Top 20 Normal Looking Pictures with Disturbing Backstories

picture perfect think again welcome to watchmojo.com further reading number 20 tragedy by the sea at first glance this photo might appear romantic after all it shows a couple on a windswept beach but look closer and the woman's distraught expression says it all right before photographer John el gaunt took the shot the couple's 19 month old son had been happily playing in their yard but he wandered off and disappeared into the waves the couple is standing on the shore realizing their son is gone this photo actually won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize and given the backstory it's a haunting shot of sudden and unexpected tragedy number 19 the space shuttle Challenger crew it's unclear where the astronauts in this photo are going but they appear excited and optimistic about whatever's on the horizon doing some digging you'll find that the crew was walking out of the operations and check-out building they were headed for pad 39b where the space shuttle Challenger was about to take off the STS 51l mission was notable for its diverse crew although that's sadly not what it's best remembered for only a minute after launching the Space Shuttle exploded 73.5 seconds challengers engines shut down the last data from Challenger is radioed to earth well nobody knows precisely when each crew member died nobody survived after the spacecraft hit the ocean this photo was taken on January 28th 1986 mere hours before the crew unknowingly embarked on what would be their final mission number 18 Christopher McCandless with a grin across his face the man in this picture appears to be waving hello but he was actually waving goodbye this bearded explorer is Christopher McCandless the subject of the 2007 biopic into the wild leaving his old life behind McCandless decided to fend for himself in mother nature's backyard eventually seeking refuge in an abandoned Fairbanks bus 142 in August 1992 the 24 year old McCandless died at Stampede trail Alaska most likely due to starvation based on the last cell photo he took it's evident McCandless knew his days were numbered [Music] while it's hard to make out the paper McCandless is holding is his farewell message reading quote I have had a happy life and thank the Lord goodbye and may God bless all number 17 lightning strike while the numbers vary the odds of getting struck by lightning are relatively slim that doesn't mean you shouldn't take lightning safety seriously though this photo of 18 year-old Michael McQuillan and his 12 year old brother Sean has served as a cautionary tale ever since it was taken in 1975 posing together at morro rock the brothers were goofing around with their hair standing on end there static hair and those storm clouds in the background were more foreboding than either realized as lightning struck them shortly after their sister took the picture another hiker died and while the brother survived Sean was left with third-degree burns and took his own life in 1989 Michael continues to spread awareness about the dangers and warning signs of lightning number 16 another day in oma looking at this photo the first thing you're inclined to notice is the man standing in the street and the child on his shoulders meanwhile the red car parked on the side of the road appears inconsequential what you might not realize is that the photo was taken in OMA a Northern Ireland town on August 15 1998 not long before this car blew up the real Irish Republican Army a splinter group executed this car bombing five days after the Good Friday Agreement was signed 500 pounds of explosives detonated inside a red Vauxhall Cavalier parked on the roadside pulverizing surrounding buildings although the Real IRA claimed that innocent civilians were not their target 29 lives were lost in the bombing and roughly 220 were injured it was the biggest loss of life in a single attack in Northern Ireland while the man and child thankfully survived the bombing the person behind the camera did not number 15 David a Johnston while not a household name David a Johnston was a revered volcanologist who along with the United States Geological Survey helped save thousands of people through his on-site work tragically Johnston lost his own life in the process all seems well in this photo as Johnston sits in a chair outside looking into the camera little did anyone know that within the next 13 hours Johnston would perish in the 1980 eruption of Mount st. Helens the eruption proceeded by seismic activity was first reported by Johnston who radioed the message quote Vancouver Vancouver this is it within the next seconds the signal went out and Johnston was never heard from again so I guess I had the realization right away that this was some kind of a tragedy and on the one hand it was this huge exciting and interesting magmatic eruptions and on the other hand it was I was pretty certain that something terrible had happened to Dave while his remains were never found it's believed that Johnston died at Coldwater to a post that wasn't as safe as anticipated I think one of the things to put in perspective is that 234 square miles of that area of Washington were devastated by that blast till 5.7 miles that was within that devastation zone the blast zone number 14 mark Jackson's basketball card for die-hard sports fans you'll recognize the player on this basketball card as Mark Jackson who started his NBA career with the New York Knicks and later coached the Golden State Warriors at first glance this card would likely blend in with the rest of your collection take a closer look at the lower left-hand corner though you see those two young fans sitting in the front row they are Lyle and Erik Menendez two wealthy brothers who took the lives of their allegedly abusive parents on August 20th 1989 brothers who were thought to have it all at times acting out even going as far as robbing houses until they were caught the brothers weren't arrested for these crimes until March 8th 1990 and in between that time they spent an extravagant amount of money so at the time nothing seems suspicious to you about them no but soon detectives shifted their focus the brothers were out there spending money like it was water it appears that some of that fortune went towards Knicks tickets before their apprehension number 13 Rodney Alcala if we asked you to name the man in this photo you might take a wild guess and say Christoph Waltz abhi had Weird Al's hair dresser in reality he's Rodney Alcala the dating game killer how did he get such an outlandish nickname because Alcala appeared on the dating game prior to his 1979 arrest the woman who wouldn't with him ended up backing out saying she found him creepy come on over here her intuition probably saved her life others would not be so fortunate while his total victim count could be as high as 130 alkalyn was trialed for five murders in 2010 almost 31 years after his apprehension Alcala represented himself in court as seen in this picture even more bizarre Ocala was his own defense witness asking himself quote Rodney would you please tell us about your hair Alcala ultimately received the death sentence although he's still awaiting execution to this date number 12 Ayana tokuma soo remember that scene in Superman 2 where a little boy falls over the rail at Niagara Falls well that sort of thing happens more often than you think but Superman sadly isn't around to save the day on the surface there doesn't seem to be anything particularly special about this photo which sees several people gathering at Niagara River the woman in the red sweater is Ayano took a la soupe an exchange student from Japan if you think standing on that pillar seems kind of dangerous he'd be right not long after the photo was taken she lost her balance and fell over the edge ultimately going down Horseshoe Falls tokuma sue was swept from the river's Canadian side to its American side where her lifeless body was discovered people just go too far you know I don't blame anything on the park I just think people wanted to get that extra edge get closer get closer and unfortunately things happen number 11 the SS gonca the SS calm may not be a household name like the Titanic but it's forever linked to the Texas City disaster and this photo captured the vessel just before tragedy spiraled out of control on April 16 1947 smoke was seen emitting from the docked ship in Texas City a fire had broken out with about 2,200 tons of ammonium nitrate aboard this naturally amounted to an explosion but that was only the beginning Texas City Texas that's joined by a tremendous blast the blast ignited a subsequent explosion on the high flyer another ship carrying ammonium nitrate and about 8:15 they asked me to come aboard the ship they had a fire down in the hole what important ship it was changed smoke coming up between the cargo and the side of the ship the ensuing chain reaction resulted in a loss of 581 lives with only one survivor from the local fire department number 10 Apollo one pool party the space pod in the swimming pool is only the second weirdest thing about this photo like how often do you see astronauts lounging on water floats while wearing their space suits surely there must be a humorous story behind such a surreal image unfortunately it's quite the opposite the suited up astronauts in this photo were Gus Grissom ed white and Roger B Chaffee they were training for the Apollo 1 mission which was planned to commence in February of 1967 On January 27th of that year a fire broke out in the cabin during a pre-launch test unable to open the hatch door the three men perished in the fire which was caused by electrical problems thus the mission ended before it even started the pad where Grissom Chaffee and white died is now a memorial Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Grissom US Air Force and the Tennant commander Roger Chaffee are buried at the Arlington National Cemetery Lieutenant Colonel Edward White is interred at West Point Military Academy number nine bear photographer there are countless photos of bears out there and this one doesn't look much different from all the rest since the picture was taken from a distance and the bear isn't charging the photographer seemingly isn't in any immediate danger after Darsh Patel snapped this pick use his phone however the bear started to follow him and his friends the group split up as the bear began to close in on them ultimately pursuing Patel his phone was eventually found with animal teeth marks while Patel's body was discovered at a nearby ravine scenic Sunday afternoon ended in horror when five hikers crossed paths with a 300-pound black bear that looked similar to this one the bear was still hanging around the 22 year olds fatally mauled remains and the authorities took the wild animal out we believe this bear was about four years old it was not a tagged bear meaning it had no history with the DEP there was no research done on this bear that we know if it had no previous incidents of aggression that would have quality this photo-op came at a steep price for Patel and the bear number eight what are you smiling at the two men being escorted in this photo are Richard Hickok and Perry Edward Smith although handcuffs are visible the jolly smile on Smith's face suggests they're only in for a mild offense this couldn't be further from the truth ever hear of a book called in cold blood well Hickok and Smith provided the basis for this best-selling true crime novel the two criminals were convicted for the clutter family murders and sentenced to death Richard Hickok the first to be executed decided by a coin toss perry smith's was second in this chilling photo Hickok and Smith can be seen leaving the courtroom right after receiving the guilty verdict much can be said about Smith's haunting grin if there's one takeaway from the image though it's that this crime was indeed cold-blooded number seven BTK at graduation Dennis Rader was his church's president a Cub Scout leader and an all-around pillar of the community as you can tell from this photo Rader was also a family man who seemed quite proud of his daughter Carrie at her college graduation this would all be overshadowed though when Rader was exposed as the BTK strangler the letters standing for bind torture kill as his preferred mo when BTK came forward everybody's life changed he would see a woman walking and he would say she's next over the course of multiple decades this seemingly ordinary guy took ten lives in 2005 the authorities used Carrie Raiders DNA to link her father to a crime scene culminating in his arrest Carrie had graduated from k-state and while there had tests at health services both a pap smear and a biopsy investigators traveled to Manhattan with a subpoena in hand for those smears her DNA a direct match - DNA left at BTK crime scenes Rader pled guilty and was subsequently sentenced to ten consecutive life sentences about 14 years after her father was captured Kari released a book entitled a serial killers daughter my story of faith love and overcoming it's been like a cathartic process of having to go do really hard work and find those memories again of my father that I have lost and try to separate my dad back out as my dad and removed the BTK from it number six Dutch girls of Panama scrolling through Instagram chances are you'll stumble across a number of pleasant photos like these standing against a colorful backdrop with green hills and blue skies 22 year old lisanna foon appears to have a lovely day ahead of her Brune was on vacation with 21-year old Chris Kramer's a fellow Dutch student seen in another photo at the same spot the two set out for a hike in Panama on April 1st 2014 when these pics were taken this was also the day that foon and Kramer's disappeared resulting in a grueling search ten weeks down the line Bruns backpack was uncovered with her camera inside Brune and Kramer's remains were eventually found scattered across the jungle with the cause of death still up for debate number five Travis Alexander Travis Alexander was 30 when this photo was taken of him in the shower the person behind the camera was Jodi arias with whom Alexander had a shaky romantic relationship this was the last photo ever taken of Alexander alive as his friends found his body in the shower a few days later it was only a matter of time until the authorities connected the dots and arrested his ex-girlfriend arias constantly changed her story originally pleading innocence later claiming that two intruders broke in and ultimately testifying that she killed Alexander in self-defense why the simple answer is that he attacked me in the end arias was deemed guilty of first-degree murder receiving a life sentence we the jury duly impaneled and sworn and the above-entitled action upon our oaths do find the defendant as to count one first-degree murder guilty alexander appears off guard in this photo he clearly had no idea what was coming number four the eternal shadow at face value this dark outline of a person could be chalked up to some harmless graffiti while we wish that were the case this shadowy figure resulted from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945 the u.s. dropped two nuclear weapons little boy and fat man that resulted in anywhere between 129 and 226 thousand deaths at 814 it was a sunny day at 8:15 it was a hellscape whoever this person was it appears they were using a walking stick during their final moments when the blast hit as a result of the bombing an imprint of this unknown soul was left on the steps this wasn't an isolated incident as numerous shadows can still be found around the bombing sites forever immortalized those horrifying days number three the happy creepy killer without any background information the wide-eyed kid in this picture probably wouldn't strike you as very threatening when you know the whole story however that innocent smile of his will quickly turn into a ghastly grin this curly-haired seventeen-year-old is Jeffrey Franklin who killed his parents and attacked his three siblings following a car chase the authorities cornered Franklin at a dead end the photo shows Franklin in the back of a police vehicle not appearing especially distraught over the atrocities he's committed or his impending future behind bars claiming he felt like a quote evil being had taken over him Franklin pled guilty and received three consecutive life sentences I don't blame anybody for the reactions to me because I feel that i justified most of them number two goodbye John Lennon we're all familiar with the music of John Lennon as well as his tragic fate photographer Paul goresh couldn't have predicted it at the time but this would reportedly be the last picture anyone took of Lennon the image seems innocent enough as the former Beatle signs his autograph for an apparent Lenin's impending demise was creeping up in the photos corner however the man standing next to him is none other than Mark David Chapman the one responsible for Lennon's untimely demise hard to get to right at first then he wrote his name John Lennon and then underneath that 1980 and he looked at me as I mentioned earlier he said is that all do you want anything else six hours or so after this photo was taken Lennon and Yoko Ono encountered Chapman again outside of their apartment building the Dakota with Lennon's back turned Chapman drew his firearm and the music world would never be the same again so I called the Daily News he said to me you you think you have what and he said Paul are you sure that this is the man that you believe killed him and I said well that's the man named Mark from Hawaii who was waiting out there all day with the album who got the autograph before we unveil our top pick here are some honorable mentions haiku stairs mystery man in the background hiking tragedy the woman in the photograph survived but her hiking friend didn't his master's voice logo was inspired by a dog that heard it's late owner's voice on a recording before we continue be sure to subscribe to our Channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications number one Tyler Hadley and the Red Solo Cup mere hours before raising his red solo cup in this pic 17-year old Tyler Hadley hit his parents cell phone and took three ecstasy pills Hadley proceeded to end his mother's life with a hammer and then did the same to his father after cleaning up the mess Hadley shared on Facebook he was throwing a party that very night at said party Hadley told his best friend Michael Mandel all about his heinous actions after he told me I didn't believe him because he's been my best friend forever I would never suspect anything like this and I was looking around he told me if I look good enough I can see signs I looked on the floor I could see signs of blood and that's when I went and looked at his parents bedroom using his phone Mandell subsequently took this picture with Hadley knowing it would be the last time they ever saw each other leaving the party Mandel hid the pills Hadley planned to commit suicide with and called Crimestoppers this led to Hadleys arrest and life sentence without parole nearly three years of pain and worry now starting to slowly subside with the stroke of a gavel do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from WatchMojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos [Music] you

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Keywords: normal pictures with disturbing backstories, pictures with disturbing backstories, disturbing pictures, creepy pictures, tragic images, disturbing photo backstories, unsettling images, disturbing images, scary images, normal pictures shocking backstories, normal pictures creepy backstories, unexplained crimes, mysteries, creepy mysteries, creepy murders, serial killers, crime, watchmojo, watch mojo, mojo, top 10, list

Id: 9INzsEr5AOo

Length: 20min 11sec (1211 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 26 2020