50 Creepiest Photos Linked to True Crimes

50 Creepiest Photos Linked to True Crimes

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at fifty of the scariest and most disturbing pictures that are associated with famous true crimes.

Jonestown Drug Vials

What you see here are various vials of drugs, including valium, that were found inside the Jonestown complex back in 1978. On November 18 of that year, over 900 members of the Peoples Temple died in a massacre at Jonestown, a remote settlement in Guyana. After U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan was killed during an investigative visit, cult leader Jim Jones ordered his followers to drink a deadly concoction of Flavor Aid laced with cyanide and sedatives like valium and chloral hydrate. Infants and children were poisoned first, followed by adults who drank the mixture either voluntarily or under coercion. Within hours, nearly a thousand lay dead, the result of these tiny little glass bottles.

Patty Hearst Inside the Bank

On February 4, 1974, Patty Hearst, the heiress of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by the far-left militant group Symbionese Liberation Army. Two months later, on April 15, Hearst was captured on security footage participating in a robbery at San Francisco’s Hibernia Bank. Armed with a carbine, she certainly looked the part, and she helped her kidnappers steal over $10,000 in cash. The bank robbery shocked the country, fueling intense debate over whether she had been brainwashed by the group or had willingly embraced her captors’ radical cause. In fact, it’s still hotly debated to this day. She was given seven years in prison for the robbery, her sentence being commuted by Jimmy Carter.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

One of the most famous heists in American history, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was robbed on March 18, 1990. Two men disguised as police officers gained entry to the museum, and once inside, they tied up the guards and stole thirteen artworks valued at over $500 million. It was and remains the most valuable art theft in history. Here we see The Dutch Room, where the thieves stole a few Rembrandt paintings. If you look closely on the right, you can see the empty frame for “A Lady and Gentleman in Black” lying on the ground. Despite decades of investigation by the FBI, none of the stolen art has been recovered, and no arrests have been made.

The Unabomber at UC Berkeley

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that terrorists begin as normal people. Ted Kaczynski was born on May 22, 1942, in Chicago. A gifted child, he tested with a genius IQ and skipped multiple grades. He attended Harvard at just sixteen and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1967. That same year, Kaczynski became the youngest assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. In this photo, the proud Kaczynski stands on the campus of Berkeley, ready to mold young minds. However, he abruptly resigned just two years later and withdrew from society, eventually moving to a remote cabin in Montana to live as the Unabomber. His terrorist campaign killed three and injured another 23.

Richard Ramirez Looks Out the Van

It’s amazing how just one glance can send chills down your spine. Like this photo, which shows serial killer Richard Ramirez glancing into the camera, a slight smirk on his face and a malicious gleam in his eyes. Ramirez terrorized Southern California between 1984 and 1985 as The Night Stalker, breaking into homes at night and assaulting and murdering the inhabitants. He often left satanic symbols at crime scenes, further heightening public fear and fueling The Satanic Panic of the time. Ramirez was finally captured thanks to the help of some good samaritans, and in 1989, he was convicted of thirteen murders and numerous other felonies. He died in prison in 2013 while awaiting execution.

Ed Kemper In Court

All serial killers are inherently scary, but when it comes to being physically terrifying, it’s hard to beat Ed Kemper. As this deceptively creepy photo shows, Kemper is a beast of a man, towering over others and imposing a true sense of power. By most accounts, Kemper stood 6’9’’ and weighed 300 pounds during his killing spree - an absolutely horrific fact for those who had to face his wrath. He looks calm enough in this photo, but just imagine that man coming after you and doing unspeakable things to your body. Kemper has remained in prison since 1973 after being convicted of eight murders, including that of his mother. He also murdered his grandparents in 1964, bringing his total body count to ten.

Dean Corll’s Boat Shed

When his crimes came to light in 1973, Dean Corll was considered the worst serial killer in American history. Between 1970 and 1973, Corll abducted and murdered at least 29 teenage boys, often luring his victims with the promise of a party at his place. Corll’s crimes were marked by extreme brutality - victims were often handcuffed, gagged, and then strangled or shot. Corll and his accomplices, David Brooks and Elmer Henley, then buried eighteen of the victims in this boat shed. This photo depicts the boat shed before it was excavated, its bodies hidden just beneath the surface. The murders were finally exposed in August of 1973 when Henley fatally shot Corll and confessed to the killings.

Samantha Koenig’s Ransom Photo

In February 2012, serial killer Israel Keyes kidnapped 18-year-old barista Samantha Koenig, took her back to his house, and murdered her. He then demanded a ransom from her family and staged her body to make it appear as if she was still alive. Keyes sewed her eyelids open with fishing line, braided her hair, and applied makeup to her face. He then photographed her “holding” a copy of a local newspaper to make it look like a proof-of-life photo. Thankfully, this picture has never been released to the public, although a creepy reconstruction can be found online for those who are morbidly curious. His calculated plan now accomplished, Keyes dismembered and disposed of Koenig’s body in a lake.

The Masked Terrorist

One of the most reproduced photos in true crime history was taken at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when members of the Palestinian group Black September took nine Israeli athletes and coaches hostage and killed two others. The crisis ended tragically at a nearby airbase, when all the hostages were killed during a failed rescue attempt. The most iconic image from the event shows a masked terrorist standing on the balcony of the Israeli team’s quarters. Taken by a professional photographer during the media blitz, the picture became a chilling symbol of terrorism’s intrusion into the supposed peace of the Olympic Games. The man’s ski mask and dark clothing against the bright backdrop encapsulated global shock and the loss of innocence surrounding the modern Olympic ideal.

The Boston Marathon Bombers

We return to the subject of terrorists being normal people for this photo of the Boston Marathon bombers. These aren’t creepy monsters you’d find in a movie, but two everyday guys that literally went unnoticed until it was too late. The brothers blended in completely and freely walked the streets of the Marathon without a second glance, the people around them having no idea that they were carrying homemade bombs. The photo chillingly highlights how vulnerable public spaces can be and how difficult it is to detect danger when it looks just like everyone else. Perhaps even creepier is what looks like a smirk on the face of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, gleeful at the idea that he’s about to murder three people and injure hundreds more.

Baylee Almon

There are plenty of ghastly photos out there of the Oklahoma City bombing, but none toe the line between creepy and devastating quite like Baylee Almon. Almon was just a baby on April 19, 1995, but she became one of the unfortunate victims of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. In a widely-publicized photograph, firefighter Chris Fields can be seen holding Almon in his arms as he emerges from the rubble. We can’t show you the photo, but it is easily found on the internet, and it had a profound impact on the world, with Charles Porter winning the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. Fields suffered from PTSD after the event, but he also became good friends with Almon’s mother.

Howard Unruh Cleans His Guns

On September 6, 1949, Howard Unruh, a 28-year-old veteran of World War II, carried out one of America’s first modern mass shootings. And in this terrifying photo, Unruh can be seen cleaning a series of weapons, showcasing his proficient knowledge of firearms. On the morning of September 6, Unruh walked through his Camden neighborhood and killed thirteen people in about twelve minutes. His victims included children and neighbors, many of whom were chosen over petty grievances. Later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he was deemed criminally insane and spent the rest of his life in a psychiatric institution. He died in 2009, having never repented for the massacre. In fact, his last public words were, “I’d have killed a thousand if I had enough bullets.”

Boots & Ashes

One of the most infamous true crimes in American history is that of Leopold and Loeb. Back in 1924, university students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in what they deemed “the perfect crime.” They lured Franks into a rented car, struck him with a chisel, and suffocated him. That night, they dumped his body near Wolf Lake. The next day, a worker discovered the disfigured corpse. In this horrific photo, a pair of boots lies next to a small pile of ashes. These boots belonged to Nathan Leopold and are believed to have been worn when they dumped Franks’s body. And the ashes? Those are allegedly from the robe in which his body was wrapped.

The Black Dahlia Murder Letter

After the infamous murder of Elizabeth Short, AKA The Black Dahlia, several taunting letters and postcards were sent to various Los Angeles newspapers, supposedly from her killer. Big supposedly, but creepy, nonetheless. One notable message seen here read, “I will give up in Dahlia killing if I get 10 years. Don’t try to find me.” It was assembled from block letters and mailed to the Los Angeles Examiner. Authorities investigated the letters seriously, but handwriting analysis and lack of corroborating evidence led police to believe most were hoaxes from attention seekers. Others think it came from the journalists themselves, hoping to keep the story alive, and by extension, sell more newspapers.

Charles Whitman’s Bullet Hole

On August 1, 1966, former Marine Charles Whitman carried out one of the first modern mass shootings in American history. After killing his wife and mother the night before, Whitman went to UT Austin and murdered three people inside the Main Building. He then ascended the university’s clock tower and opened fire on people below, killing another eleven and wounding more than thirty. Police officers ultimately stormed the tower and killed Whitman. In this remarkable photo, we see the clock tower through one of the bullet holes. It gives a horrifying perspective to the crime, the camera serving as the point of view on the unsuspecting victims below. We can almost hear the whiz of the bullet, coming from the tiniest and remote of places.

Richard Allen On the Bridge

One of the most famous true crimes of the 2010s occurred on February 13, 2017, when Indiana teenagers Abigail Williams and Liberty German were murdered. Their bodies were found near the Monon High Bridge Trail, and law enforcement uncovered footage from German’s phone showing a white male walking towards them on the bridge. Still photos of the man were then widely distributed Even creepier is an audio recording also caught from German’s phone, in which this same man can be heard saying “Guys, down the hill.” It wasn’t until 2022 that this man was identified as Richard M. Allen. He was convicted of the murders and given 130 years in prison.

The Unsolved Polaroid

Back in June of 1989, a Florida citizen made the creepiest discovery of their lives in a convenience store parking lot. It was a color Polaroid depicting a young woman and a boy, both bound and gagged and lying in the back of a van. Witnesses reported seeing a white, windowless Toyota cargo van in that same parking lot shortly before the photo was found. Unfortunately, the driver has never been caught, and neither the boy nor the woman have ever been positively identified. Some, including Scotland Yard, believe it is Tara Calico, a woman from New Mexico who was kidnapped in September 1988. Regardless of who they are, the photo is haunting.

The Chowchilla Bus

This is a surprisingly little-known true crime, given its scale. The Chowchilla kidnapping occurred on July 15, 1976, when 26 school children and their bus driver were abducted by three armed men. The kidnappers hijacked the bus, transferred the victims into two vans, and eventually buried them inside a moving van in a quarry. In this horrifying photograph, we see the bus sitting alone in the woods, having been abandoned by the kidnappers. The abductors planned on demanding a ransom for the release of the children, but after 16 hours underground, the driver and some of the older children managed to dig their way out, leading to everyone’s rescue. The perps were soon arrested and convicted, although all three have since been paroled.

The Basement of 25 Cromwell Street

When you think of a serial killer’s dungeon, you probably think of the basement of 25 Cromwell Street. This was the Gloucester home of Fred and Rosemary West, who tormented, sexually assaulted, and murdered at least ten young women throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s. When police uncovered the basement in 1994, they found evidence of these atrocities, along with some disturbing wall decorations. The photos are downright nauseating - the basement being dark and damp, the floor pure concrete, and the walls adorned with disturbing writings and childish drawings. We don’t even want to imagine what went on down here, but the pictures certainly paint a lurid picture.

Mary Jane Kelly

Sometimes, we have a tendency to romanticize Jack the Ripper, and it’s hard to think of just how heinous his murders actually were. But if you need a reminder, just go look at the photo of Mary Jane Kelly. We obviously can’t show it here, but suffice to say, it’s one of the nightmarish photographs in the history of true crime. What Jack did to Mary is simply unfathomable, and her extensively mutilated body was found lying in bed in 13 Miller’s Court in the Spatielfields neighborhood of London. Police at the time claimed that her face was “hacked beyond all recognition,” and that’s putting it mildly. It also doesn’t mention the complete evisceration of her body. There’s a reason he was nicknamed “The Ripper.”

The 4chan Murder Post

A controversial site, 4chan has seen its share of brutality throughout the years. One of the most notorious incidents occurred on November 5, 2014, when an anonymous man posted a picture of what appeared to be a dead body. Accompanied with the grotesque image was the text, “Turns out it’s way harder to strangle someone to death than it looks on the movies” and “she fought so damn hard.” Naturally, many believed that this was a hoax. But this was no joke. Oregon man David Kalac later turned himself in for the murder of Amber Coplin, and the affidavit confirms that the photos posted to 4chan matched the Coplin crime scene. Kalac was given 82 years in prison.

Robert Pickton’s Farm

One of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, Robert Pickton was active from the late ‘70s to the early 2000s, and it’s believed that he murdered at least 26 women (although he later confessed to an undercover officer that it was actually 49). He was finally apprehended in 2002, and his British Columbia farm was subjected to an enormous search valued at $70 million. In this unsettling photo, heavy machinery is used to sift through the mountains of soil in an attempt to find human remains. It’s believed that Pickton disposed of his victims at the farm, as personal items belonging to the murdered women were found on the property. There’s even a serious possibility that he mixed his victims with pork and sold the meat to the public.

The Son of Sam Car

Between 1976 and ‘77, New York City was plagued by a mysterious killer known as the Son of Sam. He committed eight shootings in the span of one year, killing six and wounding even more. His MO was brazen and unpredictable - he seemed to target strangers totally at random, often when his victims were in their cars. He would approach unexpectedly, typically on foot, and open fire without provocation. Here we see the aftermath of one of the shootings - a brown 1968 Buick Skylark with its door open. This car belonged to Robert Violante, a clothing salesman who was on a first date with secretary Stacy Moskowitz. Son of Sam approached the car from the passenger side and shot both, killing Moskowitz and blinding Violante.

John Wayne Gacy & Rosalynn Carter

Some serial killers hide in plain sight - perhaps the most notorious example being John Wayne Gacy. Gacy posed as a respectable figure in his community, participating in various civic activities and serving as a precinct captain for the Democratic Party. On May 6, 1978, he met First Lady Rosalynn Carter at a local political event, and an employee of the White House snapped this hair-raising photo. Gacy is seen wearing an “S” pin, indicating that he had undergone a background check by the Secret Service. This is especially chilling in hindsight, as Gacy had already murdered twenty-nine men and buried them in the crawl space of his home. He would kill four more before being apprehended the following December.

The Lindbergh Kidnapping

One of the biggest crimes of the 20th century occurred on March 1, 1932, when young Charles Lindbergh Jr. was kidnapped from his New Jersey home. The crime was pinned on a man named Bruno Hauptmann, but many have questioned his conviction and believe there is more to the story. The kidnapper used a homemade wooden ladder to reach the window, and this ladder was left at the scene after the kidnapping, lying in sections on the ground. In this photo, we see a recreation of the ladder and how it was used to reach the high window and abduct Lindbergh. It’s a terrifying picture, showcasing vulnerability and pure human malice all at once.

The Smiling Manson Followers

The Manson Family shocked the world in the late 1960s, killing at least nine people and committing the infamous Tate murders of August 1969. Adding to the story’s horrifying aura was the behavior of the accused while on trial. They all seem detached from the brutal crimes they had just committed; indeed, they were almost gleeful, as they giggled and smiled in court as their crimes were recounted in graphic detail. Here we see Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten looking positively cheerful as they walk away from receiving their death sentences. This type of behavior shocked the public and seemed to exemplify the cult’s disturbing mindset.

Travis Alexander

This is one of the most notorious criminal cases in recent American history, occurring on June 4, 2008. Arizona salesman Travis Alexander was murdered in his home by an ex-girlfriend named Jodi Arias, who stabbed and shot Alexander while he was taking a shower. The two had a tumultuous relationship, and Alexander’s friends did not like Arias, finding her troubling and obsessive. On the evening of June 4, Arias entered Alexander’s home and made her way to the bathroom. She then snapped this final picture of Alexander, just moments before she viciously stabbed him to death. It’s certainly a haunting photo, his eyes emitting what looks like intense fear.

BTK

Dennis Rader is a famous serial killer, better known by the acronym BTK. He terrorized the Wichita area between 1974 and 1991, murdering at least ten individuals. One of Rader’s disturbing hobbies was dressing up in women’s clothing, sometimes those of his victims and often in connection with depraved elements of sexual gratification. He would sometimes wear masks and wigs to further fulfill these fantasies. For example, here we see a nightmarish photo of Rader dressed in what appears to be female garments and donning both a blonde wig and clown mask. Psychologists often link this kind of behavior to issues of power, suggesting that his dressing up, much like his killings, was just another way to dominate and degrade his victims.

The Beast of Jersey Mask

A little-known but deeply disturbing case occurred between 1957 and 1971 on the island of Jersey, a Crown Dependency of the UK found just off the northwest coast of France. A man named Edward Paisnel was a notorious serial predator who terrorized the small island, committing numerous home invasions and assaulting the women inside. His appearance resulted in his nickname The Beast of Jersey, as he wore a grotesque and frightening mask made of rubber while committing his crimes. It looked somewhat like a disfigured and monstrous face, adding to the general horror of his crime spree. Paisnel was eventually caught in 1971 and given thirty years in prison.

The Zodiac Letter

Perhaps the most famous aspect of a true crime case, the Zodiac letters are an enduring part of American history, having been referenced in literature and film for decades. Here we see a copy of one, addressed to Melvin Belli and sitting on the desk of Lieutenant Charles Ellis of the San Francisco Police Department. Belli was a prominent lawyer who had many famous clients, including Jack Ruby, the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald. The Zodiac mailed the Belli letter on December 20, 1969. Inside was a desperate plea for help and a swatch of bloody clothing belonging to a victim named Paul Stine. Stine was the Zodiac’s final confirmed victim, his death occurring on October 11 - just two months before this letter was sent.

Salah Abdeslam

On November 14, 2015, two men were captured on camera walking near a French gas station. One was wearing a black jacket and walking with his hands in his pockets. This photo doesn’t look like much, but it becomes terrifying once the context becomes clear. The man in the black jacket is terrorist Salah Abdeslam, and he had just helped commit a series of attacks in Paris. Occurring the night before the photo was taken, the coordinated attacks killed 130 people and injured more than 400. Abdeslam was the only perpetrator to survive, and he called his friends to pick him up. They did so, and Abdeslam was captured on camera while fleeing the country. He was later captured and sentenced to life in prison.

Christopher Wilder

Throughout a period of six weeks in 1984, Christopher Wilder embarked on a cross-country trip from Florida to California. Along the way, he abducted and sexually assaulted at least twelve individuals. He has also been linked to eight murders, although the true number is likely higher. On April 1, Wilder attended a fashion show in Las Vegas hosted by Seventeen magazine. In one picture taken on that fateful day, Wilder can be seen sitting in the background, wearing white pants and a dark jacket. An aspiring model named Michelle Korfman would disappear from this event, and her body was found one month later near a rest stop. Her death was later linked to Christopher Wilder, who abducted her from the fashion show.

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Death Masks

Found in the Cleveland Police Museum are a series of death masks hanging on the wall. It’s an unbelievably eerie sight. Not only is the concept of human heads hanging on a wall disturbing, but the death masks look eerily realistic. These grotesque decorations date back to the 1930s, when they were made in the midst of the city’s most infamous killing spree. The still-unidentified Cleveland Torso Murderer killed at least thirteen people between 1934 and 1938. Because most of the victims were transients, it was very difficult to identify them - especially considering what happened to their bodies. Enter these plaster death masks of the victims, which were displayed to the public in the hopes of someone recognizing their faces.

Tyler Hadley’s Party

Two young men pose for the camera, one of whom is holding a drink. That man is Tyler Hadley, and he had just killed his parents. In fact, their bodies were still upstairs. Hadley killed his mother and father earlier in the day, hid their bodies in the master bedroom, then used their credit cards to fund a party that dozens of people attended. The other man in the photo is Michael Mandell. Hadley told Mandell of the crime, and Mandell even found the bodies in the bedroom. Regardless, he stayed at the party and even took this selfie with Hadley. It wasn’t until Mandell had left the party hours later that he reported the crime to authorities.

John Edward Robinson Holding Tiffany Stasi

The photo is of poor quality, but the content is clear. A happy group of people are centered around a man wearing a yellow sweater. This man is holding a very young baby, who is adorably dressed in white. But that baby is not his own. In fact, he killed the baby’s mother and stole her. The man is serial killer John Edward Robinson, who took the lives of at least eight people. He befriended a young mother named Lisa Stasi, killed her, and took her young daughter Tiffany, later posing for this photo. He then sold Tiffany to his brother and sister-in-law, who “adopted” her for $5,500 in “legal fees.” It would be fifteen years before Tiffany Stasi learned of her true identity.

The Shawn Moore Crime Scene

A child’s bicycle lies abandoned on the roadside while a police officer speaks to witnesses in the background. This is a startlingly great picture, conveying a primal sense of fear and danger and letting you know that something is definitely not right. This bike belonged to Shawn Moore, who was riding home from a convenience store when he was forcibly abducted by Ronald Bailey. The bike was left behind, a painful reminder of Moore’s interrupted life. Bailey took Moore to a secluded cabin, where he proceeded to drug, assault, and eventually kill him. Bailey was later found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison.

The Mad Bomber of New York

Everything about George Metesky is terrifying. Throughout the 1940s and ‘50, Metesky earned the moniker The Mad Bomber, as he planted explosives in many public areas around New York. While these bombings never killed anyone, they left fifteen people injured. Metesky was finally identified and caught in 1957 and taken to the Waterbury Police Headquarters. A photographer took a picture of Metesky inside his jail cell, and the result is absolutely blood-chilling. Metesky glances out of his cell, a gleeful smile plastered on his face and his eyes depicting a complete loss of reality. Metesky was found legally insane, with the Judge calling him “hopeless and incurable both mentally and physically.”

James Bulger

This famous photograph depicts James Bulger, who is walking through a mall and holding the hand of an older boy. Another boy wearing a darker jacket walks in front. These two are Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, and they are in the process of discreetly kidnapping Bulger. The young boy was shopping with his mother at the New Strand Shopping Centre when she briefly took her eyes off him to pay for some groceries. It was then that Thompson and Venables swooped in and guided Bulger away by hand. His body was found two days later near some railway tracks.

A Man, His Daughter, & a Car Bomb

For a period of about thirty years, Northern Ireland was embroiled in a political conflict known as The Troubles. This ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, but this ceasefire was not honored by a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army called “The Real IRA.” As a form of protest, they planted a car bomb in the town of Omagh. It went off on August 15, 1998, killing 29 and injuring hundreds. In this photograph, taken shortly before the bombing, a man in a yellow sweater holds a child on his shoulders. Right beside them is the red car in which the bomb was planted. Both the man and the child survived, but the photographer was one of the 29 fatalities.

Regina Kay Walters

It’s one of the most visceral photos in true crime - a girl wearing a black dress holds her hands towards the camera, an obvious defensive gesture that elicits great fear of whoever is behind the camera. That “whoever” was a man named Robert Ben Rhoades, who may have killed more than fifty women while working as a truck driver. He took this haunting snapshot of Walters shortly before strangling her to death, and Walters’s decomposing body was later found on the same farm depicted in the image. The photo was later found by investigators in Rhoades’ house. If it’s any consolation, it was Walters’s death for which Rhoades was convicted and finally put away.

Leonard Lake's Cabin

This photo is quite unassuming at first. It’s an aerial shot of a rubble-strewn building with various crew members working amongst the debris. It’s a sight that millions of people see every day on their way to and from work. But this is actually the compound of Leonard Lake, and it hosted some nightmarish atrocities. Lake and his accomplice, Charles Ng, took their victims to this cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothills and committed horrible acts against them before ending their lives. It’s believed that the duo killed up to 25 people inside the cabin, and authorities later found the likes of videotapes and human remains at the site.

Shari Miller

In July of 1984, a man named William Bradford met young bartender Shari Miller at The Meet Market in Los Angeles. After convincing Miller that he was a professional photographer, he extended a proposition to take some photos of her. She agreed, and the two drove north into the desert of California. Bradford took various photographs of Miller, who can be seen wearing a pair of denim shorts. Soon after the photos were taken, Bradford killed Miller and took her body back to Hollywood, where he abandoned it in an alley. Bradford was a predator who was out on bail at the time of Miller’s killing. She was just one of a potential 28 victims.

Dahmer’s Drum

It’s amazing how a story can re-contextualize a picture. This seemingly harmless photo depicts a blue plastic drum in the corner of an old room. Nothing too strange or malicious. Until you realize what’s inside the vat. It belonged to Jeffrey Dahmer, who is probably the most notorious serial killer in American history. One of Dahmer’s survivors took note of the drum while inside the house and noticed a very strong and unpleasant smell coming from it. When Dahmer was finally caught, investigators uncovered the drum and found it filled with hydrochloric acid and human remains. Dahmer was going full “Breaking Bad” and dissolving his victims inside the drum.

John Lennon & Mark David Chapman

​​A very famous photo taken by Paul Goresh shows John Lennon signing an autograph while a man in glasses stands over his left shoulder. Thousands of photos just like this were taken throughout Lennon’s career, but this one is steeped in malice. This photo was taken around 5 PM on the evening of December 8, 1980. Nearly six hours later, Lennon returned home and was shot by the man in the photo - the very same man he had given an autograph to earlier in the evening. This, of course, is Mark David Chapman, and he had been planning to kill Lennon for months. While Chapman watched Lennon sign his album, he knew that he would kill him just a few hours later.

Karen Sprinker

Throughout the late 1960s, a man named Jerry Brudos killed at least four women in Oregon. One of them was an 18 year old named Karen Sprinker. On March 27, 1969, Brudos was wearing women’s clothing and scoured a department store parking lot for victims. He found Sprinker and kidnapped her at gunpoint. Brudos then took her to his personal garage and made her put on underwear while he took photos. One of them has been released, and it shows a calm-looking Sprinker gazing into the lens. Shortly after the photo was taken, Brudos killed Sprinker and put her body into the Willamette River.

Ted’s Tools

Few serial killers are as notorious as Ted Bundy. His name is synonymous with evil, and he may have killed up to 36 women throughout the mid ‘70s. Bundy was arrested in the early morning of August 16, 1975 by patrolman Bob Hayward, and when Hayward searched Bundy’s vehicle, he discovered a treasure trove of suspicious material. Inside the Volkswagen Beetle, and later photographed for the world to see, were the likes of garbage bags, an ice pick, rope, gloves, a ski mask and more. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough solid evidence to hold Bundy at the time, and he was promptly released from custody. He went on to kill again before he was finally captured for good in February of 1978.

The Columbine Class Picture

It’s pictures like this that proves the volatility of life - you never know the types of people you’re literally sitting beside. This photo shows the Columbine High School class of 1999. In the top left corner, some boys can be seen making gun gestures with their hands. Two of these boys are Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who, just weeks later, would enact the historic Columbine attack. On April 20, 1999, Harris and Klebold killed 13 at their high school. The perps would also take their own lives, bringing the total body count to fifteen. Even more were injured, and Columbine became an international talking point.

Rodney Alcala's Photos

A vicious man who killed at least eight, Rodney Alcala is famously known as The Dating Game Killer, as he once appeared on the titular game show. While searching his home and his personal storage locker, investigators found over 1,000 photographs, many of which depicted people in sensual poses. 120 of these photos were eventually released to the public in the hopes of identifying the subjects. The released photographs are not explicitly sensual in nature, but merely depict people - mainly young women - posing in artful manners. It’s unclear how many of these subjects were killed by Alcala, but at least one missing persons case - that of 28-year-old Christine Thornton - was solved with the help of the photographs.

A Message from The Lipstick Killer

While his conviction is controversial, The Lipstick Killer is thought to be Illinois criminal William Heirens. The Lipstick Killer got his name from a particularly creepy crime scene, and this crime scene was famously photographed. Frances Brown was killed inside her apartment, and the perp left behind a message for whoever came across her body. Scrawled on the wall in lipstick were the words “For heaven's sake catch me before I kill more I cannot control myself.” Unfortunately, the killer did indeed strike again, kidnapping and taking the life of the young Suzanne Degnan. This occurred just one month after the death of Brown.

Ed Gein’s House

The inspiration behind numerous fictional killers like Norman Bates and Leatherface, Ed Gein is a notorious body snatcher who fashioned himself one nightmarish house. Gein would dig up corpses from graveyards around Plainfield, Wisconsin and use their bones and skin to make household objects. When authorities searched Gein’s house, they found the likes of garbage bins, upholstery, bedposts, bowls, and lampshades - all of which were made from human remains. Many photos were taken of Gein’s house, most of which depict a horribly cluttered space filled with trash and furniture. It’s eerie to think how much of that stuff was made out of the recently exhumed. Perhaps the scariest picture is that of a chair upholstered with old and leathery-looking skin.

Do these photos give you the creeps? Let us know in the comments below!