Rare and crazy historical photos

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Soldiers observing a nuclear explosion in Nevada, 1951.


Tuffi was a female circus elephant that became famous in Germany in 1950 when she jumped from the suspended monorail in Wuppertal into the river below. She survived with minor injuries.


USA soldiers are looking at destroyed H8K Emily on The Gilbert Islands, 1943.


Soldiers in Cambodia, 1970.


Lebanon children armed during the civil war in the late 1970s.


North Africa during World War II in 1943.


A weaponry parade in Moscow in 1965.


Battle rages on in Japan in 1945.


Lebanon soldier armed with a rocket launcher during the civil war in 1976.


Beirut, Lebanon, 1976.


The 1973 Chilean coup d'état in Santiago.


Beirut, Lebanon, 1986.


Female gunmen in The Naval Ordnance Plant, Detroit, Michigan, 1942.


A woman sobbing over her destroyed home in Dessau, Germany, 1945.


Policemen during the Spanish civil war taking cover behind fallen horses in Barcelona, 1936.


Soldiers in gas masks during the civil war in Barcelona, 1936.


Armed women in Madrid, Spain, 1937.


Soldiers riding through France in 1940.


NSFW - A horrific image from the German invasion of Warsaw, Poland, 1939.


USA advertisement during WWII, 1942.


A woman taking a photo against a fake backdrop in Warsaw, Poland, 1946.


NSFW - A Japanese soldier’s skull is propped up on a burned-out Japanese tank by U.S. troops. Fire destroyed the rest of the corpse. Guadalcanal, 1942.


Soldiers walking through a ravaged battlefield in Chateau Wood, Ypres, Belgium, 1917.


Japanese soldiers surrendering to U.S. soldiers, Marshall Islands, 1944.


A US soldier offers his hand to a woman leaving a cave where she had hidden with her child during the battle between Japanese and American forces. Saipan, 1944.


NSFW - PBY Blister Gunner just jumped into the water of Rabaul Harbor to rescue a badly burned Marine pilot who was shot down while bombing the Japanese-held fortress of Rabaul. Since Japanese coastal defense guns were firing at the plane while it was in the water during take-off, this brave young man, after rescuing the pilot, manned his position as machine gunner. He completed this entire heroic act naked.


War rages on in the Western Desert, North Africa, 1942.


VE day from Paris, 1945.


Colon Cemetery in Havana, Cuba is the site of the celebrated 'boneyard', 1902.


Aftermath of a battle at Dieppe, France, 1942


Hitler posing in front of the Eiffel Tower after France's surrender, 1940.


Crows circling corpses in Moscow, 1941.


The Siege of Leningrad in the Soviet Union, 1944.


A scene during World War I in Exermont, France, 1918.


Soldiers preparing for battle in Leningrad, Soviet Union, 1943.


Women being trained to fight in the Spanish civil war in Barcelona, 1937.


Wreckage from the war in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, France, 1944.


Ghastly photo of soldiers during WWI in Argonne Forest, France, 1918.


D-Day in Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, 1944.


Men picking their targets during the civil war in Huesca, Spain, 1936.


A French soldier aiming an anti-aircraft machine gun from a trench at Perthes les Hurlus, eastern France, 1918.


Nazi booth at a radio exhibition. Berlin, 1932.


The battles at Soissons. A captive balloon with its truck, equipped with a motor winch, in June of 1918.


German troops cross a field, 1918.


A Nazi parade in Czechoslovakia, 1938.


Soldiers running from explosions in Stalingrad, 1942.


After a German bombing run in London, 1941.


London in 1940.


The bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1941.


Graffiti covering a building in Berlin, 1945.


Royal Air Force planes being loaded with munitions in France, 1918.


Scene in Mons, Belgium when the Canadian army arrived in 1917 shortly before the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Crowds welcomed the Canadian soldiers who were piped through the streets by Canadian pipers.


Panoramic view of almost totally destroyed town; crude sign reads, "this was Forges", possibly Forges-les-Eaux, 1918.


Toward the end of 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse. The Allies had pushed them out of France during the Hundred Days Offensive, and strikes, mutinies and desertion became rampant. An armistice was negotiated, and hostilities ended on November 11, 1918. Months of negotiation followed, leading to a final Peace Treaty. Here, Allied leaders and officials gather in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles for the signing of the peace Treaty of Versailles in France on June 28, 1919. The peace treaty mandate for Germany, negotiated during the Paris Peace Conference in January, is represented by Allied leaders French premier George Clemenceau, standing, center; U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, seated at left; Italian foreign minister Giorgio Sinnino; and British prime minister Lloyd George.


Soldiers in a field wave their helmets and cheer on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, location unknown.


Americans in the midst of the celebration on the Grand Boulevard on Armistice Day for World War I in Paris, France, on November 11, 1918.


The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, was the occasion for a monster celebration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thousands massed on all sides of the replica of the Statue of Liberty on Broad Street, and cheered unceasingly.


The First Battalion of he 308th Infantry, the famous "Lost Battalion" of the 77th Division's Argonne campaign of the Great War, march up New York's Fifth Avenue just past the Arch of Victory during spring of 1919.


A Marine kisses a woman during a homecoming parade at the end of World War I, in 1919.


Drunken soldiers passed out during the celebration of VE Day in San Francisco, California, 1945.
 
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vietnamese orphans being translated to the usa

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scaping a death train 1945

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george orwell with a dog on spanish civil war ( barcelona 1937)

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extras resting on the set of cleopatra
 
Tuffi was a female circus elephant that became famous in Germany in 1950 when she jumped from the suspended monorail in Wuppertal into the river below. She survived with minor injuries.
Yes, an indeed very famous accident with no actual photo of it ;) So yeah, that's a fake.

The reason why there are no photos is quite simple: all reporting on the elephant were inside the train and people generally didn't take random photos of the monorail.
 
Not so much rare, but kinda crazy considering the scale and construction:
The Crystal Palace, originally constructed in Hyde Park for the 1851 Great Exhibition with 92,000sqm of exhibition space. It was then moved and rebuilt even larger in South London in 1854.
Until it burned down in 1936.
Only the towers at each end were left standing after the fire. Still an important element of Crystal Palace FC's badge (as they and often the whole palace have been throughout the club's history).
 
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The only authenticated photo of Lincoln's body. Any photos taken were destroyed due to outrage, but this one was saved by Stanton who did not have the heart to destroy the last one. It was hidden and later discovered in 1952 by a 14 year old who was looking through some old folders.
 
Three Damascus (Syria) women; lady wearing qabqabs, a Druze, and a peasant, 1873.

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All the below have been colorized, incredible stuff.



Colorized photo of Abraham Lincoln.

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Portrait used to design the penny. President Lincoln meets General McClellan – Antietam, Maryland ca September 1862.

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Times Square 1947.

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Flipping burgers in 1938 (location unknown)

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Albert Einstein, 1921.

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Madison Square Park, NYC, around 1900.

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American poet Walt Whitman, 1868.

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Hindenburg crash, 1937.

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British soldiers returning from the front in 1939.

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Country store in July 1939. Gordonton, North Carolina.

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Mark Twain, circa 1900.

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Clint Eastwood, 1962.

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Red Hawk of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on horseback, 1905.

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Gas station in Washington D.C., 1924.

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Cornell Rowing Team, 1907.

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View from the Capitol in Nashville, 1864.

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Baltimore slums, circa 1938.

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Henry Ford, c. 1919.

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A car crash in Washington D.C., around 1921.

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Newspaper boy Ned Parfett sells copies of the evening paper bearing news of Titanic’s sinking the night before. (April 16, 1912)

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Sergeant George Camblair practicing with a gas mask in a smokescreen – Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 1942.

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Painting WWII propaganda posters, Port Washington, New York – 8 July 1942.

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“The Tall Cowboy”, Ralph E. Madsen with Senator Morris Sheppard, 1919.

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Dancers of the National American Ballet, 20 August 1924.

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Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father and the only surviving member of the Frank family revisiting the attic they spent the war in (May 3, 1960).

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Crowded bunks in the prison camp at Buchenwald, April 16, 1945.

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Weird observation –

men have had facial hair throughout most of history... very few periods where it was the norm to be completely clean-shaven.. I suppose ancient Egypt being one. But really not many others when you think about it, and see the photos.

Just a note, "Ancient Egypt" covers more than 4000 years (which I find completly amazing), so probably there where several facial air styles in all that time.
 
children on the battle of stalingrad

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white house restauration

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sting doing a autograph to gwen stefani 1983

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bonnie and clyde

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miss bmw attacked by a lion on new york 1966

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anti tank dogs on ww2

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kkk being protected by a black cop

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slave market 1864

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miss beatifull eyes contest 1930

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the real amon goeth ( from the schildren list) on plaszow camp

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Bill Mazeroski's World Series-winning walk-off home run captured a fraction of second off the crack of the bat (visible against the sky in the top right). As a result, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Yankees in the bottom of the ninth inning of game seven of the 1960 World Series. This is only one of two walk-off home runs to ever win a World Series and the ONLY one in a game seven.

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Louisville, Kentucky, 1937.

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Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation, 1963.

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Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway, 1880.

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The Horse Wrangler, Bonham, Texas, June, 1910.

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Cowboy, c. 1888, Sturgis, Dakota Territory

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June 12, 1944. Allied Forces at Normandy

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A day's fishing, Palm Beach, Florida. 1894.

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Woman seated at a soda fountain table is pouring alcohol into a cup from a cane, during Prohibition; with a large Coca-Cola advertisement on the wall. (February 13th, 1922)

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Getting around in South Mississippi, July, 1936.

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General William T. Sherman on horseback at Federal Fort No. 7, ca. November, 1864

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Stalin and Churchill in Livadia Palace during the Yalta Conference, February 1945.

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A Stuart light tank, fitted with a hedge cute and heavily sandbagged against ‘panzerfausts’, supports US infantry in the bocage, July, 1944.

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Cherry Blossoms, Washington DC, 1925.

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Russian prisoner captured during The Winter War, circa 1940.

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Houdini steps into a crate at New York Harbor as part of an escape stunt, July 7, 1914.

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Sigmund Freud, circa 1921.

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Children watch as their neighborhood is bombed in Minsk, Belorussia. The bombing was part of Operation Barbarossa. June, 1941.

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This fella has AMAZING old photos of New York City form the 1970s:

Yet more Jersey City fun in the good old days! Looking east to Lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center near the New Jersey Turnpike exit 14B from James Hamil Drive. March 1974. by Andy Blair, on Flickr

Yet more 1970s New York Subway fun as captured by my trusty Kodak Pocket Instamatic in April 1976. Burned out, graffiti covered MTA train in Midtown Manhattan. (and this was the Express train!) by Andy Blair, on Flickr

Strip away all the tall new apartments, stores and condominiums and you have the old Hudson and Manhattan Powerhouse surrounded by abandoned industrial buildings and a lone train making its way through the snow. Jersey City. 1978. by Andy Blair, on Flickr

19th century tenements of Harlem in late afternoon light from Morningside Drive and 118th Street. New York. September 1973 by Andy Blair, on Flickr

Demolition of the Vesey Street walkway over West Steet. The World Trade Center hovers over the scene. Lower Manhattan on a rainy day. Nov 2013 by Andy Blair, on Flickr

Construction view of the original World Trade Center South tower looking northeast. The cast-iron PATH train tube runs between the building and the site's concrete "bathbub" perimeter. Greenwich Street at right, Vesey Street in distance. New York. 1968 by
Andy Blair, on Flickr

Now and Then view: The futuristic new World Trade Center resembling a gleaming monolith from the 23rd century hovers over West Street in 2012...and a link to the same view from the abandoned, crumbling West Side Highway to the Twin Towers in 1974. by Andy Blair, on Flickr
 
Historical? For me, yes, growing up in the streets of London. I absolutely love illegal graffiti.

10 foot high trackside piece, Shepherds Bush, London, Late 90's.
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Northern Line tube train, London, 1999
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ATG Crew, Camden, London 2000's
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Camden Town Tube station, London Christmas Day Graffiti bombing spree, 2006
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I got hundreds more, but I'm guessing you all may not be as blown away by them as me.
 
This thread is truly amazing. Part of me is saddened that we can only see photos back to about the mid 1850's. There's so much incredible history before then...imagine if we could see things like the European renaissance in real pictures, the Crusades, the Islamic golden age, the U.S. Revolutionary War, the Mongols, the Persian Empire, etc etc....shit would be absolutely mindblowing.
 
Some more:


Capt. (Later Maj. Gen.) George A. Custer & Lt. James B. Washington at Fair Oaks, Va., (May 31st, 1862)

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President Abraham Lincoln meeting with General George 'Little Mac' McClellan at Antietam (October 3rd, 1862)

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A Finnish soldier and his dog. (Hämeenlinna, Finland. February 1941.)

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A group of bootblacks gather around an old Civil War veteran in Pennsylvania, 1935

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General Sepp Dietrich, the one-time butcher’s apprentice and beer-hall brawler, commanded the Sixth Panzer Army. He is seen here in a Nuremberg jail cell, awaiting trial for war crimes in late 1945.

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Boxing match aboard the U.S.S. New York (July 3, 1899.)

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Two U.S. soldiers of C Company, 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division seek shelter behind a M-4 Sherman tank at Geich, near Düren, Germany, on 11 December 1944.

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Times Square, D-Day, 1944.

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A group of bootblacks gather around an old Civil War veteran in Pennsylvania, 1935

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This one just blows my mind. I get that there had to be veterans of the civil war at this time but the eras just seem so far away from each other in my mind that it almost doesn't seem possible that this is real.
 
It's truly utterly amazing and astounding how much the colorizing of the old photos really humanizes the scenes. I can't speak for everyone else, but they really make them come to life in an unbelievable way--one can really feel what it's like to be right there at that moment and place in time.
 
I went through this whole thread (took me almost 2 hours lol) looking for Mad Jack Churchill, seems I am going to have to fix the fact that he isn't here yet. So, here goes.
It is the guy at the very front with the sword.
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They say that he has the last confirmed bow kill (confirmed being the key word here, lads)

You're telling me that this commander had went into battle with nothing but a set of bagpipes, a bow & quiver of arrows, & a bloody claymore?! And (almost) nothing could stop him?
 
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