This Photo Of The Original Ronald McDonald Will Give You Nightmares

Say, kids, would you like to know what the first Ronald McDonald looked like? No, no you wouldn't. Because it looked like this (trigger warning for nightmares):

The disturbing photo recently resurfaced on Reddit. Although we couldn't pin down the exact date of the photo, we do now know the original Ronald was invented in 1963 and played by Willard Scott, who went on to become the weatherman for The Today Show.

If that photo wasn't quite horrifying enough for you, here's a commercial:

But when you think about it, is that Ronald so much scarier than this one?

Or this one?

Or this one?

Or this one?

It's unclear.

Update: McDonald's reached out to HuffPost with the following statement Tuesday night:

To label a 50 year old picture as a "nightmare" is a clear overstatement. Ronald McDonald has been and is a much loved figure to families for more than 50 years. That picture represents the simple era of the times. A provocatively labeled headline won't change that, nor impact all of the good Ronald McDonald will continue to do for years to come.

We're sorry we hurt your feelings McDonald's. No hard feelings?

(via Jared Keller)