Top 10 Creepiest Photos Linked to True Crimes
#10: 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.
#9: 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.
#8: Dahmer’s Drum
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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.
#7: John Lennon & Mark David Chapman
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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.
#6: Karen Sprinker
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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.
#5: Ted’s Tools
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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.
#4: The Columbine Class Picture
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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.
#3: 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.
#2: A Message from The Lipstick Killer
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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.
#1: Ed Gein’s House
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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.
