# Have you ever had an image or scene haunt you? Imaginary, fictional or real . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 27, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408 "2011-05-27T06:20:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/21 "2011-05-28T03:25:39Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > I used to work at a factory that made ping pong tables. One night on the assembly line, we heard a blood-curdling scream from another near-by line, and moments later a woman I had spoken to many times came up the aisle; it took a few moments longer to recognize her. > > She had very long hair and had had it pulled back in a ponytail. While reaching onto a fast moving conveyor belt, her hair had fallen over her shoulder and gotten caught in the belt. It had literally scalped her, ripping ALL of her hair & flesh off. Her skull was exposed, and I swear to God it looked like her face was melting since there was nothing left to hold it up > > I have never seen anything else so horrific and hope to never again, but her face still haunts my nightmares. > > Another scene I cannot forget was when I was boarding my horse with my veterinarian. he had a yearling Thoroughbred filly brought in with tetnus. The owner would not allow him to euthanize her because she was insured, and there was a SMALL chance she would recover. If euthed, they would not collect the insurance money. So the poor horse (which COULD have been saved this horrible fate with a $10 tetnus shot beforehand) was left having convulsions. She was laying down and when her muscles contracted, it would pull her head & neck up & back so violently her forehead almost touched her spine. _shudder_ > > THAT was the day I decided I did not want to be a vet. Well, NOW, I do. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/22 "2011-05-28T03:49:18Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > The Lincoln Tunnel scene from _The Stand._ I am hardly ever scared by books, but that scene sometimes won’t leave my head. Interesting, I have a scene from _The Stand_ that comes back to me randomly and always squicks me out. It was when the men from Colorado were traveling to Nevada and one of the characters (I forget which one - it’s been a long time since I’ve read it) was scrabbling to grip pavement as he was falling and his nails peeled back from the nailbeds. I’ve made protective fists about 5 times while I’ve typed this. I got nothin’ on the real-life stories :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/23 "2011-05-28T04:04:19Z")
A few years ago Vanity Fair had a feature article about the lingering effects of Agent Orange on the people of Vietnam. It was a fairly long article, complete with about five of the most horrifying photographs I have ever seen. It took months for me to get that unearthly horror out of my mind. For weeks, I’d wake with nightmares about the story and the photos. I’m not sure how I got those out of my head, but somehow I did. I’ve even re-read the article without the photos and it didn’t bother me nearly as much. But nothing would make me ever view those photos again. Seriously, I’ll probably have nightmares just writing about this. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/24 "2011-05-28T04:05:49Z")
There was (or maybe still is) a woman on the web that specialized in taking recently deceased newborns and dressing them up to give the family a final photo album. The results are horrible but evidently some people pay to have it done and she splashed her work for the whole world to see. That wasn’t the worst one though. The worst one for me was the man that turned into a tree. Google a video yourself if you are curious. It took me months to erase that image. It is a video of a villager who has some kind of skin condition that makes warts grow out of his hands and body so far that they calcify and make him look like a dying plant complete with bug infestation. Last I heard, doctors saw the story and went to treat him but I don’t want to know any more about that. ---
**Author:** ![kjbrasda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/74df32/32.png) [@kjbrasda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjbrasda)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/25 "2011-05-28T04:48:45Z")
Might be spoiler-ish > [@YogSosoth](#): > > > [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > > > The Lincoln Tunnel scene from _The Stand._ > > What’s that about? Can someone explain? From what I remember: Premise of the book is a super flu kills almost everyone in a very short time. Results are not pretty. Many people try to ‘get out of Dodge’ before they get sick but they get sick anyway. There’s traffic jams and military road blocks, and at this point in the story the Tunnel is full of cars and dead people. One person is trying to get through the Tunnel alone, in the dark, with just a lighter. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/26 "2011-05-28T04:50:28Z")
An old March of Dimes PSA that showed a fetus with a cigarette in its mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/27 "2011-05-28T04:58:17Z")
Are you sure you want to hear this? . . . . . . You can skip it now. . . . . Last chance to turn back. . . . . Okay, you asked for it. . . . . . . . GOATSE! . . Hey, I warned you. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/28 "2011-05-28T05:35:32Z")
Well, at least you didn’t link it. And **Indygrrl** ’s Vanity Fair article is online, with the slideshow. That’s what I get for Googling and reading what I find. I had no idea that stuff was still affecting children today. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/29 "2011-05-28T07:29:12Z")
A youtube video of an unintentional basketball foul. The player tried to steal, and the other player turned his head at just the wrong second, causing the very tip of the finger to impact the eyeball at full momentum. It squeezed the eyeball right out of the socket and left it dangling on his cheek. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/30 "2011-05-28T18:01:54Z")
I was driving to the store a few years ago, and happened across the scene of a family grieving in the street over the body of a tiny, just-run-over puppy. Really disturbing. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/31 "2011-05-28T18:22:48Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > A youtube video of an unintentional basketball foul. The player tried to steal, and the other player turned his head at just the wrong second, causing the very tip of the finger to impact the eyeball at full momentum. It squeezed the eyeball right out of the socket and left it dangling on his cheek. Oh, ugh. That reminds me of another Youtube video–an NHL hockey goalie who got hit by a skate blade that severed his jugular vein. Blood was spurting everywhere, all over the ice. He ended up being okay (eventually) but I can’t make that image stop popping into my head occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/32 "2011-05-28T19:06:19Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Well, at least you didn’t link it. > > And **Indygrrl** ’s Vanity Fair article is online, with the slideshow. That’s what I get for Googling and reading what I find. I had no idea that stuff was still affecting children today. When I saw the photographer’s name, I knew it sounded familiar. He has a website full of very haunting photos that I had seen previously: [http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/](http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/) As haunting as they are, I think it’s important to see these things. I feel like too many people hide from the sad and horrible things that happen in this world. Hiding from them doesn’t stop them from happening, but in some cases facing them might allow things to change. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/33 "2011-05-28T19:40:07Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > Lotus boob. Need I say more? Nope. I knew there was no way I was going to be the only one. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/34 "2011-05-28T20:17:31Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > I was driving to the store a few years ago, and happened across the scene of a family grieving in the street over the body of a tiny, just-run-over puppy. Really disturbing. > > Joe That’s sad. My neighbours dog was killed in the parking lot one morning by a car. All we heard was this horrid screaming as I looked out she was carrying her lifeless dog back home. I watched as the light faded from the dogs eyes from clear to milky white. She was told on numerous occasions to leash her dog because it was going to get hit. The kicker she got another one and still does the exact same thing. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/35 "2011-05-28T20:18:15Z")
Just remembered another one. When I was a kid, back in the 50s, a woman had given birth to a baby/babies . . . what looked like a random collection of heads, arms and legs. It didn’t live long. A photo was printed on the front page of the newspaper, and that photo stayed with me for a long, long time. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/36 "2011-05-28T23:52:22Z")
I just had a feeling some people wouldn’t be able to help themselves from looking up that Vanity Fair article. I knew upon opening the first page that I would probably regret it, but I did want to know what it said. And I regretted it, for months. Panache, this is kind of what these photos I’m talking about are like. I vaguely remember one of a poor child in a tub of some kind, with an arm growing out of his back or something else that was so very unnatural as to give me nightmares for months. Also, for those saying lotus boob, come on! That shit is photoshopped. You need much worse scarring if that’s all you’ve got! ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/37 "2011-05-29T00:44:44Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > When I was five, during the first week we lived in our new house there was a black cat on the sidewalk across the street (no houses - a shopping center was being built)with a stick through its chest. It obviously disturbed(to say the least) the hell out of me yet I never told anyone, nor did anyone else seem to notice it. I remember going to the window every day full of dread, praying it would be gone and not able to stop myself from looking. Poor thing must have been there for four days. It was there alive for 4 days? Or was it dead? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/38 "2011-05-29T01:20:42Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Oh, ugh. > > That reminds me of another Youtube video–an NHL hockey goalie who got hit by a skate blade that severed his jugular vein. Blood was spurting everywhere, all over the ice. He ended up being okay (eventually) but I can’t make that image stop popping into my head occasionally. I’ve seen that. I always wondered what kind of first aid they did to stop him from bleeding out. Its not like you can tourniquet his head, and it seemed like it was coming out much to fast for “apply pressure” to do much. Mine are some youtube videos that were linked in another thread of some little kids with late stage rabies in some third world country. Pretty depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/39 "2011-05-29T01:54:46Z")
In the mid-70s, I was a deputy sheriff. I had to help secure a murder scene that a Hollywood writer high on uncut drugs couldn’t dream up. I also helped at the scene of a traffic accident where a small child was killed in a gruesome manner. I can still close my eyes and see them, but I no longer wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about them. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408/40 "2011-05-29T07:17:13Z")
Yes, my dear friend’s son after his brain hemorrhage and stroke. The first time I saw him while he was still in ICU he had a breathing tube in, and other tubes coming out of his head for the swelling. He was in a coma and didn’t look like the same boy I had just seen days before. I was calm on the outside and reassuring for my friend, but on the inside I was terrified that he wouldn’t recover. My friend asked me to come in because he knew I could handle it. I thought about him night and day for weeks. Even now, a day doesn’t pass when he’s not in my thoughts at some point. He has made incredible progress and soon will be building some hot houses for our peppers. I love that kid and his father. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-an-image-or-scene-haunt-you-imaginary-fictional-or-real/583408.md?page=3)