photo shows the aftermath of a fire in Madame Tussaud's London museum in 1930, which had to be before they stopped granting sentience to each mannequin, because these wax figures are clearly suffering. The men are in various stages of mourning the loss of their hands ...

io9.com
Denial, acceptance and "AAAAHHH, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

The woman on the left is still reliving the moment that the flames went up ...

io9.com

... and the woman sitting down has seen things, man.

io9.com
That, or she's about to puke up a fifth of SoCo.

Then there's the decapitated body about to poop on his own head, plus his friend's. Tragic. Just tragic.

io9.com
"Awww, come on."