1.
This is the Fat Man nuclear bomb being transported by cart before being dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki:
2.
Speaking of nuclear war, here’s a happy family testing out a fallout shelter during the 1960s:
3.
During the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, some places took the extra step of having children learn in outdoor classrooms. Here is one example from the Netherlands:
4.
Speaking of the Netherlands, during the 1970s, in an effort to save gas and oil, the government banned car use on Sundays for three months. Picnics were had:
5.
This is an image from the Montparnasse derailment in Paris, France, at the end of the 19th century. The train failed to stop at the station and crashed through the building’s wall, falling into the street:
6.
Sweden’s King Charles XII died during a battle in 1718 after being hit in the head by a cannonball. This was the exact uniform he was wearing the day he died:
7.
Here’s a contemporary painting of Charles XII wearing that exact uniform:
8.
You’re probably familiar with the iconic image of astronaut Bruce McCandless’ untethered spacewalk during the 1980s…
9.
Well, have you ever seen it from this angle? Here’s Bruce from the side, with the vast blue Earth to his left:
10.
This is what the capstone on the top of an ancient Egyptian pyramid looked like:
11.
Of course, that picture doesn’t do the stone justice. This is how big it is compared to a person:
12.
That capstone in particular belonged to the ruined black pyramid of Amenemhat III. Here’s what the pyramid looks like today:
13.
This picture, taken in 1882, shows the Statue of Liberty in the early stages of its construction in France:
14.
Here’s a somewhat frightening, somewhat goofy picture of the Statue of Liberty’s face before it was assembled:
15.
This is American fighter pilot Louis Curdes sitting in his plane, “Bad Angel.” He was one of only three pilots to shoot down a plane from each of the Axis powers, which you can see based on the stickers on his plane:
16.
Speaking of which, here’s a group of women factory workers during World War II assembling the transparent noses of airplanes:
17.
Did you know that Paul McCartney almost spent seven years in a Japanese jail? Here he is being arrested in 1980 upon arriving in Japan for a tour after customs workers found a large amount of cannabis in his bag:
18.
Speaking of the Beatles, here’s an employee at the EMI factory running quality control on new copies of Rubber Soul:
19.
This is the Sedan Crater, an enormous hole over three hundred yards wide and one hundred yards deep, created by a 100-kiloton nuclear test in Nevada during the 1960s:
20.
Here’s a group of tourists gazing over the big, giant, nuclear hole:
21.
This is an electric car from 1919 winding its way through the mountains of Washington State. You can see the camera used to take the picture in the bottom right of the image:
22.
This is S. Shapiro and his invention, the Shapson Aquaplane, about to be tested by a very brave young woman:
23.
When the notorious gangster John Dillinger died, many came to pay their respects and disrespects, including numerous women in non-traditional mourning attire:
24.
This is Martin Van Buren Bates and his wife Anna Haining Bates, who may have been the tallest couple of all time. He stood 7’9″ and she was even taller, at 7’11”:
25.
Here’s a “picture” from their wedding:
26.
This is a 16th-century depiction of a zebra based on a secondhand description of the animal:
27.
This is the death mask of Mary, Queen of Scots taken shortly after her execution by beheading. She was killed after being found to have plotted the death of Queen Elizabeth I:
28.
Here’s a painting of Mary from the time period, for reference:
29.
Recently, the brand-new Grand Egyptian Museum opened in Giza. One of the most striking parts of the museum is the enormous statue of Ramesses II that greets visitors upon entering:
30.
This is what the March on Washington looked like from several feet behind Abe Lincoln’s head:
31.
This X-ray, taken by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, is the first X-ray ever:
32.
And, finally, Christmas may be over, but enjoy this photo from 1928 of mistletoe sellers on the streets of Paris: