50 Extremely Rare And Fascinating Pictures Of People Throughout History I Can Pretty Much Guarantee You’ve Never Heard Of

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50 Extremely Rare And Fascinating Pictures Of People Throughout History I Can Pretty Much Guarantee You’ve Never Heard Of

1.The very first iteration of Ronald McDonald was created by Willard Scott in 1963:

And it was so, so terrifying.

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2.The two people depicted in Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” actually exist. This is what they looked like:

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And, actually, they’re not a couple. It’s the artist’s sister and his dentist.

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3.This is Margaret Gorman, the woman who won the very first Miss America competition in 1921:

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4.This is Stephan Bibrowski, otherwise known as Lionel the Lion-faced Man. Stephan had a condition known as

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that caused hair to grow up to eight inches long all over his body including, obviously, his face:

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He performed for years with Barnum & Bailey and spoke five

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5.This is George Hackenschmidt, the man

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with inventing the bench press:

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Swole folks all over the world, light a candle for Georgy boy.

Pa Images Archive / PA Images via Getty Images

6.This is Conrad Veidt, the man whose performance in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs

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the look of the iconic villain the Joker:

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7.This is Daniel Lambert, a British man who was known as the world’s heaviest person in the 18th century:

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He weighed over 700

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. Legend has it he once fought off a bear single-handedly. I’m serious.

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8.This is Maud Wagner, who is widely believed to be the first female

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tattoo artist in the US:

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9.This is Selma Burke, the woman who designed the portrait of Franklin Roosevelt that’s still on the dime to this day:

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Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo

10.This is John Smith, a Chippewa man who was reported to be

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at the time of his death:

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There’s controversy about whether that’s actually true, of course, but I choose to believe in my man John.

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11.This is Ralph Lincoln, the 11th-generation cousin of Abraham Lincoln:

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Specifically, his third cousin many, many, many times removed.

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12.This is Franz Reichelt sporting a homemade parachute suit that he was confident would save him if he jumped off the Eiffel Tower:

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On Feb. 4, 1912, he gave it a go. It did not

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.

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13.This is Jacques Plante, who in 1959 became the first goalie to ever wear a protective face mask:

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14.In 1964, ****** Gardner, pictured here, set the world record for the longest time without sleeping after staying awake 264 hours:

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Those items next to him are objects he would identify throughout the experiment to show he was still

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.

Don Cravens / Getty Images

15.This is Maurice Tillet, a wrestler who some say the beloved character Shrek was based on:

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Tillet, known as the French Angel, apparently went

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for 18 months in the early 1940s.

AP Photo

16.This man, Gay Jewel, was declared the “world’s heaviest man” in 1899:

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According to the Strand

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, he loved to play the violin and make others laugh.

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17.In 1907, world-class

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Annette Kellerman was arrested for indecency after she wore a bathing suit like this one to Revere Beach in Massachusetts:

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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

18.This is Rumeysa Gelgi, the world’s tallest woman:

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She stands just over 7 feet tall.

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19.This is Valentine Tapley, a man who, in 1860, vowed never to cut his beard again if Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Here’s him in 1896:

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He won fifth place at a world’s longest beard competition that year.

Print Collector / Getty Images

20.This is Albert Woolson, the last surviving Civil War veteran:

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Albert fought for the Union army and died in 1956 at the age of

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Star Tribune Via Getty Images / Star Tribune via Getty Images

21.This is Ham the chimpanzee, the first ape launched into space:

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He was sent up to test cognitive function in space as well as the safety of the rocket and capsule being sent up. Ham’s mission was successful, and he returned to Earth unharmed and a true American hero.

Mct / Tribune News Service via Getty Images

22.This is Charlotte and Marjorie Collyer, a mother and daughter who survived the wreck of the Titanic in 1912:

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Charlotte’s husband and Marjorie’s dad Harvey Collyer died in the wreck. Also lost in the tragedy was the family’s life savings of £5,000

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.

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/ Alamy Stock Photo

23.In 1903, Edward Llewellen (left) made history by breaking the world record and catching the biggest sea bass ever caught off the coast of Catalina Island:

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Niday Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo

24.Here’s Hannes de Jong, the 1970 Pole Sitting World Champion, well, sitting on a pole:

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Yes, the World Pole Sitting Championship was a real thing. In fact, the 1972 winner sat on a pole for 92 hours

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25.This is Chandra Bahadur, the shortest man in recorded history:

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He stood just 21.5 inches tall.

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26.This is Ahmet Ali Çelikten, a man who is generally considered to be one of the first ****** pilots — and perhaps the very

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:

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He first flew for the Ottoman Empire in World War I. His contemporaries included Eugene

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, the first ****** military pilot from the United States.

Aclosund Historic / Alamy Stock Photo

27.This is a wax sculpture of Thomas

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, the man whose 7.5-inch nose was apparently the largest nose in history:

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28.This is Emma Lilian Todd, the first

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to design an airplane:

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That is some contraption.

Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo

29.This is Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls while inside a barrel:

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She was 62 years old at the

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. People going over waterfalls in a barrel fell off real hard. We should bring it back.

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30.This is William Hutchings, one of the last

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American Revolutionary War veterans:

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He was 100 in this picture. Shoutout Bill.

FAY 2018 / Alamy Stock Photo

31.This is Apo Whang-Od, a 106-year-old woman who is quite possibly the oldest tattoo artist on the planet:

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Apo Whang-Od specializes in batok, an ancient form of tattoo artistry from the Philippines. Read more about her

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Picture Alliance / dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

32.This is

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, inventor of the Super Soaker, enjoying his invention:

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Thomas S England / Getty Images

33.This is Mary Ann Bevan, a widow who was given the title of “World’s Ugliest Woman” in 1920:

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After the death of her husband and being diagnosed with a rare disease, Mary Ann joined circus sideshows to support her several children. You can read more about her incredible story

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A. R. Coster / Getty Images

34.This is 455 pound Piet van der Zwaard AKA the “fattest man in

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” in 1955:

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Arie Van Vliet / Getty Images

35.This man, Paul Karason, had his skin turn permanently

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after spending years ingesting colloidal silver:

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He claimed that it cured many of his health

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, including arthritis and acid reflux.

NBC Newswire / NBC Newswire / NBCUniversal via Getty Images

36.This is Robert Wadlow, the tallest man who ever lived:

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Before he died, he measured 8’11” tall.

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37.This is Charles Ponzi, the infamous scammer ponzi schemes got their name from:

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38.This picture, taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839, is generally accepted as the first “selfie”:

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Basically, he probably took the first self-portrait ever. Bob had to sit for 15 minutes to get this

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Robert Cornelius / Getty Images

39.In 1909, pigs finally flew. Icarus the pig (right) went on a short flight with John Moore-Brabazon and finally did the impossible:

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You’ll notice Icarus emanating nothing but positive vibes.

/ Alamy Stock Photo

40.This is Civil War veteran Jacob Miller, a man who was shot right between the eyes and lived for 17 more years:

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41.This is Herman the Cat, a cat who was given the title of expert mouser aboard a US Coast Guard ship during World War II:

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Herman, in addition to other cats aboard ships, was there to catch pests. It was a thing. Folks, do we stan Herman the Cat?

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42.This is Jack the baboon, a South African baboon who worked as a signalman at a railway station in the 1800s. During his almost decade of railway work, Jack never made a single

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:

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He was paid “20 cents a day and half a bottle of beer

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.” RIP, Jack.

Getty

43.This is a picture of 107-year-old Civil War veteran Bill Lundy posing with a fighter jet in 1955:

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To be fair, there’s some

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over Lundy’s service in the Army, but, wow, he must have seen a whole lot in life.

914 collection / Alamy Stock Photo

44.This is what a French beach looked like in 1925:

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Imagine getting home from the beach and finding sand in your dang suit lapels. What a time.

Vintage_Space / Alamy Stock Photo

45.This is the Dynasphere, a giant wheel vehicle invented by Dr. J. A. Purves that could go as a fast as 30 MPH:

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Bring back the Dynasphere, I say. I wanna ride the wheel.

Fox Photos / Getty Images

46.This is Anna M. Jarvis, the inventor of Mother’s Day:

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She would later

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creating the holiday, citing rapant “commercialization” that was ruining the once special day.

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47.This is the Peel P50, designed by Cyril Cannell, the smallest car ever produced:

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It

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“54 inches long, 41 inches wide, and 47 inches tall.”

Central Press / Getty Images

48.This is astronaut Joseph P. Allen IV doing maintenance on a satellite in the middle of the cold, dark void of space:

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49.This is a picture of a meeting of the New York chapter of the “**** Men’s Club” circa 1930:

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According to the photo’s caption, pictured here are “A Rockwitz (312lbs), comedian Eddie Carvey (250lbs), David Burns (475lbs) and F C Kupper (351lbs).” Members had to be at least 200

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to join. Love my big boys.

General Photographic Agency / Getty Images

50.This is beautician Max Factor with his invention, the beauty calibrator, a device

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to show which parts of a woman’s face needed more or less make-up:

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Camerique / Getty Images

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#Extremely #Rare #Fascinating #Pictures #People #History #Pretty #Guarantee #Youve #Heard

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