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50 Times Nature Made Us All Say “OH HELL NO”

There are many things that we have made up to terrify ourselves, whether it’s machete-wielding lake killers or knife-hands dream haunters. But they remain figments of our imagination that exist for the sole purpose of making us afraid. Sure, they do a good job, many a nightmares and scares were had over those movies back when I was a kid, but turns out, we really don’t need to look to the recesses of our imagination for some good spooks when we have mother nature.

The users of reddit combined powers to create a subreddit aptly named “Creepy”, where they post pictures of the unusual and the strange. Between that sub, the “WTF” sub, and the “Nature Is Metal” sub, you have all the images below which aren’t for the faint of heart. There’s some grotesque realism to the pictures since they’re of actual things that truly happened instead of some kind of fictionalised creation.

Source: Reddit || Reddit || Reddit

#1 Ant On My Porch Carrying The Head Of His Vanquished Enemy

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Ever wonder what happens to your brain when you’re afraid? The Smithsonian did.

Fear may be as old as life on Earth. It is a fundamental, deeply wired reaction, evolved over the history of biology, to protect organisms against perceived threat to their integrity or existence. Fear may be as simple as a cringe of an antenna in a snail that is touched, or as complex as existential anxiety in a human.

#2 Frozen Fox Trapped Underwater

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#3 Something Took Two Clean Bites Out Of This Poor Sea Ravioli

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#4 Close Up Of Moth Outside My Window

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#5 The Largest Scar You’ll Ever See

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#6 Sweet Potato Creepily Resembles Human Heart

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#7 Goliath Tiger Fish, Congo River

Whether we love or hate to experience fear, it’s hard to deny that we certainly revere it – devoting an entire holiday to the celebration of fear. Thinking about the circuitry of the brain and human psychology, some of the main chemicals that contribute to the “fight or flight” response are also involved in other positive emotional states, such as happiness and excitement. So, it makes sense that the high arousal state we experience during a scare may also be experienced in a more positive light. But what makes the difference between getting a “rush” and feeling completely terrorized?

#8 Take A Seat

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#9 One Big Spider

#10 The Giant Isopod, Found In The Deep Seas And Is An Example Of Deep-Sea Gigantism

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#11 This Spider Web That Looks Like A Spider-Man Mask

#12 Lavafall

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We are psychiatrists who treat fear and study its neurobiology. Our studies and clinical interactions, as well as those of others, suggest that a major factor in how we experience fear has to do with the context. When our “thinking” brain gives feedback to our “emotional” brain and we perceive ourselves as being in a safe space, we can then quickly shift the way we experience that high arousal state, going from one of fear to one of enjoyment or excitement.

#13 A Jungle Perch With A Surprise

#14 Dolphin Caught A Squid, Trailing The Ink Behind It

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#15 This Hornets Nest Looks Kind Of Like A Hornet’s Head

#16 5-Legged Frog That Lives In The Marsh Behind Our Neighborhood

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#17 A Mother Whip Spider Carrying Her Babies On Her Back

#18 The Lamprey Fish

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#19 After A Weekend Storm In New England, A Puffer Fish Was Found In A Tree

#20 These New Fish Species Can Survive In Volcanoes And They’re The Stuff Of Nightmares

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#21 This Snake Covered In Ticks

#22 The Inside Of A Gooses Mouth

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Fear reaction starts in the brain and spreads through the body to make adjustments for the best defense, or flight reaction. The fear response starts in a region of the brain called the amygdala. This almond-shaped set of nuclei in the temporal lobe of the brain is dedicated to detecting the emotional salience of the stimuli – how much something stands out to us.

#23 Chameleon Mummified Alive By The Tropical Sun

#24 My Dad Sent Me This Photo. Water Mocassin? Tennessee

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#25 A Lizard Eating A Cockroach Alive At My House Porch

#26 The Statue Being Swallowed By A Tree

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#27 Black Swallower Died Trying To Eat A Fish 4 Times Its Size

#28 Articulated Cobra Skeleton

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#29 A Leopard Seal Peering Through A Veil Of Plankton

For example, the amygdala activates whenever we see a human face with an emotion. This reaction is more pronounced with anger and fear. A threat stimulus, such as the sight of a predator, triggers a fear response in the amygdala, which activates areas involved in preparation for motor functions involved in fight or flight. It also triggers release of stress hormones and sympathetic nervous system.

#30 The Frog That Caught A Spider

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#31 Deer Skull After Sitting In Water For Over A Year

#32 All I Know Is That It Needs To Burn

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#33 Currently Renovating Our Floors. Seems Everyone Has Come Out Of Hiding

#34 The Clathrus Archeri Fungus Resembles Some Pretty Metal Tentacles Sprouting From An Alien Egg When It Blooms

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#35 These Plants Look Like Tiny Hands

#36 This Is Why You Always Have To Check The Toilet In Australia

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#37 My Gecko Ate His Tail

#38 This Is A Hammerhead Bat And Is By Far The Creepiest Animal I’ve Seen

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#39 The Eyes And Teeth Of A Scallop

#40 Snapdragon Seed Pods Look Like Skulls

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#41 My Mum’s Toilet After A Recent Flood

#42 Rome Yesterday

#43 Damn Nature, You Scary…

#44 The Skeleton Of A Puffer Fish Is Pretty Metal

#45 This Frog Was Found All Dried Up And Withered Outside The Store In The Morning… The Store Manager Said, “Let’s Try Splashing Some Water On It,” And Holy Sh*t It Came Back To Life

#46 Xylaria Polymorpha, Commonly Known As Dead Man’s Fingers, Is A Saprobic Fungus

#47 Seaweed In The Waves

#48 Spiderbro Guarding Me From Malaria Outside My Window

#49 Wrap Around Spider, Named For Its Ability To Flatten And Wrap Its Body Around Tree Limbs

#50 Found Out The House We Are Living In Has A Bunker Below. I Managed To Squeeze My Phone In One Of The Cracks Of The Door To Take This Creepy Picture

Damn, mother nature, you scary! What do you think?

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