30 Historical Photo-Facts from the "Weird History" Community That Will Change How You See the Past (31 photos)

History is made up of many things, but boring certainly isn't one of them. We like to think we're superior to those who came before us, but a quick look into the past proves that life back then was pretty damn cool.







Cyclists sharing a cigarette during the Tour de France, 1920.





When Winston Churchill's wife asked him to go on a diet, he bought a custom bathroom scale designed to understate his weight.



Ancient Egyptians used trained baboons to help catch criminals.



Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell snapped a selfie 60 years before it became a trend.



In the 19th century, women were warned against riding bicycles over fears of developing "bicycle face"—a condition supposedly marked by bulging eyes and a jutting chin.



A toilet bomb mounted on an A-1 Skyraider, 1965.



An ostracon—a pottery shard used in Ancient Greece to write down the names of people nominated for exile. This is where the term "ostracize" comes from.



The Grand Staircase at Europe's oldest palace complex. This site is 4,000 years old. Palace of Knossos, Minoan civilization.



The site where Julius Caesar was assassinated is now a sanctuary for stray cats.



Before the 20th century, young boys were traditionally dressed in pink, while girls wore blue.



The classic dog name Fido comes from the Latin word "fidus," meaning "faithful."



A sword breaker parrying dagger, used in fencing to trap an opponent's blade. Western Europe, 15th–17th centuries.



Hannah Stilley, born in 1746, photographed in 1840. She is believed to be the earliest-born human ever captured on camera.



Sabiha Gökçen of Turkey, one of the world's first female fighter pilots, 1937.



Explorer and geographer Alexander von Humboldt documented a language that had been extinct for 40 years—all thanks to a parrot that still remembered a few words.



A book satchel from medieval Italy that looks like something a heavy metal kid would wear today.



Dogs are banned at Selwyn College, Cambridge, so a staff member's Basset Hound was officially registered as a "very large cat."



Medieval bird-shaped armor on display at Prague Castle.



During the Great Smog of London in 1952, blind people helped guide sighted individuals home through the blinding fog.



During Communion, Catholic priests say the Latin phrase "Hoc est corpus" ("This is my body"), which is believed to be the origin of the term "hocus pocus."



The morning after Prohibition was repealed in the United States, 1933.



The Old Telephone Tower in Stockholm, connecting 5,000 phone lines, 1890.



Hazel Ying Lee, the first Chinese-American woman to fly for the U.S. military as a WASP during World War II.



The man who invented garden gnomes created them in the hope that real gnomes would come over for tea.



Ancient Roman leather shoes made for a child.



A helmet and face-mask visor worn by an elite Ancient Roman cavalry officer.



One of the earliest surviving photographs in history, showing street barricades during the French Revolution of 1848 in Paris.



In 2010, Iran officially banned mullet haircuts.



Tusk swords used on war elephants in India during battle.



A airline ticket reservation system in the pre-computer era, 1945.