A selection of photographs from the past that make you wonder (21 photos)

An amazing selection of rare historical photographs that you are unlikely to have seen.





At a junkyard. USA, Pennsylvania, 1941.

In the cemetery you can see two brands of cars: Studebaker and Graham. These two automotive giants were unable to survive the Great Depression and fell into oblivion.



Sparkling wine inspector. Steel mesh masks were used for safety when checking champagne bottles.

This photo, taken in 1933, shows one Amy Peterson, who worked as a “sparkling wine inspector.” It is assumed that the bottles at that time were not so reliable and could explode - the mask, so similar to a fencing mask, protected from fragments. It also protected against the possible flight of a cork, which would also not be pleasant if it got in the face.





"Dancing Divinity" - actress, dancer, singer, Jessie Matthews, 1934.

Matthews was a very famous dancer and singer in Britain during the 1930s. After starring in a series of musicals and films in the mid-1930s, she became famous in the United States, where she received the nickname “Dancing Divinity.”



Cuban king. Congo, 1947.

The Kingdom of Cuba, also known as the Kingdom of Baquba, was located in the southeast of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.



Indian John Smith.

He managed to live in three centuries at once, was born in the 18th century, lived through the entire 19th century and died in the 20th century. It is stated that he lived for about 137 years.

John Smith was married eight times, but apart from a boy he adopted named Tom, he had no children.



Camel in harness

Corner of Leningradskaya and Frunze streets. Samara, 1930.



Photographer: Frank Whitson Fetter

Zulus and their car. South Africa, 1903.



A man in front of a statue of the Temple of Ramses II, 1856.

The statue was carved into the rock during the reign of Ramesses II, c. 1279-1213 BC e.



The last merchant sailing ship Pamir, 1949.

The ship was built in 1905 and carried out commercial trade voyages. In 1957, she was hit by Hurricane Curry off the Azores and sank.



Moonwalk suit, designed by Republic Aviation Corporation, USA, 1960s.



Attraction "Rotor".

The ride was designed by German engineer Ernst Hoffmeister in 1948 and unveiled at Oktoberfest in Germany a year later. The rotation of the barrel created a centrifugal effect. The bottom disappeared from under their feet, and people were pressed against the walls. At the end of the session, the barrel slowed down and gravity returned. They didn't think about safety back then.



Destroyed mangrove forest, 1976.

Consequences of the Vietnam War.



Back treatment with a bear. Romania, 1946.

If you believe the description I found, this is how the vertebrae are realigned or the posture is straightened.



17-year-old Bianca Passarguet from Hamburg dances on wine bottles in a cat costume, 1958.



Brooklyn Supreme - the largest and heaviest horse in the world, 1930.



Preparing for the ball. London, 1860.

A woman waits while workers at a London tailor shop finish assembling the hoops of her crinoline.



Photo of circus performers George Moore (Living Skeleton) and Fred Howe (Fat Man), taken in 1897.



Lumberjacks transport wood. USA, 1919.



Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in history with his parents and siblings, 1935.

Wadlow grew up throughout his short life (he died at 22). When he died, he was 272 cm tall and weighed 199 kg.



The father of American astronautics, Wernher Von Braun, near his brainchild, the Saturn-V rocket.