14 bizarre historical images

Baby Cage

That child isn’t being punished — she’s in a “portable baby cage,” invented in 1923 so that city babies could get fresh air and sun while their mothers did housework. Future First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt bought one for her daughter Anna. A neighbor threatened to call a child protection agency, which shocked Mrs. Roosevelt. “I thought I was being a very modern mother” she said.

Spray tan vending machine

Before there were tanning parlors, you could spray on a tan at a local vending machine. For just a dime, this 1949 machine would spray you with fake tanning lotion for thirty seconds.

Recruitment Royalty

This sad-looking recruit is the King himself —- Elvis Presley, drafted in 1958. The military offered him a place in Special Services so he could carry on his career as long as he also entertained the troops. Presley’s agent objected because he didn't want the government to be able to get free Presley concerts!

Chasing waterfalls

It was hard to save for retirement before Social Security and IRAs. Mrs. Annie Edison Taylor, a 63-year-old widow, was tired of low paying jobs, and decided to fund her golden years with a spectacular stunt. In 1901, she survived her trip in a barrel with a just a few cuts and bruises, but later said that she would rather walk up to the mouth of loaded cannon than attempt another trip over Niagara Falls.

Most morbid ad ever

Atabrine was the first synthetic form of quinine, used to fight malaria. The US military used it in extensively in the South Pacific during WWII. This sign is near a military hospital in New Guinea, where two-thirds of our troops came down with the disease.

Gas-proof

It may look like an old Sci-Fi movie, but this gas-mask and gas-proof pram were sold in England on the eve of WWII. During the First World War, German forces used poison gas on Allied troops and Britons feared that Hitler might release them on civilian populations

Monkey business

All astronauts get special training, including Ham the Space Chimp, who flew a Mercury mission in 1961. He had been trained by a neuroscientist to push a lever if he saw a blue light flash. Ham lived to the ripe old age of 26, after retiring to the North Carolina zoo in Asheboro.

Deluge of Booze

That’s not a flood — it’s illegal booze being poured out a Detroit window during Prohibition (1920-1933). Detroit was the main center for smuggling liquor from Canada into the United States. When Michigan state police raided a Detroit restaurant suspected of serving liquor, they wound up arresting the Mayor, a Congressman and a local sheriff.

Atomic bomb viewing party

Just another afternoon in the innocent 1950s. with mother and son watching one of the thousands of A-bomb tests that took place in Nevada. Las Vegas took advantage of the explosions to promote tourism, with “atomic cocktails” served at “Dawn Bomb Parties”. As one casino owner later said, “The best thing to happen to Vegas was the Atomic Bomb.”

Scandalous in 1907

This photo might not seem shocking today, but it was the epitome of scandal in 1907. Early women's rights activist Annette Kellerman posed in this fitted, one-piece bathing suit to protest the restrictive clothing of the day. She arrested for indecency because of this picture.

Ronald???

You probably don't think that Ronald McDonald is much of a looker now, but his current incarnation is a definite upgrade from where he started. This is a photo of the original Ronald McDonald in 1963.

Children for sale

The three younger children in this heartbreaking picture were finally reunited in 2013. They all had stories of horrible abuse, both before and after they were sold. One claimed that their mother sold them because she needed bingo money, and because her new boyfriend didn’t like children.

Snowballs did that?!?!

It’s true — colleges used to be much tougher than they are now. These three sophomores were on the losing side of the annual Princeton Freshman-Sophomore snowball fight in 1893.

First plastic surgery

Plastic surgery has come a long way since Walter Yeo received the first “skin flap” surgery after horrible injuries at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Yeo’s surgery not only repaired his face, but gave him new functioning eyelids.