Every week, I collect what I think are the most fascinating photos from throughout history and share them in a post. What follows is the best of the best, my favorite and most mind-blowing images from the past month, all gathered in one place. Enjoy!
1.
This is a picture of what Las Vegas looked like in the 1800s:
2.
This is what the Brooklyn Bridge looked like while it was under construction:
3.
This is how big a baby kangaroo is when it’s born:
4.
So many people lose their hats at the Hoover Dam that there’s basically a hat graveyard at the bottom:
5.
This is what Mount St. Helens looked like before it erupted in 1980, becoming the deadliest volcanic eruption in US history…
6.
And this is what Mount St. Helens looked like after the 1980 eruption:
7.
Here’s what Paris looked like in the year 1900:
8.
This photo shows the Japanese perspective of Pearl Harbor from an attacking plane during the surprise attack on December 7, 1941:
9.
Before he was James Bond, Sean Connery competed in the Mr. Universe pageant in 1953:
10.
This is a picture of some of Gandhi’s only earthly possessions when he died:
11.
This is Anaka, a gorilla who was born with pink pigmentation on her fingers:
12.
This is what her fingers look like up close:
13.
This picture, taken in 1838 by Louis Daguerre, is the first-ever photo to have a person in it:
14.
Yep, right there in the corner getting their shoes shined:
15.
Speaking of which, this picture of Dorothy Catherine Draper, taken in 1840, is the first photograph of a WOMAN ever:
16.
Here’s Dorothy as a much older woman in 1890:
17.
This is what a modern-day banana looks like next to a wild, predomesticated banana that used to be much more prevalent:
18.
This is what $100 in brand new five dollar bills looks like:
19.
This is a photo of conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, pictured here in the mid-1920s. They spent most of their lives on the sideshow circuit, later suing for emancipation in the 1930s, and eventually working at a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina.
20.
Violet was even briefly engaged to a musician named Maurice Lambert. They could not find a state to issue them a marriage license:
21.
Here’s what the bottom of Manhattan looked like in 1933:
22.
And here’s what that same part of New York City looks like today:
23.
This is what the Grand Canyon looks like from above:
24.
President Woodrow Wilson had notoriously poor dental health. Here you can see a rare photo of him smiling:
25.
This is an actual political cartoon from the early 1900s, warning against the dangers of electricity:
26.
In fact, hotels used to have to put up signs explaining that electricity is safe and not to be feared:
27.
You’re probably familiar with the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground and tipped over off the coast of an Italian island…
28.
Well, did you ever see what it looked like AFTER it was put back upright? Check out the intense damage:
29.
This is Brigadier General J.C. Campbell addressing his men after capturing the bridge in the closing months of World War I:
30.
Speaking of World War I, here’s a photo from years after the war, showing a giant crowd gathering for a moment of silence on the anniversary of the end of the war:
31.
This is one of the last pictures taken of President Harry S. Truman, shortly before his death in 1972:
32.
This is Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, a ruler known, among other things, for his rather large forehead:
33.
“Surely his forehead can’t be that large,” you think. Well, this is what he looked like in real life:
34.
Last week, the massive Category 5 Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica. Here’s an incredible and terrifying shot of what it looked like from inside the eye of the storm:
35.
This is what $1,000,000 in ten dollar bills looks like:
36.
In case you forgot or just want to pretend it doesn’t exist, the clocks go back this weekend. Here’s a scene from one of the first Daylight Saving Time observances, with these helpful folks showing others how it worked:
37.
Hate Daylight Saving Time? You’re not alone. People have been annoyed by it for decades… Just look at these little protesters from the 1960s:
38.
Here’s a young woman dressed as “NIGHT” for Halloween in the early 1900s:
39.
Here are two Union Civil War soldiers messing around in a picture and holding each other’s cigar:
40.
This is what the Maldives looks like from above:
41.
This is Conrad Veidt, the man whose performance in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs inspired the look of the iconic villain the Joker:
42.
This is what one part of the border between Belgium and the Netherlands looks like:
43.
Speaking of which, this picture from 1915 shows what the USA-Mexico border looked like in Arizona over 100 years ago:
44.
This the only picture of Abraham Lincoln’s actual casket. It was lost for almost 100 years and rediscovered in the 1950s:
45.
This, in all its glory, is a scene from a New York City Burger King in 1998. The restaraunt had a bunch of computers set up, free to use:
46.
This is Jacques Plante, who in 1959 became the first goalie to ever wear a protective face mask:
47.
Here’s Jacques BEFORE he donned his game-changing mask:
48.
Redwood trees are really, really, really, really big:
49.
Last week, President Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House to make way for a massive new ballroom. Here’s what the East Wing looked like right after it was constructed in 1902:
50.
And here’s what it looks like today, post-demolition:
51.
The premiere for the classic piece of American cinema Cars was actually held at a NASCAR track:
52.
This is what the world map North Koreans typically use looks like:
53.
Unfortunately, there’s no treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Just a lot of nothing:
54.
And this is what the back of the “Mona Lisa” looks like:
55.
Some telescopes are powerful enough to spot planets DURING the day. Here’s Saturn in the bright light of the afternoon:
56.
This is the 2.7mm Kolibri, the world’s smallest pistol:
57.
This photo from World War I shows a soldier in a tank sending a carrier pigeon out through a specially designed, well, carrier pigeon slot:
58.
This is what the Roman colosseum looked like in the 19th century:
59.
This is what the receipt for an AIRPLANE purchase looks like:
60.
This is what a rat getting an MRI looks like:
61.
Here’s a whole bunch of nurses helping a whole bunch of babies both fight jaundice and get some vitamin D:
62.
This is allegedly a guide for parents on how to translate hippie slang during the 1960s:
63.
This is what a wild peanut growing out of the ground looks like:
64.
This is what economy class on a commercial plane looked like in the 1960s:
65.
This is what the inside of a quarter looks like:
66.
This is what the blowhole on a humpback whale looks like:
67.
This is what a hummingbird egg looks like compared to an ostrich egg:
68.
In some places you can buy BAGS of cooking oil:
70.
And this is what the skeleton of a sunfish looks like:
71.
While we’re talking ‘tons, this is what a penguin’s skeleton looks like:
72.
This is what the Gateway Arch in St Louis looked like while it was under construction:
73.
This is how big the jaw of the largest shark to ever live, the Megalodon, was compared to a modern Great White Shark:
74.
Helmets really, really work:
75.
Artist Gilbert Baker created a mile-long pride flag for the 1994 NYC Pride Parade. This is what it looked like in action:
76.
This is what the face of the Statue Of Liberty looks like from inside:
77.
This is what the inside of a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine looks like:
78.
This is Millvina Dean who, until 2009, was the last living survivor of the Titanic:
79.
Speaking of the Titanic, this is what one of the actual life vests worn that night looks like:
80.
Texas makes Europe look super small:
81.
You’re most likely familiar with Maoi heads on Easter Island…
82.
But did you know that not only are they absolutely massive compared to a person, they also have these stunning, intricate designs on their backs:
83.
This is what a great grey owl looks like compared to its skeleton:
84.
Here’s what one of New York City’s very first double-decker buses looked like:
85.
This is a look at the main drag of the gold rush town of Deadwood, pictured here in 1876 in the Dakota Territory:
86.
Some sections of Grand Central Station are so old (112 years, to be exact) that the footprints of past customers are worn into the floor in front of ticketing booths:
87.
This is a look at how YouTube’s play-bar has evolved throughout the years:
88.
Do you see a car in this picture? There’s one on the left:
89.
Here’s a look at a woman competing in the high jump from all the way back in the 1908 Olympics:
90.
Here’s a photo of a much more recent women’s high jump competition:
91.
This photo shows two women being led off a beach by police in 1922 for violating a law that banned abbreviated bathing suits:
92.
Some of the women being arrested even fought back:
93.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a prototype flying car, meant to well, drive on land and fly in the sky:
94.
In a French deck of playing cards, instead of seeing J, Q, and K, you’ll see V, D, and R:
95.
Speaking of neat photos, check out this aerial show of Edinborough, Scotland from 1920:
96.
This is the first picture of a tornado ever taken:
97.
Pictured in the center is Armi Kuusela, Miss Finland and the winner of the very first Miss Universe pageant in 1952:
98.
Here’s Armi ten years later with a big lamp above her head:
99.
In 2022, NASA’s Curiosity rover captured this strange cylindrical object on the surface of Mars:
100.
And, finally, this is what ordering Pizza Hut online looked like back in 1994:
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