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| 17th century French chastity belt. |
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| A penniless mother hides her face in shame after putting her children up for sale. Chicago, 1948. |
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| Face protector for snow storms – Once sold in Canada |
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| golf |
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| Kapala • Tibetan Skull Cups |
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| Photograph of Mary H. Helgeson surrounded by her actual hair, 1930 |
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| Russian bear hunting armor from the 19th century |
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| Two person Victorian cycle |
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| When 5-year-old May Pierstorff asked to visit her grandmother, her parents had no money to buy a rail ticket. So they mailed her. In 1914, May’s parents proposed mailing her from Grangeville, parcel post to Lewiston, Idaho, 75 miles away. The postmaster found the “package” was under the 50-pound weight limit, so he winked at their plan, classed May as a baby chick, and put 53 cents in stamps on her coat. May rode in the train's mail car and was delivered safely to her grandparents. |
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| Mary Todd Lincoln with the ‘ghost’ of her late husband. Deeply invested in the occult for most of her life, Mary became consumed with contacting Abraham Lincoln after his untimely assassination in 1865. She was constantly holding seances in an attempt to find her husband and in 1869- or thereabouts, as the date is not entirely known- she met William H. Mumler, a well-known ‘spirit photographer’. Mumler agreed to take a picture of Mary and ... |
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| A forgotten profession: In the days before alarm clocks were widely affordable, people like Mary Smith of Brenton Street were employed to rouse sleeping people in the early hours of the morning. They were commonly known as ‘knocker-ups’ or ‘knocker-uppers’. Mrs. Smith was paid sixpence a week to shoot dried peas at market workers’ windows in Limehouse Fields, London. Photograph from Philip Davies’ Lost London: 1870-1945. |
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| Reconstruction of the appearance of Argentavis Magnificens, the biggest & the heaviest bird capable to fly who lived six millions years ago in Argentina. Its wingspan was circa 7 m (22,9 feet), its estimated weight was 70 kg (154 pounds). |
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| "Edward Mordrake was a 19th century English nobleman who had an extra face on the back of his head. According to the story, the extra face could neither eat nor speak, but it could laugh and cry. Edward begged doctors to have his ‘devil twin’ removed, because, supposedly, it whispered horrible things to him at night, but no doctor would attempt it. He committed suicide at the age of 23 by poisoning himself because he could no longer stand having to live with the face on the back of his head." |
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| A New Mexico man’s attempt to create a storybook marriage proposal didn’t exactly go as planned, when his girlfriend swallowed the diamond engagement ring he’d hidden in her milkshake. It took a trip to the hospital and the X-ray, above, for Kaitlin Whipple to believe her boyfriend, Reed Harris’, tale of what happened. After returning from the hospital, Harris had a second chance to propose. She said yes. (Source: New York Daily News) |
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| Date unknown. After parcel post service was introduced in 1913, at least two children were sent by the service. With stamps attached to their clothing, the children rode with railway and city carriers to their destination. The Postmaster General quickly issued a regulation forbidding the sending of children in the mail after hearing of those examples |
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A boy left his bike chained to a tree when he went away to war in 1914. He never returned, leaving the tree no choice but to grow around the bike. Incredible that this bike has been there for 98 years now! |
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| During WWII, soldiers were known to take precious family photos (and Pinup Girl photos) and put them under clear grips on their 1911 pistols - called Sweetheart Grips.Sweetheart Grips | Stukas Over Stalingrad |
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| In May of 2007, a small animal was caught in a rat trap in Mexico. The farmer that caught it drown it out of fear. Researchers have done numerous tests on the creature. It was first thought to be a skinned monkey but the tests proved not only did it have skin but the skin was close to human and reptilian combined. The creature has a large brain cavity which suggests intelligence. The researchers also could not find a DNA match of the creature and have no idea what it is or where it came from. |
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| The fossilized Irish giant from 1895 is over 12 feet tall. The giant was discovered during a mining operation in Antrim, Ireland. This picture is courtesy "the British Strand magazine of December 1895" Height, 12 foot 2 inches; girth of chest, 6 foot 6 inches; length of arms 4 foot 6 inches. There are six toes on the right foot |
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| Boy with device to detect whether he is a "fake cripple" 1934 |
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| In '72, 22 yo Serbian stewardess Vesna Vulovic was working on a Serbian plane when a terrorist's bomb exploded at 33,330 ft, blowing it into several pieces. Vulovic was in the midsection where she stayed for the ENTIRE 33K ft fall to the ground! She was found with a fractured skull, 3 broken vertebrae & 2 broken legs but alive. She spent 27 days in a coma She was semi-paralysed but made a full recovery & remains the world record holder for the highest fall WITHOUT a parachute. |
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| Antique iron spiked dog collar has protective spikes to prevent the wearer's throat from attack by wolves and other wild animals while hunting or guarding flocks. The collar dates from late 17C to early 18C. |
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| Photograph, taken in 1925 of a girl visiting the grave of her twin sister who died in a house fire the year before. Parents of the girl saw her, on many occasions, talking to her sister like she was playing in her room, but no one was there, and they thought it was just part of the grieving process. |
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| RATTLESNAKES!! "When Kate McHale was a young farmer near Greeley CO in the early 1900's, riding out to forage ducks, she dismounted to open a gate and a rattlesnake appeared. She had stumbled into a large den of them. While her 3-year-old son Ernie stayed on the horse, she killed at least 140 rattlesnakes. Kate used some of the skins to make a dress and shoes (now in the Greeley museum). Kate married and divorced six times, and was a taxidermist, farmer, midwife, and bootlegger." Badass... |
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| Italy’s most ghoulish site, this crypt houses thousands of corpses, fully dressed and hung from hooks. The practice began in 1599 when local priests mummified a holy monk and allowed visitors. Soon regular residents of Palermo wanted to be remembered in this fashion. Bodies are arranged by gender and profession; their facial expressions often eerily visible. |
