They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which often times is true.
Cliche, sure, but sometimes there’s no better way to tell a story than with a good photo.
There are details and minutiae that might not get picked up otherwise hidden in all
sorts of pictures. A sidelong glance, a hand placed a certain
way, things going on in the background. If you can’t get the whole story in writing,
then a picture might help fill in the gaps. However, some pictures are the story.
As life becomes more closely documented these days, it’s often fascinating to go back
and see what images were captured before it was as easy as pulling your phone out.
People lived their lives differently back then as well, leading to situations so awful
they’re hard to imagine. The relative rarity of earlier photographs
paired with genuinely chilling stories lead to some of the most lasting images of all
time. Some pictures will stay scorched into your
brain forever. Hello horror heads, and welcome back to the
scariest channel on Youtube: Top5ScaryVideos. I’m your horror host, Keegan Hughes, and
today we’re taking a look at the Top 5 Horrifying Pictures from History.
Take a deep breath, and get your brain-scrubber ready, because these are some wicked creepy
pictures that are hard to forget. Before we get started, make sure to give this
video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more photographic frenzies.
Perfect, let’s begin. NUMBER FIVE: BLANCHE MONNIER
This image was taken shortly after the discovery of a woman trapped in a room for over 25 years.
Twenty five! Half of her entire life, spent in one room.
This was no accident either. Also known as the Confined Woman of Poitiers,
Blanche was secretly locked in a small room by her status-obsessed mother.
In 1874, when Blanche was 25, she wanted to marry an older lawyer.
Being from a bourgeois family of old noble origins, her mother would not accept this
. In order to keep her daughter from marrying
a penniless lawyer, she locked her in a dark room in the attic of their home.
The family continued on living their daily lives, pretending to mourn the death of their
captive sister. Imagine that, living out your life full well
knowing that your poor sibling was tied to a bed upstairs, wasting away.
In 1901, an anonymous writer sent a letter to the Paris Attorney General, letting them
know about the spinster locked up in Madame Monnier’s house.
When discovered, Blanche was emaciated and filthy.
According to some sources, she had not seen sunlight since being locked up.
Living in her own filth, she was barely 25 kilograms.
Imagine the Sloth killing from David Fincher’s Seven, and you’ll start to understand what
this was like. The police reported that she has been lying
completely naked on a rotten straw mattress, covered in a crust of excrement, meat, vegetables,
fish, and rotten bread. The stench was so terrible, they had to suspend
the initial investigation and come back later. The mother was arrested, and died 15 days
later. She knew exactly what she was doing, but didn’t
expect to get caught. Good riddance.
NUMBER FOUR: LEONID ROGOZOV While on an expedition to the Antarctic, Russian
surgeon Leonid Rogozov started to feel awful. He was always tired, felt weak often, and
couldn’t shake a case of nausea. When he developed a pain in his side, the
medicine man knew what was happening: he had appendicitis.
If left untreated, the swollen organ would kill him.
Knowing they were far from civilization, Rogozov made the ghastly realization that he was the
only person capable of performing surgery. He wanted to live, and if the doctor died
on an expedition the others would be in great danger.
So he did what most medical professionals consider impossible: Rogozov performed an
auto-appendectomy. He gathered some assistants, prepped his instruments,
and began the procedure. If he were to lose consciousness, the helpers
were instructed to inject him with adrenalin so he could keep going.
Because of the nature of self-surgery, he could not apply a general anaesthetic; it
would cloud his mind and limit his abilities. Once past the abdominal wall, he had to move
his intestines out of the way, and remove the appendix with no other pain relief.
In the end, the surgery was a success. The image of the procedure underway is haunting
to say the least, with Rogozov’s open abdomen on full display.
He actually performed much of the operation by touch, as the mirror he had planned on
using ended up being more hindrance than help. NUMBER THREE: FROZEN SOVIET SOLDIER
This looks like an actual nightmare. Like, big The Shining vibes for sure.
The story here is just as scary as the photo. In 1939, Finnish defenders would sometimes
take fallen, frozen Russian soldiers, and place them in the field, almost like human
scarecrows. This photo is an example of this practice
in action. The hope was that the frozen body would be
seen as a guard on patrol, and other soldiers would avoid that area.
If they got close enough to see the reality of the situation though, the soldiers would
be in for a scare. Some claim this was a form of psychological
warfare, while others say it was just another deterrent.
The Finns, defending land against almost a million Russians, had to fight guerilla-style
in the Winter War. Being one of the coldest Finnish winters ever
recorded, the cold caused massive losses. The amount of soldiers who froze to death
is unknown, but we see what the cold can do to a body in the picture.
Not a way anyone would want to go. NUMBER TWO: SMILING MAD BOMBER
George Peter Metesky terrorized New York City for over a decade in the 40’s and 50’s
by planting homemade explosives in all sorts of public places.
He planted over 30 bombs, with 22 of them exploding and injuring over a dozen people.
The last thing you want to see from such a violent and terrifying person is a goofy grin,
but unfortunately that’s exactly what we got.
Following an investigation that made use of an early form of profiling, Metesky was put
behind bars. The image captured of him smiling out at the
photographer has horrified people since. NUMBER ONE: JOHN IRVING BENTLEY’S LEG
Just take a look at this picture, and try to explain what happened.
It doesn’t make too much sense, does it? One human leg, slipper still attached, sticking
out of a burned hole in the bathroom. His remains were discovered by meter reader
Don Gosnell, who had let himself into the house to check the meter in the basement.
He smelled something odd, and noticed a strange smoke, so he went upstairs to investigate.
There he found the leg, with the rest of Bentley’s body reduced to ashes.
There are many theories as to how this happened, with various explanations as to how the fire
burned out without spreading further. The most popular cause of death is alleged
spontaneous human combustion, fire without an apparent external source of ignition.
Other explanations point to Bentley keeping matches on his person, and wearing flammable
clothing, but these theories have never been confirmed.
Either way, it’s hard to imagine what would cause a fire intense enough to burn a man
down to nothing while staying controlled in one area.
I don’t want to go out on a limb here, but something doesn’t seem right.
Yikes. OUTRO
And there you have it: five photos, five hard-to-believe stories.
That’s just a quick look too, there are plenty of resources out there on the web that
give plenty more context. What do you think? Are these photos as haunting
as I built them up to be? What are some of your favourite horrifying
historical pictures? Let me know down in the comments!
Speaking of comments, let’s have a look at some of your more picturesque ones from
TOP 5 DUMBEST HORROR MOVIE PLOTS THAT MAKE NO SENSE:
Mister Taz says “Sometimes dumb is better than smart: quote of the year”
I’m glad that one stuck out, it’s how I feel most days.
James Cashatt says “The Stuff and Death Bed are classics! Rented them from a video
store looooong ago” Classics for sure! I’d watch them any day
of the week. Definitely on the dumber end of the entertainment spectrum, though!”
Chute_mi plz says “3rd” Congratulations.
That’s all the time we have for today! Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time!