15 mesmerizing historical photos that instantly transport you to another era (17 photos)

Sometimes, a single random photo can tell us more about a time than a stack of scientific papers. And looking at history through the lens of unique, rare, and iconic photographs is much more interesting.





How did people live in bygone decades? What unconventional methods did security agents use, what did innovators invent, and what made children happy? You'll find the answers in this collection.

1. A new father rejoices at the birth of his baby, USSR, 1977



2. Canberra, the capital of Australia (1926)





In 1926, there wasn't much to see in Canberra. Except, perhaps, the horses. Pictured is the temporary Australian Parliament building. Debates over the construction of a new building dragged on for so long that it wasn't opened until 1981.

3. The Godzilla model used in several scenes of King Kong vs. Godzilla was eventually given to a child (1962)



4. Ham the chimpanzee, strapped in for a space flight, January 31, 1961



Ham later returned safely to Earth. His suborbital flight lasted 16 minutes and 39 seconds.



5. Ladies mountaineering at Salisbury Crags, Edinburgh, circa 1908



6. Dr. Lee Man-yong and his "Analog Mechanical Calculator 3" - South Korea's first analog computer, built from scrap and mechanical debris from the American base in Korea (1964) (g.)



7. Henry Behrens, the world's shortest man at the time, dances with his cat in the doorway of his home in Worthing, England, 1956



8. A security guard walks along US Highway 101, where the hollow iron floats that supported anti-submarine nets to protect US ports during the last war are stacked high, 1953 year



9. Colombian police destroy cocaine after a major operation by dumping it into the sea (photo from Time magazine, February 25, 1985)



10. Henry Ford with the first Ford automobile in 1896 and the ten millionth Ford T-Class in 1924 years



11. An FBI agent in his underwear hands over a million dollars to a hijacker, 1972



On a hot summer day, an airport car, driven by a man in swimming trunks, pulled up to a Delta Airlines DC-8 on the Miami International Airport runway. A passenger in the car, also wearing swimming trunks, exited the car with a heavy blue suitcase under his arm and approached the open fuselage door.

The hijackers lowered a rope and lifted the suitcase, containing $1 million. The men in swimming trunks were FBI agents. The hijackers insisted they be naked to ensure they were unarmed, although one of them later claimed to have hidden a pistol in his trunks anyway. After checking their money, the 86 passengers on the flight from Detroit were released, and the empty plane took off again, bound for North Africa via Boston, where they were joined by another pilot (also wearing swimming trunks), who had experience flying across the Atlantic.

It was July 31, 1972, and it was the second time in a month that hijackers had attempted to reach the Algiers headquarters of the Black Panther Party—at the time the most influential Black movement in the United States. In Algeria, the hijackers recovered a million dollars and, some time later, using fake passports, moved to France, where some of them still live.

12. Coronation procession of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, known as Rama IX, 1950



Rama reigned for 70 years, beginning in 1946, making it the third-longest reign of a sovereign monarch in human history, and amassed an estimated fortune of up to US$30 billion.

13. Sobhuza II, King of Swaziland (now Eswatini), delivers a speech celebrating his country's independence from Britain in 1968.



Crowned in 1899 at just four months of age and reigning until his death in 1982, he was the longest-reigning monarch in history. He had 70 wives and 210 children.

14. Women in masks, Sakhalin, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 1968



15. Goalkeeper Sam Bartram, alone on the field, not yet realizing that the game had been abandoned 15 minutes earlier due to heavy fog, December 25, 1937