In 1900s England, a mother-of-four named Mary Ann Bevan developed acromegaly and took up the title of being "the ugliest woman in the world" as a way to provide for her children. This is her tragic story, a reminder of how cruel the world can be. The Wo…
Back in the 19th century, Victorians thought nothing unusual about sending their loved ones bizarre and creepy images with the words “May yours be a joyful Christmas.” From frogs stabbing each other, and insects dancing in the moonlight, to Krampus (a half-…
Throughout the decades, a number of important and interesting sites and landmarks have been lost, many due to the urbanization of cities, sometimes they're torn down due to mounting maintenance costs after falling into disrepair, and sometimes they'll fall pre…
From doll masks to decorated bags over heads to specially crafted outfits, these fascinating and nightmarish photos capture random people donning their Halloween costumes. It has to be said that these vintage photos were taken using much less sensitive came…
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system. Training for an engineering career, he attended …
Medical sciences in the early parts of the 20th century were far advanced from the medieval days of leeches, but still, most of the treatments and medical devices were misguided and often even barbaric by our modern standards. Seeming to mean well, biza…
The Islamic Republic imposes strict rules on Iranian life. This extended photo collection shows Iranian society prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and, it’s obvious that Iran was a very different world. It was also a world that was looking brighter for wo…
History is filled with unusual stories, and sometimes we're lucky enough to see them preserved forever in pictures. In this photo collection, you can see around 45 most unique and bizarre photographs in history. Photographs can give us a window into the p…
William Bullard, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, worked as a photographer without a studio, visiting clients around the town with his camera strapped to his bicycle. From 1897 to 1917, Bullard, who was white, took portraits of his predominantly black …
At the beginning of the 1900s, leisure travel in general was something experienced exclusively by the wealthy and elite population. In the early-to-mid-20th century, trains were steadily a popular way to get around. Through these vintage photos, we can s…
By the early 1900s, household electricity and running water started to become a norm in the Western world. Industrialization brought the evolution of kitchen design to a new era. Factories mass-produced fixtures, ever-more modern appliances, cabinetry, li…
In the next few decades after Wright brothers' first flight, women aviators became increasingly common and attracted an increasing amount of attention, culminating with Amelia Earhart's flights in the 1920s and 1930s. With Earhart's death in 1937, women avi…
The American presidency has put 45 men in power who have been described as everything from noble to despicable. They are known for the wars they fought, the legislation they signed into law, and the scandals they brought to the Oval Office. These interest…
Following the advent of the automobile in the 1890s, motoring grew fashionable among wealthy people. As early cars had no roofs or doors and were driven mostly on dirt roads, motorists needed clothes that could protect them from wind, cold, and dust. Conseq…
The allure of Christmas transcends time, but few eras have captured its true essence quite like the enchanting decades of the 1940s and 1950s. In those post-war years, the festive season was steeped in a kind-hearted spirit and simple joys, creating end…
In the 1930s, make-up legend Max Factor came up with an ingenious invention combining phrenology, cosmetics, and a pseudo-scientific approach to analyze a woman's facial flaws. This is the Beauty Micrometer, a Clockwork Orange-style device that claimed to …
These pictures taken by John Frank Keith depict working-class Philadelphians, individually, and as groups standing on sidewalks, in front of streetscape, and sitting on stoops. Most of his photographs did not identify the subjects. Despite his day job as …
These photos, taken by Eugène Atget, document all of the architecture and street scenes of Paris before their disappearance to modernization. Atget took up photography in the late 1880s and supplied studies for painters, architects, and stage designers.…
These interesting photos, captured by photographer Charles Percy Pickering between 1863 and 1868, illustrate the ability of alcohol to transform a fine upstanding citizen into a staggering wreck. Across the five pictures, an upright, dignified gentleman s…
These vintage advertisements, published in magazines and newspapers from the 1930s to the 1960s show how weight gain was aspired to then as firmly as we today aspire to weight loss. The ads tout scientific ways to "add attractive pounds and inches" (a compl…