35 Vintage Creepy Photos You Just Can't Explain

Melted and damaged mannequins after a fire at Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum in London. [1930] 

Patrons at Hell's Cafe in Paris, which shut down some time in the mid-20th century.

The contestants at a beauty pageant that didn't want to judge them on their looks.

A terrifying vintage Halloween costume. [1910]

Two engineers fix a Disney animatronic.

A woman undergoes anti-freckle treatment. [c. 1930s]

A Mickey Mouse gas mask, which was used to make the devices more appealing to children. [1942]

Myrtle Corbin, who was born in 1868 with an extra pelvis. Myrtle spent her early years in a circus sideshow.

An early example of "horsemanning", the 1920's version of "planking."

Two parents posed with their dead daughter in the middle. When photography was expensive, you would have a photo taken at your birth, your wedding and your death. [c. Victorian Era]

Two women wearing bird headdresses have a chat.

An early family photo gone creepily-wrong.

A girl who grew up in a concentration camp draws a picture of “home” while living in a "residence for disturbed children." [1948]

American troops in Brewster body armor. [1917]

Mental patient Katharina Detzel, who built her own man out of the straw in her bed. [1910]

Two clowns and Santa visit a girl in hospital. [c. 1950s]

The isolater, a hood that shut out all sound. Oxygen was piped in through a tank and the eyes had slits so you could only see one line of text at a time. [1925]

Children on Halloween [c. 1900s]

Santa wasn't always cheerful.

Contestants at a "Miss Lovely Eyes" pageant in Florida. They wore masks so that judges only scored them on their eyes. [1930]

A nurse and a new born baby pose in their gas masks. [1940]

A shell shocked soldier gives a thousand yard stare. [c. 1916 - 1918]

An early R'lyehian steam train after a boiler explosion.

Neurologist Duchenne de Boulogne electrocuting a man's face in order to study facial muscles. France. [1862]

A meeting of the Mickey Mouse Club. [c. 1930s]

The poor man's Halloween costume. [c. 1940s]

Two patrons at the Rothschild "Illuminati" party. [1972]

Ella Harper, who suffered from a disorder that weakens the ligaments in the knees, was known as Camel Girl. [c. 1870–1921]

A Navajo man dressed up as a Nayenezgani spirit.

Ventriloquist Jules Vernon with his horrifying family of puppets. [c. 1867 - 1937]

An Iron Lung ward used for treating children with polio. [c. 1930s]

Boys returning from their initiation into the Poro, a secret society in parts of Africa. [1936]

Max Schreck sitting in between takes of the silent movie Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror [1922]