56 Bizarre Photos And The Unknown Stories Behind Them

By | February 9, 2023

Many photos of the past present everything prior to the modern era as stoic and well mannered. The photos collected here turn that concept on its head by showing some of the more candid moments from history that didn’t make it into the history books. Each new picture offers you the opportunity to see something real from the past rather than an oversaturated moment that’s been talked about ad nauseam.

This trip through the most intriguing moments in history will take you behind the scenes of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, one of JFK’s pre-presidency vacations, and you’ll even get to see how Kiss rocker Gene Simmons is around kids. Prepare for adventure behind the scenes of history.

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source: Reddit

Taking a photo in 1860 was nothing like snapping a quick pic on a smart phone today. Photographers couldn’t just pull up portrait mode and start clicking, they had to set up a camera’s aperture and exposure in order to perfectly capture their subjects. The long exposure time that it took to take the photo made it impossible for people to smile - if they did everything would come out blurry.

Early photo technology explains why this couple looks so dour in their photo. It’s likely that they were told to sit still in these positions for as long as necessary to capture the photo. 

A utility pole worker gives artificial respiration to a co-worker after electrical shock, the man survived. (1967)

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Source: Reddit

While electricity powers our homes and pretty much every modern appliance that doesn’t mean that electricity is our friend. This photo of utility worker J.D. Thompson giving mouth-to-mouth to his co-worker Randall G. Champion was taken on July 17, 1967 by Rocco Morabito and became known as “Kiss of Life.” According to Thompson, the day this photo was taken was like any other until his co-worker grabbed a live wire on accident. He told NBC

He got a hold of the hot wire with his four fingers and [the electrical current] came out his – I think it was the left foot. And it blew a hole where it came out his foot.

Morabito, a newspaper photographer at the time, just happened to be in the area and had his camera on him. It’s a good thing he did because he won a Pulitzer Prize for his work.