25 Fascinating Photos That Show The Strange Side of History

11) Out the Window, not Down the Hatch. The men who led the raids during the Prohibition Era were ruthless, as seen in this 1929 raid in Detroit. You of course have to allow for some of the effect being due to a longer exposure time, but either way, that’s a LOT of whisky streaming out the windows!

12) Over the Falls She Goes. At the turn of the century, people were seemingly fascinated with daredevil attempts to survive going over the Niagara Falls. The first woman to do it was Annie Edson Taylor who successfully survived in this custom-built barrel in October of 1901.

13) We’re Moving, Honey! This amazing photo shows a team of nearly thirty horses at the ready to move this large home to a new location. Back in the day, most homes were constructed such they could easily be moved, but it is still a sight to see!

14) Messy-Haired Lincoln. Before Lincoln was President, he was a well-known rabble-rouser in Illinois and D.C. This 1857 portrait was evidently taken after the photographer collected him at a bar and Lincoln refused to straighten his hair. We gotta say, we dig it, Abe!

15) Colorful Flour Sacks. This LIFE magazine photo shows something amazing that happened during the Great Depression. When flour and feed companies realized that women were using their cloth sacks to make dresses for their girls, they swallowed the additional cost and began putting colorful and pretty patterns on the bags themselves. And so they helped clothe a struggling nation!

16) COLLEGE! A group of girls pose during a sleep over at Peace College, Raleigh, NC, c.1910’s. We’ve always been curious about what dorm rooms looked like back then!

17) Downtown Battleship? That’s right, your eyes aren’t deceiving you: in 1917, the Navy built a nearly full-scale battleship in downtown New York City to aid in the recruitment effort that would soon be vital in WWI. The ship had a fully-functioning crew and people came out at all times of the day and night to see the crew perform their duties.

18) The First Ghost Photo? The first potentially authentic ghost photo was taken in 1891 by a young woman named Sybell Corbet while she was visiting the library at the Combermere Abbey in Cheshire, England. You’ll notice the faint outline of a man sitting in the chair in the foreground. Lord Combermere had died a few days earlier in a riding accident and this photo was taken during his funeral when the entire staff was out of the home. It’s enough to make you wonder…

19) Let’s Hit the Road, Ethel! Before companies fully-developed the concept of the mobile home or RV, various handymen and inventors played around with customizing their own versions, as we see here in this amazing photo from 1926.

20) Getting in a Workout on the Titanic. The Titanic aimed to do everything over-the-top and as lavish as possible, and this meant a state of the art gym as well! We don’t often think that people 100 years ago really used gym equipment given how active they were, but this 1912 photo gives a unique glimpse in to what early gyms looked like.

21) The Biggest Horse Ever. This is a photo of “Brooklyn Supreme,” billed in the 1930s as the world’s largest horse. The Belgian Stallion weighed 3200 pounds! Quite an impressive horse! Courtesy: KY Horse Park

22) Risking it All for the Gold. On August 16, 1896, gold was discovered in the Yukon territory of Northwest Canada. Word traveled quickly down through Seattle and San Francisco, and it prompted more than 100,000 people to drop everything and make the migration north. While the trials and tribulations of the Oregon Trail had been well-documented, nothing could prepare the would-be millionaires for the harsh weather and conditions they would soon find. This photo shows the long line of people trekking up what was named the “Golden Stair”.

23) Little Miss Sure-Shots: The members of the 1925 Drexel Institute women’s rifle team. They certainly have some character, don’t they?!

24) No Decency! Two women being arrested in Chicago in 1922 for wearing one-piece bathing suits without the required leg coverings.

25) Dangerous Bike Gang Coming! The Kendall Green Bicycle Club in 1884! Can you imagine riding one of these?!