Creepy Childhood Pics of the Most Evil Bad Guys in History

Have you ever wondered what history’s infamous evil-doers looked like as children? Was there some glint in their vacuous gaze or some clue in their cold smile that could have tipped us off to the menace to come? It’s too late now, of course, as their diabolical damage is done. However, take a look through these chilling childhood photos of various dictators, terrorists and serial killers and see if you can spot the evil within.

1. Who Does This Impish Grin Belong To?

If you look closely, you can see a hint of those crazy eyes he’s known for.

2. Charles Manson

We might as well start with one of the most famous serial killers in recent history, Charles Manson. In the late 1960s, he was a master of manipulating other people in his cultish “Manson Family” to kill for him, but that didn’t make him any less guilty. His brainwashed crew took nine lives in some particularly macabre murders and are suspected of at least eight more killings.

3. This Little Cowboy Has a Killer Smile

Any guesses who he is?

4. Ted Bundy

One of America’s most successful serial killers used his smile, charm and good looks to lure his victims. He owned up to 30 murders but most experts believe the actual count is much higher.

5. Any Idea Who This Serious Lad Grew Up to Be?

There doesn’t seem to be a trace of a smile on those lips.

6. Joseph Stalin

The former dictator of the Soviet Union turned the region into a superpower, but he was a psychopathic despot who ruled through terror. Over 40 million people died through his varied atrocities, which include purges, expulsions, displacements, labor camp imprisonments, manipulated famines, torture, mass murder, massacres, plus World War II. Some historians peg him as responsible for as many as 60 million deaths.

7. Some Say He’s an Evil Genius

If only we could go back in time and stop him in his tracks.

8. Osama bin Laden

al Qaeda’s founding father and the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks made this terrorist the world’s most wanted man with a $25 million bounty on his head. He was eventually located and killed by United States Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011.

9. Is That a Choke Hold he Has on his Dog?

Careful, Fido, he might just eat you.

10. Jeffrey Dahmer

Yes, that little boy grew up to be a murderer, rapist, necrophiliac and cannibal with a penchant for storing body parts in the freezer. Dahmer was convicted of killing 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. While in prison serving 16 terms of lifetime sentences, was beaten to death by a fellow inmate.

11. Who’s This Rosy Cheeked Cherub?

He’s missing his trademark feature at this age.

12. Adolf Hitler

It’s hard to imagine that fresh faced baby would grow up to be the mustachioed megalomaniac Führer of Nazi Germany, who’s regime killed an estimated 19.3 million people beyond the 29 million that died during WWII, a conflict he initiated. Hitler’s Holocaust is one of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind. So if you could go back in time, would you kill that baby?

13. This Bored Looking Kid Had at Least 49 Victims

A childhood head injury might have contributed to his psychopathic tendencies.

14. Alexander Pichushkin

One of Russia’s most infamous serial killers slaughtered 49 to 60 people in Moscow between 1992 and 2006. He usually left a calling card of a vodka bottle in the gaping wounds of his victims. An avid chess player, his goal was to kill 64 victims, the same number of squares that are on a chess board, which lead to his nickname The Chessboard Killer. “For me, life without murder is like life without food for you,” the sicko said. He is serving life in prison, the first 15 years in solitary housed in a glass cage.

15. This Kid Liked to Clown Around

Nobody’s laughing now.

16. John Wayne Gacy

The infamous serial killer murdered 33 teenage boys from 1972 to 1978, but what makes him all the more insidious is he was also an event fundraiser and parade staple who dressed up as Pogo the Clown. Maybe that’s why many of us find clowns so terrifying.

17. Who’s This Serious Looking Lad?

Perhaps that furrowed brow foretells the stress to come.

18. Saddam Hussein

Between 1989 and 2003, Saddam was one of the biggest bad guys around. His regime is thought to have slaughtered up to a million Iraquis, including a genocidal campaign against the Kurds. 270 mass graves have been found, indicating tens of thousands were killed at his command.

19. You Never Know What Evil Lurks Behind a Smile

He looks like a typical teen here, but looks can be deceiving.

20. Gary Ridgeway

Known as the Green River Killer, this scumbag is one of America’s most prolific serial killers. He was convicted of killing 49 woman, but he later said the actual death toll was close to double that. He also liked to defile the bodies with necrophilia. Through plea bargaining, he got a lifetime sentence rather than the death penalty many people think he deserves.

21. This Tot Showed His National Pride Even as a Toddler

So who is this flag-waving fellow?

22. Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito)

He ruled Japan from 1928 to 1989, a time frame that included the “Rape of Nanking” (which killed up to 300,000 Chinese) and World War II (including the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor). At one point, he encouraged soldiers and civilians to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans.

23. Don’t Let This Blond Boy’s Innocent Looks Fool You

It goes to show that mass murderers can sprout anywhere.

24. Anders Behring Breivik

It’s bad enough this nasty Norwegian terrorist killed 77 people in 2011, but the fact that 69 of them were children at a summer camp makes it all the more disturbing. Apparently the far-Right extremist had been planning this for nine years.

25. Can You Believe this Tousle Haired Mop-top is the Current Bad Guy of the World

He was planning to be an ophthalmologist, but when his older brother died in a car accident he took over the family dynasty.

26. Bashar al-Assad

The brutal Syrian president is considered a mass murdering war criminal who authorized torture and extermination facilities to silence his dissenters. His handling of the Arab Spring uprising sparked the civil war and ISIS backlash that is having global repercussions today.

27. This Boy Was Groomed for It

Both nature and nurture shaped this tyrant’s ego. Any guesses who he is?

28. Kim Jong-Il

Like his father before him and his son after him, North Korea’s supreme dictator was a supreme megalomaniac. Through his “leadership” his repressed country has endured mass starvation, forced labor camps, mass exterminations, rapes and other human rights atrocities.

29. You May Not Sleep Tonight After Seeing These

The following creepy kids didn’t grow up to be famous killers, but their faces will haunt your nightmares nonetheless.