10 Photos with Creepy Backstories

In 1933, Lina Medina was born in Ticrapo, Peru. At the age of five years, Lina was brought to the hospital by her parents who complained of abdominal extreme growth. The girl’s parents initially thought their daughter was suffering from a massive abdominal tumor, but after being examined by doctors in Pisco, Peru, they discovered she was seven-months pregnant.

Lina was born with a rare condition called “precocious puberty”. Precocious puberty is basically the early onset of sexual development. Lina had experienced her first menstrual cycle at the age of two and a half or three. She gave birth to a boy by a caesarean section on May 14, 1939. As might be expected, sexual abuse was immediately considered. The father of Lina was arrested on suspicion of rape and incest. He was released due to lack of evidence.

Lina Medina never revealed who the real father of her child is, or the circumstances surrounding the impregnation.

The above photo is from the 1978 game show ‘The Dating Game’ featuring Rodney Alcala (who won the game) and Cheryl Bradshaw. The show’s host introduced Alcala as a “successful photographer.”

Alcala was in fact a photographer although he enjoyed photographing his victims – mostly attractive young women – after murdering them and putting their corpses in distorted, grotesque poses. When he appeared on the show, he had already killed two women. He somehow got on the show despite a 1972 conviction for raping an eight-year-old girl. The couple won tennis lessons and a trip to Magic Mountain, but Bradshaw stated she started feeling ill because he was acting really creepy and turned down this offer. She never saw him again.

He was apprehended in 1980 for the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe. While Alcala’s body count is unknown, police estimate he killed at least dozens of women, with some counts running as high as 130.

Reynaldo Dagsa, a politician from the Philippines, photographed his family outside their home on New Year’s Day.

The second he took the photo, he was shot and killed by the man in the back. Mr. Dagsa had also photographed his killer’s accomplice, who can be seen lurking in the background of the picture. The killer was arrested soon afterward.

This photo doesn’t look like much. The composition is all wrong, there’s confusion as to what the main subject is, and they’re all not in proper focus.

Have a look at the guy in the background, top left. Have a look what’s in the background, top right. Yep, that’s Tank Man from the Tiananmen Square massacre. Thought to be student Wang Weilin, this photo was snapped minutes before the famous one was taken.

What happened to Weilin? Nobody knows. He may have been executed, he may still be in prison or he may have fled to another country.

The man who wore this mask is Edward Paisnel. Clad in woman’s black wig, a disfigured rubber mask on his face and long overcoat, he used to enter random houses at night. He would then proceed to assault and rape women and children.

He was caught in 1971 trying to escape from police after stealing a car for his next attack. He was convicted of 13 counts of assault, rape, and sodomy in the court.

In 1901, acting on a tip, police officers wanted to question Madame Monnier, a high-ranking woman. Upon being denied entry into her house, they forced their way in to find in the basement this woman. Cowering on the bed, covered in food and feces, was an emaciated Blanche Monnier, Madame Monnier’s daughter.

In 1876, Blanche Monnier was a normal looking young woman, who fell in love with a lawyer who lived nearby. Her mother tried too hard to stop her, but she never listened to her. So she imprisoned her in their basement. She only ate scraps from her mother’s meals, delivered to her room by housemaids or her brother. Even after the lawyer passed away in 1885, Blanche’s punishment continued. When she was rescued, she was severely malnourished and weighed just 55 pounds.

At first glance, it looks like a man from an indigenous tribe relaxing. The photograph is by Alice Seeley Harris and the man’s name is Nsala. In reality, this Congolese man is looking at the detached foot and hand of his 5-years-old daughter who was killed and allegedly dismantled, by the members of Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company militia.

King Leopold II was the king of Belgium, who privately owned the Congo state in Central Africa. He massacred 10 million Africans by chopping off their hands and genitals, scourging them to death. Nsala hadn’t completed his daily rubber quota for the day, so Leopold’s overseers had cut off his daughter’s foot and hand. Later they killed his wife and dismantled her.

This photo looks like any other family photo taken on a vacation. Two Spanish tourists are seen beside a red car in Omagh, Northern Ireland. What they didn’t know was that red car contained 510 pounds of explosive fertilizer. The detonation which happened moments after this photograph was taken killed 21 people. Both of them survived the bombing, and their camera, containing this footage, was found in the debris. Unfortunately, the photographer, who was with the same group of Spanish tourists, was killed.

In the above photograph, Lennon is seen signing a copy of Double Fantasy for Mark Chapman, the same Chapman who killed him several hours later. According to Chapman, he actually had the gun in his pocket when this photo was taken, but he chickened out. He hung around to get his nerves up until John came home later that night. Lennon was shot when returning from the recording studio that night carrying tapes from the studio under his arm.

Chapman had grown up idolizing Lennon, but after becoming a born-again Christian he was angered at the singer’s claim that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus”.

Tyler Hadley’s classmates were surprised when he threw a party. For them, it was impossible to believe that his parents, who had been increasingly strict with him gave their consent. In one photo, taken by his friend on his cell phone during the party, you can see something was off about Michael.

What no one knew at the party was that 17-year-old Tyler had killed his parents and spent three hours cleaning up the blood before hosting a party. Their bodies were still in their bedroom during the party. In an interview by police he mentioned that his parents never molested or beat to him, but before their murders, his father had punched him in his face when he asked permission for the party.