Cursed Images

About

Cursed Images are a type of picture and photograph on the internet that are generally seen as disturbing to the viewer, typically due to the poor photo quality or content within the image that is abnormal or illogical. Images of this or similar nature are sometimes seen as the visual equivalent to creepypastas and occasionally are captioned with the specific phrase "Cursed Image." Since the term appeared online in 2015, such pictures have inspired several social media accounts devoted to posting various cursed images, subreddits and other communities. The opposite of cursed images are referred to as "blessed," while images that are both cursed and blessed are referred to as "blursed."

Origin

The term and overall idea of cursed images initially started on Tumblr, and the first account to publish exclusively cursed images was CursedImages.^[3] On October 28th, 2015, they published their first post. The image, shown below, gained over 1,200 notes in two years.

Spread

Following the original Tumblr account dedicated to posting such imagery in late 2015, there have been several more Tumblr blogs oriented around sharing cursed images.^[2] In the following years, the idea of cursed images spread outside of Tumblr when the Twitter account @cursedimages^[1] devoted to posting these pictures launched in July 2016. This account uploaded its first post on July 29th, 2016, and gained over 100,000 followers in four months before going dormant. The success of the Twitter account notably drew media attention from New York Magazine,^[4] The New Yorker,^[5] Gizmodo^[6] and more who covered the trend that year.

On September 8th, 2016, cursed images then spread to Reddit with the creation of the /r/cursedimages^[8] subreddit, which accumulated over 1.5 million members in roughly six years. On October 31st, 2019, Redditor MinimumSpecGamer posted the top-voted image as of January 2023 to the subreddit, notably part of the Like This Image to Die Instantly meme, garnering over 77,300 upvotes in three years (seen below).

Throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s, the concept of cursed images also spread beyond just pictures with the introduction of terms such as cursed memes, cursed emojis, cursed videos, cursed compilations and cursed comments, among many others, that similarly evoked a disturbing, creepy or abnormal element to them.

друг

друг is the nickname of a cryptid featured in a cursed image of a Deathclaw from the Fallout video game series. The creature is named after the Russian word for “friend,” pronounced “droog” or “drook.”

Cursed Images of TikTok

In April 2020, TikTokers began sharing video edits of themselves or friends which include cursed images using the sound clip "Rhythm thief but cursed" by TikToker @.hacky.^[7] On April 12th, Charli D'Amelio uploaded a variation that gained over four million likes in nine days (shown below, left). On April 15th, Addison Rae uploaded her own variation which received over 3.7 million likes in six days (shown below, center). Two days later, James Charles uploaded his version which accumulated over 3.2 million likes in four days (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Cursed Cat

Cursed Cat, also known as Angry as Fuk and ъуъ съука, refers to an image of a black cat crossing a road, photoshopped in a cursed manner. After gaining spread as a part of "ъеъ" trend among Russian users, in March 2019 the edited photograph gained popularity as an image macro on Reddit.

Cursed Comments

Cursed Comments refer to any replies to tweets, memes and online posts that are perceived as unexpected or upsetting. While the images of cursed comments are posted elsewhere (often with the name format of "Cursed_[Title]) as a source of humor, they are also known to evoke a feeling of fear and concern. For a comment to be considered "cursed," it must originate from a relatively surprising source, making them especially prevalent finds on Reddit, Instagram and Twitter, rather than niche platforms like 4chan or communities devoted to shocking content.

Cursed Emojis

Cursed Emojis or Cursed Expressions refers to a set of images of non-Unicode emojis which includes Stressed Emoji, Xok, Powercry, Fuckboy Emoji and others. Originally used by artists on Twitter, DeviantArt and Tumblr as a reference for commissions, starting in July 2019 many of the emojis gained popularity online in memes.

Cursed Image Compilations

Cursed Image Compilations are slideshow videos of cursed images set to one song or more that often sync image transitions with a song's beat. The compilations gained prominence in early 2018 as they were combined with musical artist Elijah Who's remix of Childish Gambino's song "Bonfire".

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References