Los Angeles-based photographer Krocky Meshkin started his ‘Headless Sightings’ series in 2008 as an experiment in what he calls “paranormal street photography.”
He was inspired by how reality television shows actually portray an altered view of real life, and wanted to channel that idea into photography.
He started putting up posters with photographs of fake headless sightings all over Los Angeles, and a fake number for people to contact. The pictures went viral after he uploaded them to his Flickr account, and spawned the hashtag ‘#headlesssightings.’
His images of headless figures surrounded by bystanders are surreal and humorous; each picture features curious pedestrians gawking at them while others stroll by nonchalantly.
Meshkin took thousands of shots of the same location and carefully positioned people around the mysterious figures, making it seem as though they are reacting to the headless persons in their midst.
Find out more about his process in this video, and view more images here.
[via Fstoppers and Flickr Blog, images via Krocky Meshkin]