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There's this photo that keeps popping up, most typically in the "Suggested Articles" section on various news sites (you know, the section where all the linked "articles" are actually from external sites and basically just ads):

enter image description here

In context, the photo can be found in on sites using 'Sponsored Links by Taboola', where it presents alongside other outbound links, like this:

enter image description here

The caption that accompanies the photo is always "20 Rare Historical Photos Declassified", however if you click it (yep, I clicked it even knowing it's probably an ad...because I really want to know what the story is behind this particular photo) the article that you're taken to does not display or mention the photo at all.

(I've also seen a smaller instance of the same photo in 'Outbrain' links, however I haven't been able to get that one to reappear yet. Will grab it and append if/when it pops up again.)

Is this a photo that used to be classified? I wonder if it is just click-bait, perhaps lifted from an old horror movie or something similar (or just plain photoshopped into existence).

Oddthinking
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aroth
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    It's a typical clickbait. Title (and the associated picture) are intentionally way more exciting than the content itself. – sashkello Oct 04 '16 at 05:05
  • Doing a reverse image search on that photo, I find it comes up not under the subject of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, but the "Russian Sleep Experiment". Yet I can't seem to figure out where that exact photo originates from(as in when/where it was published). – Ten Bitcomb Oct 04 '16 at 05:06
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    "Russian Sleep Experiment" seems like a good lead. [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/russiansleep.asp), at least, debunks it and cites 2010 as the likely publication date. – aroth Oct 04 '16 at 05:17
  • There's no claim here. – Oddthinking Oct 04 '16 at 12:11
  • The Russian Sleep Experiment already [has a question about it](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/24050/did-the-russian-sleep-experiment-happen)/ – Oddthinking Oct 04 '16 at 12:12
  • @Oddthinking - The claim is that the image is a legitimate historical record of a person who actually existed. The question is whether or not that's true. Not specifically about the Russian Sleep Experiment, as there's always the possibility that a false story was crafted which happened to include a true picture (though sashkello's answer seems more plausible; however some supporting evidence would be nice). – aroth Oct 04 '16 at 13:05
  • The only person I see making the claim that this is a person who really existed is you. As such, it is unnotable. – Oddthinking Oct 04 '16 at 13:38
  • @Oddthinking So you're saying, you want a link and/or screenshot to one of the many contexts in which the photo appears with a caption suggesting that it's a "declassified historical photograph"? Because you don't believe that it actually appears in any such context? – aroth Oct 04 '16 at 13:45
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    @Oddthinking I've seen this photo on many popular Youtube videos and I've also seen it on clickbait advertising quite a lot. Perhaps OP could demonstrate this. I'd say the people "making the claim" are the people behind the clickbait advertisements. I suppose mere exposure and numbers probably indicates that a many people end up believing the image is real. – Fiksdal Oct 04 '16 at 20:44
  • Easily could and happily will demonstrate where/how the image is being used. Just waiting for a response from @Oddthinking to see if that will be satisfactory or if he'll just come up with some new reason to continue his unilateral action against this question. No point in wasting my time in the latter scenario. – aroth Oct 05 '16 at 01:47
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    @Aroth: Part of our [Be Nice](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/help/be-nice) guidelines are assuming good intentions. It would be helpful if you could consider that my goal is to improve this question. – Oddthinking Oct 05 '16 at 08:07
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    Finding, screenshotting and quoting some adverts would be very helpful in establishing notability. Then we will be able to remove all the current speculation in the question, and focus on what is actually claimed. – Oddthinking Oct 05 '16 at 08:08

1 Answers1

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This could easily be a manipulated photo of a "Spazm" Halloween doll.

Here's an image of one recently sold on eBay:

enter image description here

And a slightly different newer model on Amazon:

enter image description here

Sklivvz
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sashkello
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    Actually, I agree that the photo is most likely that of this prop or one like it. If you look at the background of the photo(easier to see in somewhat higher-res versions on Google Images), the "person" is sitting on what appears to be an outdoor bench covered in snow. It seems far more likely to be a Halloween prop left outside. I mean, would a radiation victim really be sitting in the snow like that? Maybe... – Ten Bitcomb Oct 04 '16 at 05:13
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    Seems plausible. Amazon indicates that this product went on sale in 2007. So far I can't find a reference to the photo from the OP dated any earlier than 2010. Good chance that the doll came first, and the photo came after. – aroth Oct 04 '16 at 05:19
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    Well it's not this exact doll, as the head is leaning the wrong way from the photo. – Tom Bowen Oct 04 '16 at 07:52
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    @Tom.Bowen89 Easily explained: On the Amazon listing you'll find that the doll is animated. I don't know the precise details of this animation, but a shoulder/head rocking thing seems likely, and likely to bring the head into the desired position. Looking at the doll it appears to be a cloth full-body straightjacket over some kind of mechanism, so differences in how the clothing is creased is also to be expected (especially considering how the photo appears to be of a snowed-upon specimen). – Williham Totland Oct 04 '16 at 08:29
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    Apparently there have been several different models of this doll. The one in your answer does look similar to the picture, but [this one on eBay](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Halloween-Animated-Prop-Spazm-by-Morbid-Industries-New-/122142144479?hash=item1c703d37df:g:MyAAAOSwvFZW7eO5) is much closer (notice the eyes, the teeth, and the goo in the corner of the mouth). – Reinstate Monica -- notmaynard Oct 04 '16 at 17:52
  • @Oddthinking or the ebay link is essentially the same doll in a different position – OrangeDog Oct 06 '16 at 12:42
  • I've suggested an edit which adds the photo from the eBay post, which I think is much more similar to the image in question and so supports your answer. Feel free of course to change or reject it as desired. – Reinstate Monica -- notmaynard Oct 06 '16 at 15:33
  • I've removed the unreferenced claim that this _was_ the explanation. The readers can certainly draw their own conclusions. – Sklivvz Oct 06 '16 at 20:35