Feeling a bit ghoulish? You may, then, be in the mood to riffle through an archive of 30,000 NYPD crime photos that are about to go online.
![](https://www.shortlist.com/media/images/2019/05/524c0ee58ca3a2a82d5507baac75b035-1556692088-Xic7-column-width-inline.jpg)
The photos, which were all taken between 1914 and 1975, are being released as part of a larger project to digitise some 2.2 million photos, audio files and videos held by the New York City Municipal Archives.
![](https://www.shortlist.com/media/images/2019/05/8792a5ee3983438d14ee0c4664e12f37-1556692088-39KE-column-width-inline.jpg)
The small sample of black-and-white pictures previewed on HyperAllergic shows mostly crime scenes that looked ripped from old detective movies, but there are also others like an eerie image of a doll sitting alone on a murder victim's bed (we are 90 per cent sure the doll did it).
![](https://www.shortlist.com/media/images/2019/05/6d28dbf894c1ffd0eb038940dc09773b-1556692089-CmEq-column-width-inline.jpg)
Or a burning of 'indecent' books outside Manhattan Police Headquarters in 1935.
![](https://www.shortlist.com/media/images/2019/05/ccb0b2f6830000eab8656b586bb8f83c-1556692089-UlcQ-column-width-inline.jpg)
In fact, it seems most of the images have a story to tell. But might we recommend not viewing them late at night so as to avoid nightmares, especially if there are creepy dolls anywhere in the house.
![](https://www.shortlist.com/media/images/2019/05/287c0cdd2425b7fd78ec2fda1fd2a9e4-1556692090-OFrJ-column-width-inline.jpg)
(Images: New York City Municipal Archives)