32 Rare Historical Photos That Would Be Unthinkable in Today’s World

Historical Photos To Blow Your Mind: New Release!
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Historical Photos That Show A Unique Side Of History
Rose Reilly | More | 17 Nov 2025
If a photo is worth a thousand words, then prepare yourself for an all-encompassing peek into the volumes of history. These photos aren't the normal ones you may have seen in your high school history textbook. They show a different side of history that many people don't get a chance to look at but certainly include some very interesting stories! Check out these historical photos and maybe you'll gain a new perspective on the world.
Nice Wheel
Tim Dunn/Twitter
The Dynasphere was a “monowheel” built in 1932 that could travel up to 25 miles an hour. The monowheel was supposed to replace traditional automotive vehicles. The monowheel was patented in 1930 by J.A. Purves, but it was actually based on a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. While Purves was optimistic about his invention’s prospects, the Dynasphere didn’t succeed.
As a mode of transportation, the vehicle could reduce locomotion to the simplest form, but this “high-speed vehicle of the future” was also impossible to steer or break. The driver could also get thrashed around inside the monowheel like a gerbil. The Dynasphere definitely isn’t taking over anytime soon.
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How’s This for Patriotism?
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Arnold Schwarzenegger/Twitter
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Here’s Arnold Schwarzenegger on the day he received his American citizenship. The Austrian born actor gained international fame as a Hollywood action film icon after his breakthrough film, Conan the Barbarian , released in 1982. He might be best known for his Terminator movies, and he’s appeared in Total Recall , Predato r, The Running Man , and Kindergarten Cop .
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In the early 2000s, Arnold focused his attention on becoming Governor of California. He was first elected to replace Gray Davis in October 2003, and was reelected in 2006. Who knew this buff action movie star end up becoming the Governator one day? USA! USA!
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Space Age
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PaperTronics/Reddit
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Astronaut Charles Duke explored the moon’s surface in a lunar roving vehicle as part of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972, making him the tenth and youngest person to ever walk on the moon. While Duke was there, he shot a (protected) picture of a photo of himself, his wife, and his two sons which on the moon’s surface, where it remains to this day.
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The family photograph had a message written on the back, “This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972.” Because the temperature of the moon goes up to 400 degrees in the area Duke landed, he says it’s probably faded by now.
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Regal Logo
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Jane McDaniel/Pinterest
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This is the photo shoot and sound recording of the MGM lion’s roar. The logo’s official name is Leo, but there have been many lions to portray him over the years: Slats, Jackie, Telly, Coffee, Tanner, George, and another Leo.
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Jackie is shown roaring in the photo above. The lion was trained by Mel Koontz, and though a lion has been used as a logo before, Jackie was the first to roar, heard through a gramophone record for MGM’s first production with sound, White Shadows in the South Seas , released in 1928. Jackie was the lion used from 1928 to 1956.
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Is It Safe? Thanks To "The Arm" It Is Now
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thisisanendtable/SReddit
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You've likely met "the arm" before. It's the classic mom move they've all done to us when a situation seems unsafe. If she's ever braked slightly quicker than usual in traffic you've felt it shoot across your chest to hold you back. "The arm" doesn't care if there's seatbelts or not.
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This mom broke out "the arm" to make this chairlift safe for her daughter and we respect it. Nowadays chair lifts don't always come with seatbelts so this isn't that shocking.
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Wright Brothers
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Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
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Here is a photo of the first-ever powered flight by Orville Wright in 1903. The inaugural flight took place in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The Wright Flyer, often referred to as the 1903 Flyer or Flyer I, was the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft.
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Their trials at Kitty Hawk may have gotten us where we are today, but this early attempt at aviation was a long way from the kind of flying we recognize. The Wright brothers made four brief, low altitude flights, and didn’t attempt any turns. Each flight was bumpy and the landings weren’t exactly intentional. The Flyer I was damaged in their attempts and wasn’t flown again, though the day marked a milestone in the history of aviation.
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Tut’s Tomb
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Susan Hansen/Pinterest
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This is the unbroken seal on Tutankhamun’s (AKA King Tut’s) tomb in Egypt. The tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and Lord Carnavon. It was nearly intact, making it a major archaeological discovery, and it received worldwide press coverage.
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Exhibits of well-preserved artifacts from his tomb have toured the world, but getting them out wasn’t always easy. There were several deaths of people who excavated King Tut’s tomb, which have been popularly attributed to the curse of the pharaohs. A gold coffin, a face mask, thrones, trumpets, food, wine, sandals, archery bows, and more were found inside the tomb.
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Wooden Bathing Suits
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Amanda Glassman/Pinterest
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Here’s one retro trend we don’t think will come back in style: wooden bathing suits. These wooden bathing suits, made in 1929, were worn by the Spruce Girls, who were hired to promote the products of the Gray Harbor lumber industry in Hoquiam, Washington during Wood Week.
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The spruce wood veneer bathing suits were also supposed to make the wearer more buoyant in the water. Since the suits are no longer around for purchase, they must not have done a good job of keeping people afloat. These quirky suits would probably fetch a bundle on eBay, but they can’t possibly be very practical. Think of the splinters alone!
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UFO
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Rayray Clark/Pinterest
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This photograph from Project Blue Book case 24-185-19-7X shows an object over Phoenix in June 1947. Since the photo was just released by the Air Force in 2015, it’s been used by UFO conspiracy theorists at proof that the truth is out there—the truth being aliens, that is.
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Of course, an unidentified flying object is just that—an unidentified object. That doesn’t mean it’s extraterrestrial in origin. Often UFOs are later identified as clouds, balloons, meteors, weather events, bright planets, drones, and known aircrafts. But hey, some people just want to believe that we’re being visited by extraterrestrial life forms.
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Fugitive
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Nadia Alaiyan/YouTube
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This photo, taken in 1939 by Luis Marden, shows a fugitive being dragged back into the United States by border patrol so that he doesn’t escape El Paso, Texas and enter Mexico. Border crossings in the 1930s were commonplace. Prohibition-era bootleggers were common in the city. The Great Depression also saw a rash of crime related to desperation, and since El Paso was an agricultural economy, it was hit before major cities felt the Depression.
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The Rio Grande Rift passes along the southern end of the Franklin Mountains and divides the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez to the south and west.
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Californian Lumberjacks vs. Giant Redwoods
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supplyside/Pinterest
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This photo from the 1950s era shows Canadian lumberjacks cutting down gian…

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