Our story, complete madness — 30 photos that prove it
The story is full of mysteries, and most of them are quite strange. Generations are changing, and the events of the recent past seem crazy and abnormal. It's hard for us to believe that such a thing could even happen! However, nothing can be done: all this is a part of history that will forever remain captured in photographs. Anyway, it's always interesting to look at them, even if sometimes it's creepy!
He was the first person to have a skin graft on his face, taking it from other parts of the body. The Englishman received disfiguring wounds on the fronts of the First World War.
Madame Tussauds was unlike other wax exhibitions. Honestly, it was a creepy place. The photo shows the consequences of a fire that destroyed many museum exhibits.
Nowadays, tests of new inventions are carried out using computer models and special stands. But in 1923 they used living people! For example, to test the strength of a bulletproof vest, it was put on a person who was then shot with a pistol.
James Brock is a motel owner who poured acid into a white—only pool occupied by black activists. Ironically, it was the activists who were arrested. And the next day, the Civil Rights Act was passed.
Yes, the famous TV show began with a real "club" that resembled some sinister sect. All members wore a Mickey Mouse mask. Take a closer look at this photo: it looks scary, doesn't it?
Here's another example of testing on living people! In 1912, they invented a new football helmet made of leather... and they didn't come up with anything better than putting it on a person and telling him to hit his head against the wall with a run! But the result is immediately visible, right?
Such "beauty contests" were held in London before the war. The faces of the participants were hidden, and the judge (of course, a man) chose the winner exclusively by the ankles.
The two men covered a distance of about 8,000 miles (12,875 km) on their own two feet — from Caracas (Venezuela) to Washington (USA). They dreamed of attending the first Boy Scout rally. The men walked 25 miles (40 km) a day, and it took them about two years to reach the goal!
This boy from Ampthill (England) had his own riding boar. However, the rider looks unhappy — maybe he would prefer a horse?
This is not a staged photo. The picture was taken at the congress of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado, which was held at an amusement park.
Colorful Flour Bags (1930s)
During the Great Depression, poverty forced many American villagers to sew their dresses from flour sacks. After learning about this, flour producers began ordering bags with patterns to make more beautiful dresses out of them!
This monster was caught by the American Edward Llewellen in 1903. And independently!
In the photo, two engineers from the Disney company are working on one of the first animatronic figures. It was some semblance of a person who could move and make sounds. But in this form it looks like something from a horror movie!
It was one of the most famous "cirques of freaks" in all of America. People with defects were often hired to work there, because congenital deformity was valued especially highly.
Circuses of that time mocked not only unusual people, but also wild animals. A typical example is a hippo harnessed to a circus cart.
Unlike the current Ronald McDonald, initially the McDonald's symbol did not look at all childish. Rather, he resembled a killer clown from Stephen King.
Previously, students were stronger than the current ones! Here's the proof: These three Princeton University students just participated in a snowball fight between freshmen and sophomores. And they still have the strength to take a picture!
Martin Luther King was not easily intimidated. Once he found a burning cross on the lawn in front of his house (a popular threat among racist Southerners), he calmly bent down and removed it.
Such cages for babies were not very common, but were popular with fashionable Londoners in the 1930s. The apartments were equipped with such cages so that the child could breathe fresh air and bask in the sun.
Since we are talking about children, it is impossible not to recall this ingenious invention. After the massive gas attacks of the First World War, on the eve of the Second World War, such strollers were advertised in England to protect babies from chemical weapons. However, there is no information that they have ever been used for their intended purpose.
Before the advent of tanning salons, Americans had to rely on such machines. After dropping the coin, the person received a dose of tanning agent from the sprinkler.
Ham, a Cameroonian, was the first chimpanzee to travel in space. After successfully returning to Earth, he took a picture with a newspaper about his flight.
At that time, people believed that fat deposits could literally be "rolled out". For this purpose, such simulators with rollers were invented. The result, however, was zero…
Taylor was the first person in the world to cross Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. She did it on her 63rd birthday, and then complained that it was very uncomfortable!
The German airship Hindenburg arrived in the USA on May 6, 1937. Due to a thunderstorm, a fire started on board, which led to an explosion. Of the 97 passengers and crew, 35 were killed, and another person was a victim of the crash on the ground.
The famous Statue of Liberty was donated to the United States by France in 1885. Before taking its place on the pedestal, it underwent many alterations and restorations.
Law enforcement officers found stocks of illegal alcohol in Detroit and poured them into the street. A typical picture of the Prohibition era.
On September 3, 1967, Sweden switched from left-hand traffic to right-hand traffic, and this led to a huge confusion. Traffic jams formed on the roads, but the accident rate decreased, and no one was injured. Interestingly, the metro and trains have not switched to the new system and use left-hand traffic to this day.