I think this picture is a clear case of only being creepy because it's black and white. Actually, I kind of take that back. It would be creepy in color, but you'd just assume it was a super-close up picture of an armadillo - a creepy picture, but nothing out of the ordinary. That's exactly what it is but it being in black and white makes it disturbing for some reason. It's as if monsters only existed in the past. That's what my brain thinks at least.
At first glance I thought it was something like the elephant man, or a science experiment. The type that the government did on people back when it was easier to do that to people without getting caught. For some reason I assume the thirties to fifties had a lot of experiments on people. Again, I think I've been poisoned by television.