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35 Historical Photos We Rarely Get To See

Roy R. Mar 14, 2023 05:30 PM EDT

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Escape artist Harry Houdini locked up in chains about to take a 30 foot plunge off the Harvard Bridge into the Charles River in Boston, 1908. — Save

Queen Elizabethll had two "hidden" cousins named Nerissa (left) and Katherine Bowes-Lyom (right) who were both born with severe learning disabilities. — Save

17-year-old Juliane Koepcke was sucked out of an airplane after it was struck by lightning in 1971. She fell 2 miles to the ground, was strapped to her seat, and survived 10 days in the Amazon Jungle. — Save

In 1913, 10-year-old Sarah Rector received a land allotment of 160 acres in Oklahoma. The best farming land was reserved for whites, so she was given a barren plot. Oil was discovered there and she became the country's first black millionaire. — Save

When Jim Henson died on May 16, 1990, Disney drew a picture of Mickey Mouse (Disney) consoling Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson Studios) and sent it to the mourners at Henson's studios. — Save

Lips That Touch Liquor Shall Not Touch Ours, c. 1900. — Save

In 1979, more than 100,000 women gathered to protest against the forced use of hijab after the Iranian Revolution, 1979. The protest was held on International Women's Day. — Save

Irena Sender (1910-2008) helped smuggle Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto during WW2, providing them with false identity documents and shelter with willing Polish families or in orphanages and other care facilities, saving those children from the Holocaust. — Save

The world's oldest condom, 1640 AD — Save

Tokyo subway pushers in the 1960s and 1970s. — Save

The Great Blizzard of 1888 was one of the most severe recorded blizzards in American history. The storm paralyzed the East Coast, with snow from 10 to 58 inches (25 to 147 cm) in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. — Save

Rare photo of the Golden Gate Bridge's early construction. — Save

These are the voice actors behind some of the animated characters in the Peanuts gang of Charlie Brown, 1968. — Save

The world's last commercial ocean-going sailing ship - Pamir - rounding Cape Horn, 1949. — Save

Workers assemble President Abraham Lincoln's statue at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, 1920. — Save

Workers for the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company in Michigan prepare for the long ride down into the copper mines to work, 1906. It was the deepest mine in the world until 1915, with a vertical depth of 5,500 feet (1,676 meters). — Save

Hollywood Bowl, 1929. — Save

What is now the fully developed Las Vegas strip, 1952 — Save

An Indian student studying at the University of Madras in Tamil Nadu, 1905. While studying late at night, students use to tie their hairs to a nail in the wall to prevent themselves from falling asleep. — Save

On August 8th 1982 a line drive foul ball hits a four year old boy, Jonathan Keane, in the head at Fenway Park. Jim Rice, realizing in a flash that it would take EMTs too long to arrive and cut through the crowd, sprang from the dugout and scooped up the boy. — Save

Soviet water polo player Petre Kako Mshvenieradze with his grandson, 1990s — Save

Mary Ann Bevan (1874 - 1933) was an English woman who toured the sideshow circuit as "the ugliest woman in the world" after her appearance drastically changed due to developing acromegaly. It leads to excess growth hormone which causes enlargement of the forehead, jaw, and nose. — Save

A woman taking in the scale model for the newly planned World Trade Center, late 1960s. — Save

A Roman era skull found impaled with a large spike. It is currently on display in Bonn, Germany. — Save

Mother and daughter from the Mangbetu tribe, 1930. Limpombo (head elongation) was believed to allow the brain to grow bigger thus increasing intelligence and it was also a sign of beauty. — Save

Japanese Doctor Fukushi Masaichi (1878-1956) was the worlds leading collector of body torn tattoos. — Save

Teddy Roosevelt's diary after his wife and mother died on the same day, 1884 — Save

Boris Karloff has a cup of tea on the set of 'Frankenstein' in 1931. — Save

A giant snowman measuring 17 ft. made by two girls in Aberdeen, Scotland, Jan. 3, 1963. — Save

Fat Men's Club of NY (1904) Members had to be at least 200 pounds, pay a $1 fee to enter and learn a secret handshake and password. — Save

German soldiers crowded around a Christmas tree celebrating Christmas somewhere on the Western Front during World War I. — Save

Portable cabanas for changing on a public beach, New York, 1938. — Save

A restaurant in Bangkok has been continuously cooking and serving from the same soup for over 45 years, a form of "perpetual stew." — Save

Mirror selfie from 1940s — Save

Skeleton of an Archelon ischyros, the largest turtle to have ever lived at the Yale Peabody museum of Natural History, 1902. — Save

Workers of the De Beers mines were X-rayed at the end of every shift before leaving the diamond mines in South Africa. 1954. — Save

Anne Frank pokes her head out of her family's flat in Amsterdam, 1942 — Save

In 2012, a group of Mexican scientists intentionally crashed a Boeing 727 to test which seats had the hect chance of survival — Save

Early trials of mass paratrooper drops included transporting them on top of planes and then sliding off the wings. — Save

The ancient library of Tibet. Only 5% has been translated — Save

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Posted by Roy R. About the author

Roy has been one of the internet's meme tastemakers for more than a decade. He and Phil started Thunder Dungeon in 2012 by posting the stuff they found funny, and it grew into viral photo and video creations, one of the largest meme community apps and one of the best sites for daily meme content. If you've spent any time online, you've probably laughed at one of his memes.

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