Curiosity Meets Discomfort in These 30 Unsettling Online Finds

Most people don’t like feeling uneasy. If asked whether they enjoy being unsettled, the answer would almost always be no. Yet, our habits often tell a different story. Millions of people willingly spend hours watching true crime documentaries, listening to podcasts about long-forgotten crimes, or settling in for a night of horror movies. There is something about the darker side of human history that keeps pulling us in, even when it makes us uncomfortable.

Curiosity plays a big role in this fascination. Disturbing stories and images can trigger fear, shock, and disbelief, but they also spark questions. How did this happen? Why would someone do this? What was life like at that moment in time? For many, that mix of curiosity and discomfort is strangely compelling.

With that in mind, we took a deep dive into Reddit’s “Interesting but Creepy” community, where users regularly share images and stories that sit right on the edge of fascinating and unsettling. The posts range from eerie historical photos to moments that feel slightly wrong, even if you can’t explain why. None of it is meant to be comfortable, and that’s exactly the point.

As you scroll through these picks, you may find yourself feeling torn between wanting to look away and wanting to see more. If an image manages to do both at once, it has done its job. Take your time, trust your instincts, and don’t be surprised if you feel a chill or two along the way.

A Living Tree Burial

In the Toraja tribe, infants who pass away before teething are laid to rest inside a small hollow carved into a tree. Wrapped in cloth and sealed with bamboo, the opening closes as the tree grows, gently holding the child within living wood

Alkanen

Painful...

reddit.com

An X-ray of a patient with hyperdontia, a condition where a person has more teeth than normal. Most adults have 32 teeth, but this individual had 81.

Adamrplouis

Hearts can be unfolded.

PublicAardvark3317

Self-defence gloves designed for women in 1850s London.

korabdrg

This is what all the nerves connected to your teeth look like.

MicroSofty88

Unfortunate life.

mattycoyle78

The “Oxford dodo” is the only known dodo specimen that still preserves soft tissue. It was officially recorded in 1656 under the name “Dodar, from the island of Mauritius.”

ColossalBiosciences

Drawings by a schizophrenic inmate.

BreezyGirl29

Oh No.

reddit.com

Chatgpt’s admission.

philosohistomystry04

The family couldn’t find a funeral car, so they transported the coffin on a public bus instead. A truly unusual final journey. Cuba, 2025.

alely92

Italian funeral home (onoranze funebri) featuring coffin-shaped balconies on the upper floors.

MemorableKidsMoments

A friend’s father attended the same school as Ted Bundy (yearbook photo)

tarplantula431

Mirror mirror on the wall…

SurfingSunnyside

Male blue-lined octopuses use a venomous bite to subdue females prior to mating, leaving them unable to move so the males can survive the encounter once mating is over.

MitLivMineRegler

A vietnamese man who suffered intense headaches for five months was stunned to learn that the pain was caused by two chopsticks stuck inside his skull, believed to have entered through his nose and reached his brain.

malihafolter

Morgue chocolates: made using molds taken from real wounds in a New York morgue.

4reddityo

Vintage handcuffs from italy.

bookkinkster

Old trusty slapper.

"So, creepy kinda funny story. Got this guy for Christmas 2016, I was 7. He was probably my favorite thing ever. He is a standard upgrade Throwthings one, I remember obsessing over it and checking the site constantly. I used to put him on a bench in the corner of my room next to a green monster puppet and a full sized Poltergeist clown I made (poorly).In December of 2019, my house caught on fire, and the corner of my room that he was in had practically melted into a giant mass. On the bench, the monster and clown had fused to each other and the bench. They had melted onto Slappy too. He is probably the only thing to survive from my room that wasn't in my closet. I remember before my family realized he was salvageable, I went into my room to see (my parents told me not to, I pushed very hard and I still regret it), and I thought he was done for. He was pitch black covered in soot. It looked like it had just stained him.So, soon after, my parents would check on the house often. We lived with some family that lived nearby for a while, and there was a cleanup crew working on getting all the ruined junk out. My parents very soon discovered that they were also making a pile of stuff they were going to take for themselves. That’s where most of the stuff that I still have was, along with jewelry, electronics, etc. I remember one day I got home from school, and Slappy was in the garage, covered in black, but clearly fine.He works perfectly, cleaned up nicely, all the soot was easy to just wipe off. Only permanent damage done was on his clothes, there are some weird pink stains from the soot or something. These are recent photos. He is the sole survivor of a house fire that destroyed almost all of my belongings (all that's left other than Slappy are some plushies and baby toys that were in my closet).Idk, I always thought that was interesting. When I told my friends they said to burn the dummy, it freaks them out a little."-The-Fairy-Feller-

"I Found An Overturned Car In A Ditch, With Some Parts Scattered"

DoctorCumfart

"Watching You"

Roadking652

"Random Droplet Face I Have Found At Workplace"

TheMurtix

"Ok, So My Family Has This Weird Wooden Mask."

EntiEnti19

A woman voluntarily takes lysergic acid to experience its visual effects and sensations.

Gollums_testie

This guy randomly left an open, re-taped box at our apartment, and it turned out to be filled with guitar pedals?

reddit.com

High-contrast negative image of the Shroud of Turin.

FluidDream3944

The Astor Family’s Secret

Strict-Sink5347

"Took Picture Of This Artwork In Italy"

Dimitrido

"I Collect My Stray Eyebrow Hairs And Eyelashes"

w0ck_

In the end, our interest in unsettling content comes down to curiosity we can’t quite ignore. Even when something feels off, we still stop, look, and think about it.

That uneasy fascination keeps us scrolling, because we want to understand what we’re seeing, even if it makes us slightly uncomfortable.