Eerie Photos Not Suitable For All Viewers

By Jack Ripley | March 25, 2023

Portrait of Robert Earl Hughes (1926 - 1958), who was the world's heaviest man, as he pets the family dog, in Fishhook, IL, 1949. 

You’ve heard that a photo is worth a thousand words, but photos like the collection here have stories with so much more to say. These pictures give an insight into what life was like in eras as disparate as the 18th century and the 1970s. You’ll see what life was like for a kid in America during the baby boom, and how the Native people of America lived long before the modern metropolis existed. These rare historical aren’t just informative, they’re a fun look at a time long gone, and maybe a time that you wish you could go back to. Prepare to be astonished and read on!

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(Photo by Robert Natkin/Getty Images)

Robert Earl Hughes, who was the heaviest person in the world during his lifetime, supported himself financially by selling photographs of himself, like this one seen here. He also made guest appearances at carnivals, circuses, and fairs throughout the United States. The Missouri-born Hughes was a fairly average infant until he contracted whooping cough at the age of five months old. It is believed that the whooping cough caused his thyroid gland to rupture, which in turn, led to his tremendous weight gain. At his max, he tipped the scales at 1,071 pounds. Although he died in 1958, he remains the heaviest human on record who was about to walk and not completely bedridden.

Walt Disney takes a final stroll through Disneyland before the gates open in 1955

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Source: Pinterest

On Sunday July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, California, Disneyland opened its gates at 2:30 PM, with an array of sights for families across the country to behold. With five themed lands and 18 attractions, the park was, and still is, a must experience place. At the opening ceremony Walt Disney christened his 160-acre park with these words:

To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past...and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts which have created America... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.