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

Photographers have always tried to preserve important moments of life for posterity. Thanks to such people, we have the opportunity to see events that happened relatively recently or a century ago.





A woman measures the length of her hair at a competition. Los Angeles, 1926. Original caption to the photo: OH, LOOK AT THE FUNNY GIRLS! Despite the fashion for short hair, you can still find girls with long hair, like in this photo. Recently, a contest was held in Los Angeles where they were entered among other contenders, and it was won by Genevieve Slade, whose hair was sixty inches long.



In the 1960s, Lufthansa served pork and draft beer on board.

At one time, you could bring a 20-centimeter carving knife on a plane, unattached to a cart in the aisle, available to anyone. And also smoke, drink beer from a wooden barrel, and eat ham.

In 2018, Lufthansa decided to repeat this and business class passengers flying to the Oktoberfest (Beer Festival) could also taste the foamy drink at an altitude of 10,000 meters.





Santa Claus with children during the Croatian War, Vukovar, 1991-1992.

Christmas at war. Santa Claus is armed with a Zastava M76 sniper rifle and a bag of sweets for children. Mirkovci village, Srem region, Republic of Serbian Krajina (today Croatia).



A bed for 4 pennies in a homeless shelter. England, 1900.

Such shelters were given the name "Four Penny Coffin". In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such shelters were used to help needy citizens of England.

In the photo, a man resembling V.I. Lenin is reading a book to a man resembling I.V. Stalin...



A baby is held down for an X-ray at Provident Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, 1942.

Babies are still held down in a similar manner for some types of X-rays, but from the outside it all looks very funny and scary.



Photographer: Jack Delano

At the height of the riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1978.



The Stump House. USA, 1905. Built by immigrant brothers Gustav Lennstrom and Johan Westerlund.

The house was often photographed by wealthy tourists. He appeared on postcards and even on souvenir porcelain. Six people lived in the house, three children and three adults.



The tallest, fattest and shortest man in Europe playing cards, 1913.

The tall man is wearing a chokha. Part of the traditional clothing in the Caucasus, so he could be a Cossack, Georgian, Circassian, etc.



A strongman from the Los Angeles Fire Department holds two of his colleagues with his teeth, 1914.

In those days, people were also ready to do anything for the sake of popularity, just like modern TikTokers.



Animal experiments to study the effects of prolonged upside-down positioning on the body, conducted at a NASA laboratory. Washington, 1958.



A man sits on a stack of tires, Los Angeles, 1928. The gas station belonged to the Mueller brothers, and they were real promoters: they washed an elephant at the car wash, put women on display with advertising posters. In general, they attracted customers by any means necessary.



19-year-old Czech showman Richard Novak, 53 cm tall and weighing 17 kg, plays a trumpet inside another trumpet, 1940.



Famous female stuntwoman Lillian Boyer performs a dangerous stunt, 1920s.

Aerial stuntwoman Lillian Boyer performed wing-walking stunts and changed tires on a flying plane in 1923. All this continued until new safety regulations were introduced on aircraft.



Gymnast Betty Fox jumps rope on a 20-story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, 1955.

Acrobat Betty Fox has been shocking audiences for decades with her spectacular and dangerous stunts at great heights, without any safety equipment.



Chalais-Meudon Wind Tunnel. France, 1935.



A photo from the history of logging in the United States. The Hudson River at Glens Falls, New York, 1902.



Children's races, 1950s.

The popular sporting event was held in New Jersey from 1946 to 1955.



A makeshift crib. Los Angeles, 1971. Police officer Pat Johnson tends to a baby girl, approximately 9 months old, who was found alone and crying in a downtown hotel room. The child had been placed in a filing cabinet to sleep after being fed milk, Jell-O, and cottage cheese. She was later taken to a foster home. The hotel manager had called the police after receiving complaints that the child had been crying for several hours.



Photographer: Cal Montney

An elephant from Earls Court Circus performs the man-in-the-mouth trick, 1928.



The first inflatable push-up bra in France, 1952.

French TV celebrity Jacques Angelvin debuted the new inflatable push-up bra in France. Angelvin was later arrested for drug trafficking.