Photos With Disturbing Backstories

Photos are strange things snapshots of a moment in time, frozen forever. But some of them harbor much darker stories than the ordinary scene they purport to show. From a group of friends smiling moments before their doom to an innocuous landscape with a dark secret, hopefully you weren’t planning on sleeping tonight. Let's investigate some normal looking photos with disturbing backstories.

Kris Kremers And Lisanne Froon

Travelling the world is an enriching, freeing experience that will stay with you forever, exactly why Dutch students Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon went to Panama in early 2014. They’d planned on hiking, touring, and volunteering teaching local children. So when you see the photo below, recovered from their digital camera, you assume everything was going great.

In reality, they’d just made the biggest mistake of their lives. It was taken on April 1st, after Kris and Lisanne had left their host family’s home in the mountain town of Boquete. They’d taken the family dog on a walk through the nearby forests.

However, that evening the dog returned without them. The family waited until the next day, but when the girls didn’t show up for a walking tour that morning, they alerted the authorities. A search party was put together and the town and forests were swept high and low. No matter how hard they looked though, no trace of the tourists could be found.

Until that is, ten weeks later, when a local woman turned in a backpack, claiming to have found it along the banks of the river. Inside was a variety of personal items, Lisanne’s camera, and both girls’ cell phones. When police investigated the camera and cell phones a disturbing picture of what had happened began to be painted.

Over the four days since they first disappeared, 77 attempts had been made to call the police, but because of the dense jungle only one went through, which broke up after just two seconds. Several unsuccessful attempts were also made to unlock Kris’s phone on April 6th. By April 11th both phones were dead.

Even more worrisome were the photos on Lisanne’s camera. The first ones were taken on April 1st and were largely innocent, though some wily observers have since pointed out odd anomalies like a shadow, which doesn’t seem to be coming from either girl. As the photos progress though, the girls’ smiles fade and are replaced by more somber, even haunting expressions.

Is that just coincidence or had something dampened their mood? It’s hard to say, but the final set of photos is seriously troubling. Taken between 1 and 4am on April 8th, a whole 7 days after they’d first set out, they show what appears to be some kind of makeshift marker, maybe to mark their position, random images of the forest around them, and the back of Kris’ head.

Expecting the worst, police conducted a search of the area the backpack had been found in. Sadly, their fears were confirmed. Both girls’ bones were discovered, as well as Kris’ clothing, which had been neatly folded by the edge of the river.

But who’d folded them? Perhaps locals, though that seems an odd thing to do. What’s more, although Lisanne’s bones looked like they’d decomposed naturally, Kris’ were stark white, as if they’d been bleached. After the gruesome discovery, police questioned locals, tour guides, and other hikers who’d been in the area, but ultimately, they learnt nothing. To this day, the whole case remains a harrowing mystery.

But that’s not to say there aren’t theories. The most widely accepted is the simplest, that Kris and Lisanne simply went off the beaten track and got lost, a mistake that ultimately cost them their lives. But their tour guide, who knows the area well, was adamant it’d be near impossible to get lost on the trail they were walking, everything is very well signposted.

In that case, maybe they’d been on the run from something or someone and felt forced to leave the trail behind and delve into the unknown. Meaning all those erratic photos in the dark might’ve been an attempt to scare whatever it was away.

A lot of people online seem to think so, but surely their pursuer would’ve been visible in at least some of the images if so. It seems more likely they were using the camera flash to light their way or, as the photos of the sky suggest, try and send some kind of SOS signal. Taking the failed calls into account, that theory paints a sad story of two desperate women lost in the jungle who eventually succumbed to the wilderness.

As for their scattered remains? Animals would be more than capable of that. It doesn’t explain the bleached bones, or Kris’ neatly folded clothes. Could there be a more sinister explanation for the girls’ disappearance? Perhaps. The digital camera used to take the photos has a missing image that was deleted for some reason.

We know that because the camera automatically numbered all the pics and image 509, taken some time between the daytime snaps and the eerie nighttime ones, is nowhere to be found. Why would they have deleted one random photo but none of the others? Unless somebody else deleted it because it showed some kind of evidence of a crime.

Maybe even the culprit. Some people believe the girls’ tour guide had something to do with it. After they failed to show for his tour, he visited the house they were staying at to look for them and apparently spent some 30 minutes in their room. Doing what, exactly? Some people reckon he planted evidence his calling card, which was found in their room.

They say the girls might never have had a booking with him at all, and he was just using that as an excuse to be at their house and give himself an alibi. As for the nighttime photos? A red herring to throw investigators off. But we really don’t know. We do know he assisted with the investigation afterwards and even found some of the girls’ remains.

Did he know where to look all along, and was just covering his tracks? Did he fold the clothes up to throw investigators off the scent? What if the girls had met him on April 1st, but halfway through the hike he’d become hostile? Reviews of the tour guide on TripAdvisor are overwhelmingly positive, aside from one. In it, the reviewer claims he was overly flirtatious with her and even joked about attacking her with a machete.

That was posted years after Kris and Lisanne went missing, and could just be an internet troll, but it’s weird nonetheless. The problem is, that is all speculation. There just isn’t enough evidence for any of it and we shouldn't lay blame on anybody when they could easily be innocent. It seems we’re no closer to knowing what happened to those poor girls than when we started and there’s a whole lot more to that case.

Ghost of Dundas Peak

Back in 2016, Reddit user SlicedUpBeef made a post to the r/creepy subreddit. In it, she described how her and a friend had gone hiking at Dundas Peak in Hamilton, Ontario. They’d been inspired because her friend’s cousin had been a few days before and posted that photo of the lookout on Instagram. So, SlicedUpBeef and her friend made the journey, and when they got there took turns recreating the pic.

However, SlicedUpBeef’s friend messaged her a month or so after with strange news. She said she’d been looking back through the photos comparing them when she noticed something odd, in the pic her cousin had taken. Way below the edge of the trail, where the slope is too steep to stand on, there appears to be a thin person standing unnaturally straight against the rocks.

As if that wasn’t creepy enough, they don’t seem to have a face. The faceless figure is nowhere to be seen in any of the other pics, despite them being taken from similar angles. After the spooky revelation, SlicedUpBeef took to Reddit and made the post, looking for answers.

It wasn’t long before other members of the community chimed in with their two cents. Some were skeptical, suggesting the figure was just a part of the rock formation and that the colors making up the head, legs and torso could also be found in the nearby cliffs.

That could be true. But the torso looks whiter than the cliff face to the left, and the black of the head and legs isn’t matched by any of the surrounding rock. Other commenters suggested it was just a hiker, but that seems less likely considering how steep and dangerous that cliffside looks. Still, the shape looks uncannily human, could someone have gotten lost on the trail? And that’s not accounting for the, lack of face. Unless they had dark hair covering it.

Which just leaves the final theory that what we saw is something more paranormal in nature. There’s no doubt Dundas Peak is a dangerous trail to climb, and it’s seen its fair share of tragedy over the years. Is the figure the wandering soul of a hiker that lost their footing? Some people certainly think so.

Harold Agnew With The Plutonium Core

If you look at the image below, you might think that it's a happy guy about to go on a picnic. However, the smiling man is actually Harold Agnew, a US physicist that witnessed the first sustained nuclear chain reaction in 1942 and was partially responsible for the assembly of the first atom bomb three years later.

And the object in his hand is definitely not a picnic box. That’s the plutonium core that would go on to be placed inside “Fat Man”, the nuclear bomb which was dropped from a plane over Nagasaki that same year and wiped out over 80,000 people.

The photo was taken on Tinian Island in the Pacific in 1945, where Project Alberta, the group responsible for assembling and delivering the bomb met. And the really chilling thing about it is just how casual everybody looks. If you didn’t know, you’d think those guys were enjoying some military LARPing, not playing a pivotal part in one of the most devastating events in the history of the world.

Harold Askew went on to fly in The Great Artiste as a scientific observer, tailing the Enola Gay which was the aircraft that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. While in the plane, he managed to get some truly haunting footage that gives a small idea of the carnage that was taking place down below.

Harold Agnew Atomic Bomb film by Hoover Institution Library & Archives

The Disappearance of Daylenn Mole Pua

On the morning of February 26th, 2015, 17 year old Daylenn Pua told his family he was going for a hike on a popular trail in O‘ahu, Hawaii. He was never seen again. Daylenn had been visiting his grandmother at the time, who was all too aware of the dangers of the trail but despite her warnings, the teenager had decided to go anyway.

The 4,000 foot long hiking trail is called the Haiku Stairs, and consists of a steep steel structure of nearly 4,000 steps along the Ko’alau Mountain range. At only 18 inches wide at some points, one moment of carelessness could result in a 2,000-foot drop to the hard rocks below. Yet, Daylenn was determined to conquer the challenge despite it technically being closed off to the public way back in 1987.

So, he set off and at first everything seemed to be going well. The teenager took several photos as he navigated the mountains and sent them to his family. Only, around 11am on February 26th, the images abruptly stopped and Daylenn failed to come home.

After his family reported his disappearance, an extensive search began, involving the Honolulu Fire Department, local volunteers, family, drone operators, and even the U.S. Navy. However, by March 3rd, 5 days after the disappearance no trace of Daylenn had been found.

The official search was called off, and while some volunteers carried on, nothing would come of their efforts. It was at that point Daylenn’s family took a closer look at the last photo he’d sent them and found something truly chilling.

Can you see it? There, a little way down the hill, is what looks like a man crouching in the bushes. It could just be a random hiker. But Daylenn disappeared shortly after that photo was taken. Was the man stalking Daylenn? Was he responsible for the teenager’s fate? Perhaps Daylenn was documenting his pursuer to either scare him off or record evidence. We can’t say for sure, all we know is that image gives the serious creeps.

We can say that some hikers reported hearing cries for help on March 2nd, just a day before the search was called off. Apparently, five people had been tackling the trail when they all heard a single “help me”, followed by “I’m down here”. After combing the area and alerting authorities though, all efforts proved utterly fruitless.

So, what really happened? The official stance is that Daylenn slipped at some point along the trail and fell off the beaten path. From there, he could have survived long enough for the hikers to hear him, but sadly wasn’t visible enough to be found on time.

The only thing is, if anyone had fallen, they surely couldn’t have landed that far from the trail. And although the official search was called off on March 3rd, the area has continued to be searched for years afterwards. Still, nothing. Which brings us to the other possibility, that the man in the photo had something to do with it. The Honolulu Police Department put out an alert asking for anyone with information about him to come forward but nobody ever did.

So, his identity and reason for being on the trail remains unknown. Did he kidnap Daylenn? If he did, who did those hikers hear? In an effort to prevent any further tragedies, the Honolulu City Council voted to dismantle the Haiku Stairs back in 2021 and by the time you’re reading this article, they could well have vanished entirely. Unfortunately, just like Daylenn Pua.

David A. Johnston

Legs outstretched, a smile on his face that reflects the sunny weather, notebook in hand, David A. Johnston looks about as carefree in this photo below, as it’s possible to be. Just 13 hours later, he was eradicated from existence.

Born and raised in Illinois, Johnston graduated in 1971 with “Highest Honors and Distinction” in geology, before going on to complete a PhD at the University of Washington. Increasingly interested in volcanoes and their processes, he eventually got a job with the US Geological Survey in 1978, where he was tasked with monitoring precursory clues that could lead to volcanic eruptions.

Two years later, in 1980, Mt St. Helens a huge, 8,300ft volcano in Skamania County, Washington, experienced a magnitude 4.2 earthquake. While relatively light, it meant that for the first time in 123 years, the volcano was awakening and Johnston was one of the first geologists on the scene.

Specifically in charge of volcanic gas studies, Johnston spent long hours every day conducting tests on the grumbling volcano and he loved it. He became so involved in the work that sometimes he’d climb into the active crater to perform experiments on it.

But May 18th 1980 would be his last day on the job. That day he was at the Coldwater II observatory post watching over the volcano, some 5.5 miles away. He’d taken over the night before from his field assistant, Harry Glicken, and it was during that switch that he’d been photographed.

Just 13 hours later, at 8.32am on the morning of May 18th, there was an almighty rumble, and Johnston sent his final transmission to Washington “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” Apparently his last words were spoken with excitement, not dread. Then, Mt St. Helen’s erupted.

Colossal landslides of rock and ice were sent careering down the volcano’s north flank directly towards Johnston. Then, gassy magma and burning hot fluids exploded out and shot north, east, and west at a ferocious 300mph. Within six minutes, 230sqm that’s 10 Manhattans around the volcano had been reduced to barren, scorched wasteland.

It’s hard to say what Johnston’s last moments on earth would’ve been like other than apocalyptically terrifying. Despite a thorough search, his body was never found. Tragically, 56 other lives were also snuffed out that day but the number could’ve been much greater.

Johnston and some other scientists had insisted on keeping a wide area around the volcano strictly off limits to the public in the days leading up to the eruption. Today, Johnston’s remembered as a key figure in volcanology, and the site of Coldwater II has been renamed Johnston’s Ridge in honor of him. Nobody could dispute that it’s deserved.

Essa Ricker And Kelsea Webster

Most of the time, the worst thing that can happen when taking a selfie is the lighting turns out bad. Sometimes, however, they can lead to tragedy. Essa Ricker and Kelsea Webster, both 15 years old, and Kelsea’s little sister, Savannah, just 13, were enjoying a walk through Utah’s scenic Spanish Fork Canyon back in October 2011.

Suddenly, they heard a low rumbling sound from somewhere off to their right and realized there was a railroad just ahead of them. The train responsible for the rumbling rolled into sight in the distance and the girls saw an opportunity for a fun pic. Posing beside the tracks, they snapped the selfie below, as the train passed by.

Then, Savannah posted it to Facebook. It was the last thing she ever did. The girls were so excited and the train passing by them was so loud that they’d failed to notice there was a second train coming towards them from the opposite direction. According to the conductor, those on board saw the girls for about 12 agonizing seconds, while he honked the horn as many times as he could. But it was no use.

Trains travelling at 55mph can take over a mile to come to a complete stop after the emergency brakes are applied, that train was only travelling at 39mph and it still wasn’t enough. After the awful accident, the last photo of Essa, Kelsea and Savannah was found and the truly haunting thing is you can actually see the headlights of the train in the top right corner. That is heartbreaking for the girls themselves, their families, and for the rail staff that had to deal with the aftermath of such a horrific event. Rest in peace.

Joe Martinez Demon Dog Photo

Back in 1999, Colorado resident Joe Martinez and his wife, Patty, were attending an in-law’s 50th anniversary party and were snapped posing together on the special occasion. They thought nothing of it, enjoyed the party, and carried on with their lives. But eight years later, in 2007, while flicking through the photo album Joe and Patty noticed something that chilled them to their cores.

There, peeking over Joe’s left shoulder, is what appears to be some kind of snarling dog. Which wouldn’t be so weird if there’d actually been a dog at the party. Both Joe and Patty swear however there was no such thing. In fact, they both believe the creepy face actually belongs to a demon. It seems like a pretty big leap. But it turns out Joe was suffering with a bad addiction problem when the photo was taken, and for years after until, that is, he noticed the apparent “demon dog”.

Shocked by the discovery, Joe turned his life around. Seeing the demon as a dark sign representing his addiction, he finally found the motivation to kick his bad habit once and for all. Now, he carries the photo with him everywhere he goes as a reminder never to relapse. Which is actually incredibly wholesome.

But does it really show a demonic manifestation of Joe’s vices, or is there a more rational explanation? Photograph expert John Davenport examined the image and concluded there’s no fakery going on, so that’s one point for the demon theory. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s just a case of pareidolia, a phenomenon where people tend to see faces in inanimate objects when there’s really just random patterns.

Saylor Guilliams: Saved By Hikers

In an Ask Reddit thread from 2014, the OP asked what the creepiest thing hikers have seen while on the trail was. User gadela08 responded with a link to the image below. It might look pretty mundane at first, but if you zoom in, you’ll see a woman, her face contorted in pain.

Gadela08 had been hiking with a couple of his friends on a popular trail in Santa Barbara, California. The trail has a 150ft waterfall, and they’d decided to do some bouldering around the bottom of it and snap some photos. In one of those photos, they unknowingly captured 22 year old Saylor Guilliams, in the worst moment of her life.

The day before she’d been hiking with her friend, but they’d got lost on the way back and it’d grown dark. Trying to navigate, Saylor had jumped off a rock and landed badly, fracturing her leg. So, her friend Vega picked her up and tried to carry her the rest of the way. It didn’t end well. Vega slipped, breaking his elbow and shattering Saylor’s ankle.

Now, they were in real trouble. Completely unable to walk, Saylor had no choice but to stay put while Vega went off to get help, but he never returned. So, Saylor lay there, screaming for help all night until she couldn’t scream any more. Eventually, unbelievably, help did come in the form of Gadela08 and his two friends.

By now it was Monday afternoon, and the trail was otherwise completely empty. But one of Gadela’s friends, Nicole, noticed something out of the corner of her eye, a flame of red hair. After going to investigate, the three hikers were shocked to find Saylor delirious and slipping in and out of consciousness, but alive.

They quickly dialled 911 and it wasn’t long before paramedics arrived on the scene in helicopters and lifted Saylor to safety. She made it through the ordeal alive, but heart-wrenchingly the same can’t be said for Vega. He’d fallen some way further down the trail, and that time, hadn’t gotten back up. But if it wasn’t for her red hair, the same fate might’ve befallen Saylor.

It was only after Gadela checked back over the photos he realized they’d been bouldering near Saylor far longer than they’d first thought. She appears in not one, but two of the pics and there’s something incredibly unsettling about that expression. Unable to call for help any longer, it looks like a silent wail of despair. Thankfully, she’s fine now and says that whenever she goes hiking, she’s learnt to always stick to the trail.

Chris McCandless Of Into The Wild

Ever wanted to just run away from it all and detox from modern life? After graduating from Emory University in Georgia in 1990, Christopher McCandless realized he wanted nothing more. Yet, two years later he found himself stranded, starving, and taking the photo below. The last one he’d ever be in.

The sign reads "I have had a happy life and thank the lord. goodbye and may god bless all!" But once you know a little more, you’ll understand Christoper McCandless was not happy at the end of his life, despite that smile. You might actually recognize the name McCandless’ story was covered in the book Into the Wild which was turned into a popular movie in 2007. And his story really is wild.

Chris was generally a good student and came from a wealthy family, but became disillusioned with modern society, which he viewed as poison to people’s true character. Rather than be a part of society, Chris wanted to be as far removed from it as possible. So, after graduating, he donated his savings a whopping $24,000 to Oxfam, then left home and went travelling across America.

Only, that wasn’t any old gap year travels, Chris wanted to travel with as little money and belongings as possible and leave any trace of his old life firmly behind. So, he assumed a fake name, Alexander Supertramp, which he took from a book he’d read and set off. Despite starting with a car, a flash flood forced him to leave it behind and rely on walking, hitch-hiking, and even canoeing for the rest of his trip.

And he didn’t bring any physical maps in an era before smartphones. Regardless, Chris’s incredible journey took him all across North America and by April 1992, he’d managed to navigate all the way to Fairbanks, Alaska. That, however, would become his final destination.

The last ride Chris ever hitched was through Fairbanks to the Stampede Trail a dangerous, remote hiking trail only recommended for the most prepared of hikers. According to the driver though, Chris did not look prepared. He was carrying just 10lbs of rice, a basic and poorly detailed roadmap of Alaska, some books, and a .22 rifle, considered weak in the event of something like a bear attack.

Despite that, he refused the driver’s offer of better supplies and set off into the wild anyway. And the Stampede Trail truly is the wild. Vast, desolate, treacherous, and unforgiving. But Chris was confident and determined to a fault.

He eventually came across an abandoned bus where he decided to set up camp. There, he took several pictures and kept a journal documenting what he ate day to day. It wasn’t a lot. Usually consisting of berries and small game, Chris did manage to hunt a moose on the 43rd day however, he failed to preserve it and it went bad just five days later.

The journal continues listing the scant food Chris managed to hunt and scavenge, but by day 94 it’s obvious something was very wrong. The entry describes Chris feeling extremely weak, which he blames on eating potato seeds.

Six days later, he’d describe himself as “trapped in the wild” and too weak to leave the camp. It’s likely the photo of him holding the goodbye sign was taken around that time. The final thing Chris wrote was “beautiful blueberries” on day 107. The following 6 days are blank.

His body was discovered in the bus by hunters on September 6th, he weighed just 67lbs, a third of the weight of the average American male. It’s thought Chris passed away around August 18th of starvation. That heartbreaking sign was found stuck on the outside of the bus.

It seems in his last days he finally understood the importance of human connection. By then, it was too late. Now, there’s debate on whether Chris died from starvation or whether the potato seeds he mentioned are more to blame, but if you ask me, dodgy seeds or not he was on his way out anyway. Nobody can survive off a few berries and squirrels for very long.

A more interesting debate is whether or not Christopher McCandless should be revered as a hero or written off as a naïve kid. On the one hand, his shunning of modern society and idealistic vision of the simple life could be admired, but on the other, it’s exactly that reason he’s not here with us today.

I hope you were amazed at these photos with disturbing backstories! Thanks for reading.