75 Extremely Rare And Fascinating Pictures I Found Last Month That Will Completely And Totally Change Your Perspective On The World

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06-07-2025

Michelangelo's David is VERY, VERY big:
Very big, indeed.
And even the statue of Honest Abe at the Lincoln Memorial's ears need to be cleaned now and then. Here's what that looks like:
I bet it feels so good.
The Michelin Man not only used to be absolutely terrifying, but he used to run with a gang of several other musically inclined Michelin men:
Chet Baker is shaking.
During World War II, the USS Trigger got close enough to Japan on patrol to take a picture through its periscope of Mount Fuji:
This is from 1943. Fascinating stuff!
This is the cross-section of the 1,300 year-old Mark Twain sequoia tree, cut down in 1892 for display in New York:
The unfortunately maimed tree measured 16 feet across.
Here's that same cross-section with some important dates in the tree's life:
Would love to hear the tree's thoughts on Leif Ericson.
And, for good measure, here's what the stump of old Mark Twain looks like:
RIP.
Last month, a container ship ran aground and almost crashed into a random house in Norway:
THIS is how close it came:
I don't know what's worse: someone honking the horn really loud outside your home or this.
The Pacific Ocean is covers a HUGE portion of the Earth:
Over 30% of Earth is covered in that salty spew.
Tourists in Egypt used to be able to climb on top of the Great Pyramid all willy-nilly:
Let's be thankful there are some stricter rules about visiting the landmark.
This thing is a "road printer," a machine that quite literally PRINTS roads:
So satisfying.
This is how much it cost to give birth at an Indiana hospital in 1956:
Fun fact: It does not cost that little in 2025.
On June 17, 1939, France held its last public execution via guillotine. Here's what the "hysterical" scene looked like:
Apparently, actor Christopher Lee, who you might know as Saruman from The Lord Of The Rings, was in the crowd.
This is what the bathroom from a nuclear missle launch site looks like:
No jokes about bombs being dropped, please.
This is what the inside of a cooling tower looks like:
Would love to play Balatro here.
There's rich... and then there's VERY rich. These two houses show the difference:
Got to think the house on the right is a two fridge household.
This is what sand looks like under a microscope:
Neat!
Before airplanes were pressurized for commercial use, flyers had to wear oxygen masks at higher altitudes:
This picture is from 1939 and taken while 20,000 feet in the air.
These gigantic contraptions are apparently one of the first life preservers ever made:
They're made out of mattresses but something tells me they aren't comfortable.
This is frogman Courtney Brown towing a 55 scale model of the Titanic during the filming of the movie Raise The Titanic:
The movie was, well, about raising the Titanic from the ocean floor. Interestingly enough, because the movie was made in 1980, the wreck of the ship had yet to be found. That's why "the wreck" is in one big piece here.
Here's what the wreck of the model of the wreck of the Titanic looks like today:
Slightly worse than the one in the Atlantic, I'd say.
This is Robert Earl Hughes, the one-time world's heaviest man and his pet dog:
At his heaviest, Robert weighed over 1,000 pounds.
Eleven days in October had to be skipped after the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1582:
A wise person on Reddit hipped the internet to the fact that if you scroll back in your phone long enough, you can see it for yourself.
Here's what gorilla's fingerprint looks like compared to a human's:
Gorillas: they're just like us.
This is what a whole bunch of wind turbines look like from way above:
Like they're floating!
This is a replica of what was apparently the world's largest polar bear, standing tall at 12 feet and weighing over 2,200 pounds:
That, and I don't say this lightly, is one big bear.
This is the crew of the USS Hunchback, taken in Virginia at the end of the Civil War. Unlike the army, the Union's navy was actually integrated:
I think I would have also been the banjo player during the Civil War.
This is a list of the causes of death of everyone who died in London in 1632:
Me, personally? I'm dying from "Planet."
This is what one gram of gold looks like. As of today, this little thing is worth over $109:
Imagine swallowing that. Would feel great.
This awe-inspiring sight is a potato storage facility. That's a five-foot shovel, for reference:
Nature is so beautiful.
This is Robert Wadlow, the tallest man who ever lived, towering above everyone else at 8'11'':
Can you tell which one is him?
This is Dr. James Naismith, the man who invented basketball at the age of 32:
He was a graduate student at Springfield College, tasked with getting young men to be active. Let this be a lesson to you: if you don't invent a sports by the age of 32, you are BLOWING IT.
And here's what is apparently the first EVER basketball team:
Dr. Naismith is there in the suit. Surrounding him is John G. Thompson, Eugene S. Libby, Edwin P. Ruggles, William R. Chase, T. Duncan Patton, Frank Mahan, Finlay G. MacDonald, William H. Davis and Lyman W. Archibald. Now THOSE are some old-timey names. I think the Raptors would hang 1200 on them.
And this picture, from the early 1900s, shows an early basketball game, kneepads and all:
Josh Hart would make that man CRY.
This is a detailed map showing just how far the Mars Opportunity Rover traveled in its 15 years on the planet:
While we're on the subject, this is the first picture Opportunity took on the surface of Mars...
And this is the last:
Well, one of the final few. Goodnight, sweet prince.
This is how some scientists tested the effectiveness football helmets in the 1950s — by banging themselves in the head with a heavy object:
I'd imagine it's always a long, long day at the heavy-object-head-banging factory.
This is what an elephant's tail looks like up-close:
Would love to floss my teeth with one of those strands. Right folks?
This is Diane Stopky, winner of International Posture Queen in 1957, posing with her award-winning spine:
Diane — congrats on the spine.
This is what 1000 shirts stacked on top of each other looks like:
This was the scene aboard the ship The Queen Elizabeth as it brought soldiers back home to New York after World War II ended:
I hate to say it... but imagine having to use the bathroom? Nightmare.
In case you didn't know, braces can do some incredible things:
This post is NOT sponsored by any orthodontists.
Chile is very, very long:
Over 2600 miles, to be exactish.
English has changed a whole lot:
Quiz: Which Version Of English From The Last 1000 Years Are You?
Those black dots you see? They don't exist. It's an optical illusion:
Do not attempt to adjust your phone's settings.
Here's another optical illusion for you. This car is not floating:
Sheesh!
Some pills are just filled with little circles:
It's called a Sitz Marker Study and it's for people with digestive issues. The rings are observed via x-ray as "tiny 'markers' to estimate how fast or slow food/stool travels through the intestines."
Here's what those rings look like in an x-ray:
Yup, that's them all right.
This, in all its glory, is the longest tapeworm ever recovered from a human:
It measured over 28 feet and was probably caused by some sashimi.
Soap technology has come a long, long way:
Some call this "waste reducing," others a joke waiting to happen.
This is what the cross-section of a painter's stir stick looks like after some heavy use:
That's a lot of paint. Would love to chomp right into it.
This is what's underneath the fire hydrants you see on the street:
That fire hydrant could play center for the New York Knicks.
This picture, taken in 1942, shows a New York Times employee creating that day's layout of the Sports page:
"Boy, this Mort Cooper guy can really slang it."
This is selection of prosthetic face parts designed for World War I veterans:
Here's what one of those prosthetics looked like in action:
This is Australian javelin thrower Reg Spiers, best known for literally mailing himself in a big giant box from London to Australia in the 1960s:
Spiers was broke and needed to figure out a way home to his family, so he did what any person would have done: he posted himself.
This is the 5x3x2.5 foot box Spiers mailed himself in:
The journey took over two days. Spiers stuffed himself in the box with some "tinned food, a torch, a blanket and a pillow, plus two plastic bottles - one for water, one for urine." You can read more about the whole ordeal here.
This is what British World War I victory medal looks like:
Too bad there would be another Great War for civilization less than two decades later.
This is the first computer Apple ever developed:
It looks nothing like an apple. Not even like an orange.
This is a Corinthian helmet and the skull that wore it from the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC:
Chilling stuff.
This is the eight-year-old bodybuilder Patricia O'Keefe, carrying a 200-pound man on her back:
For reference: she's 64 pounds, he's 200.
This is what a pick-up truck from 1985 looks like compared to the behemoths that are modern pick-up trucks:
Poor l'il guy.
Owls have big ol' long legs:
Check out the gams on Birdie.
This assortment of nails, buttons, safety pins, and more is the stomach content of a patient with pica, a disorder that causes a strong urge to eat nonfood items:
They were all found inside a patient post-autopsy.
This, in all its glory, is a meeting of the US Board of Tea Experts. They're, well, testing teas for sale in the USA:
Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the old-dudes-tasting-tea party.
Some ladybugs are born without spots:
Not so lucky now, are ya?
In 1918, over 30,000 soldiers came together to make a giant human-shield:
This is what life before the Nintendo Switch was like.
Before exposure times were significantly reduced, people sitting for photographs sometimes used a small device to support their head and ease neck strain:
Need to bring these back.
This is what happens if you put a highlighter in the microwave:
In case you were wondering.
This is what a frozen egg looks like without its shell:
Incredible.
Some grasshoppers are pink! This is due to erythrism, a condition where an animal's coloring is especially red due to excess red pigmentation:
Neat!
High voltage lines are, well, really high voltage. They can even melt concrete if they hit the ground:
That would probably hurt. Probably.
And, finally, this is what Nicolas Cages' father, August Coppola, looked like:
Incredible stuff.