5 Harrowing Photos With Disturbing Stories
Published in Entertainment at March 23rd, 2017 at 12:48 PM
"A photo can speak a thousand words" - An apt phrase for the next 5 images. In life, photographs are usually taken to record happy, enjoyable times, something to look back on with fond memories. Unfortunately, none of the moments captured here where happyzph, nor did they create fond memories, in fact most of them ended in tragedy.
Columbine High School Massacre
The Columbine High School massacre was a -now, well known- school shooting that occurred April 20, 1999. In addition to the shootings, this was a very complex and highly planned attack, which involved a fire bomb incident -used to distract firefighters- propane tanks converted to bombs that where placed around the cafeteria, up to 99 explosive devices, and even car-bombs. The culprits, -students at the school, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold- gunned down 12 students and one teacher during the horrific act. An additional 21 people sustained injury, and 3 more were injured following an attempt to escape the school. After their terrifying attack was over, the pair later committed suicide. To this day the students precise motives for the attack remain unclear, although the personal journals of both perpetrators document that they wished their actions to rival such deadly incidents as 'the Oklahoma City bombing' and other attacks during the 1990s. The Columbine incident has been referred to by many as a "suicidal attack planned as a grand—if badly implemented—terrorist bombing." The massacre sparked huge debate over such things as gun control laws, high school cliques, and bullying. It also resulted in moral panic over the likes of, goth culture, gun culture, the use of anti-depressants by teenagers, Internet use, and even violence in video games. Even music had the finger pointed at during this time, with the shooting being blamed on a number of metal or 'dark music' bands such as KMFDM and Rammstein. But for reasons unknown, the majority of that blame shifted to Marilyn Manson. After being linked by numerous media outlets, with such excessive headlines such as "Killers Worshipped Rock Freak Manson" and "Devil-Worshipping Maniac Told Kids To Kill" - Due to so much coverage, everyone began to believe that Manson's music and imagery were, indeed, Harris and Klebold's sole motivation, despite later finding out that the two were not even fans of his music. In 2002, Manson appeared in the documentary, 'Bowling for Columbine' -his appearance was filmed at the band's first show in Denver since the incident-. When asked what he would have said to the students who committed this heinous crime, he replied, "I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did." 'The Columbine High School Massacre' goes down as being one of "the deadliest high school shooting in US history."
The Falling Man - 9/11
The Falling Man is a harrowing photograph taken during the attacks of 9/11, in New York City. The photo shows a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:41:15 a.m. To this day, the man in the imagine has never been identified, all we know is that he was one of the many people trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper, who possibly fell searching for safety, or took it upon himself to jump, to escape the ever growing flames and smoke. At least 200 people are believed to have fallen or jumped to their deaths that day while there are some that say the number was much higher. Sadly, due to the collapse of the towers, officials never recovered or identified the bodies of those forced out of the buildings. All deaths involved in the attacks -except for the hijackers- have been ruled as homicides due to blunt trauma, rather than suicides. The New York City medical examiner's office said it does not classify the people who fell to their deaths that day as "jumpers" - stating that a "jumper" is somebody who goes to the office one morning with the sole purpose to commit suicide. The photograph seems to give the impression that the man is falling straight down; however that's not the case, several photographs were taken of the man during the fall, and show him to be tumbling through the air. The photographer has noted that, when used in newspaper stories, the photograph attracts a lot of criticism from the readers, who tend to find the imagine "harrowing" and "Disturbing".
The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge - Couple Suicide
Not really something you would want to state claim to, The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge has now surpassed the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge as the most popular suicide site in the world, with an estimate of over 2,000 suicides by 2006. The majority of people who commit suicide at the bridge seem to come from outside of Nanjing. There are no precise statistics for this however, as a lot of the bodies are never recovered. Records from 2007 showed that around 100 to 200 people are either 'rescued' or 'restrained' each year. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. This is the moment a photographer captured a lovers' suicide leap. The cameraman had been stood on a viewing platform, wanting to get a shot of the -silent hill like- fog that was shrouding the bridge, when he saw the couple leap off the bridge. The photographer claims that he didn't even witness the first person jump, due to concentrating on the camera settings, and had no clue what he had captured. It was only after taking the photo that he over-heard people shouting "there is a person in the river!" - The person can be seen in the bottom of this ghostly image, falling into the mist below. Seconds later a woman proceeded to climb onto the bridge, and jump, the photographer recalls: "I still had my hand on the camera and I tensed and shot off another few frames entirely by accident, but ended up photographing the woman as well." Police later identified the man, after some possessions he left on the bridge, which included an ID card naming him as 'Liu Han', a 20-year-old migrant worker from Caidian town. It was believed that the as yet unidentified girl, was his partner. It is still unknown as to why the couple had made a pact to throw themselves to their deaths, and police who searched the river failed to find either of the bodies.
Robert Budd Dwyer - Suicide
Robert Budd Dwyer was an American politician in Pennsylvania, serving from 1971 to 1981. He served as the 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981, until his death. On January 22nd, 1987: Dwyer called a news conference in Harrisburg, and what should have been your standard news conference, turned into a horrific death scene. Dwyer carried on with the news conference, as if it were natural procedure, he had finished speaking and began handing out the notes to his staffers. Dwyer produced a manila envelope, and proceeded to empty the contents, what appeared was a Smith & Wesson Model 27 .357 Magnum revolver. When the crowd witnessed what Dwyer had pulled out of the envelope, the whole mood shifted immediately, this went from a simple 'wait to see whether he would resign' to total panic, as nobody else but Dwyer knew what he had planned. Dwyer, surprisingly calm, stated to the audience, "Please, leave the room if this will affect you." What followed was total chaos. Some people took the opportunity to exit the room and call for help. Those who chose to stay, tried pleading with Dwyer, while some even tried to approach him and seize the weapon. Dwyer told everyone to stay back, yelling, "Don't, don't, don't, this will hurt someone." Despite Dwyer's warnings to stay back, there where some who continued trying to approach him, feeling he may have been stopped, or possibly hurt someone else by accident, Dwyer quickly placed the gun into his mouth, fired, and collapsed to the floor. Witnesses where seen screaming and crying as five news cameras continued to record the event. There is -somehow- video footage of the incident, which shows Dwyer's lifeless body shortly after he took the shot, revealing a pool of blood pouring from his nose and the exit wound in his head. Since Dwyer died in office, his widow was able to collect her full survivor benefits, totalling at least $1.28 million. This suggests that he may have committed suicide to preserve the state-provided pension for his family, whose finances were ruined by legal defense costs. Statements by friends and family also suggest that this was the case.
Regina Kay Walters - Robert Ben Rhoades
This is the final photo taken of Regina Kay Walters. Only 14 at the time, Regina was a victim to serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades. Rhoades ended up becoming notorious for the truck he drove. He converted what was a sleeper cab, into his own personal torture chamber. Rhoades is believed to have made his first kill back in November of 1989, though he was only accused by one unnamed victim. Even though Rhoades was detained, the victim denied that he was the perpetrator. It was later found out, that she feared Rhoades, after enduring two weeks in his torture chamber. Rhoades' first confirmed victims were Candace Walsh and her husband Douglas Zyskowski in January 1990. Rhodes picked up the hitchhiking couple in his truck while on a long-haul journey. Immediately killing Zyskowski, he dumped his body in Sutton County, Texas, where it was later found -though not fully identified until 1992-. Candace Walsh however, he kept for over a week. During this gruesome week, he tortured and raped Walsh numerous times before finally killing her and dumping her body in Millard County, Utah. A month had passed after Walsh's death, when Rhoades picked up another hitchhiking couple. 14-year old Regina Kay Walters and her boyfriend Ricky Lee Jones, a couple of runaway teenagers from Pasadena, Texas. A similar fate to Zyskowski and Walsh, it is believed that Jones was immediately killed and disposed of, while he kept the terrified Regina Walters hostage. It was only after an officer located Rhoades van, with a tortured women in the cab, did they execute a search warrant for Rhoades' home. Police found several photos, one taken in a barn, of a scared teenager, in a black dress and heels. The girl was later identified as Regina Kay Walters, whose body was found in September 1990. Police located photos of another female (Walsh), whose body was discovered a month later. The body of Ricky Lee Jones was also found in 1991, but he was not identified until July 2008.
