Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic and spiritual advisor to the Romanovs and a highly influential figure in the court of Tsar Nicholas II.
Reportedly, Rasputin’s first assassination attempt occurred in 1914, when the prostitute Khioniya Guseva stabbed him in the gut with a dagger in what was thought to be a mortal wound. Eyewitnesses claim that as Rasputin’s entrails fell from his stomach Guseva shouted, “I’ve killed the antichrist.” Though Rasputin survived the attack, his demeanor changed permanently.
In 1916, the country’s distaste for Rasputin hit an all-time high, and a group of conspirators including Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Prince Felix Yusupov set out to kill him. Using Yusupov’s wife to lure Rasputin to their home, the conspirators fed Rasputin wine and cakes laced with cyanide. Though it was reportedly enough poison to kill five men, Rasputin was unaffected.
Unperturbed, the conspirators continued their attack by beating him repeatedly, then shooting him in the back and causing him to fall to the floor. Yet Rasputin, much like antibiotic-resistant pathogen, still wasn’t dead. According to some, Rasputin jumped up violently, only to be shot several more times. The men then wrapped the body in a sheet or carpet and tossed him into the Neva River.
Rasputin’s body was pulled from the water three days later. Though autopsy reports differ, most attest that he was still alive when thrown into the water and that from the positioning of his body, he had tried to break free before either drowning or dying from hypothermia. The exact cause of death has been debated for decades.
Circus showman and founder P.T. Barnum and his three dwarves, General Tom Thumb, Lavinia Warren and Commodore Nutt, 1800s
Women protesting forced hijab days after the Iranian Revolution, 1979
The date was March 8, International Women’s Day, and the image shows women from all walks of life — nurses, students, mothers — marching, smiling, arms raised in protest. More than 100,000 of them. At the time, Golestan recalls, Iranian people were very “politically charged” and believed change could be effected by demonstrating in the streets. “This time they were disappointed,” she says. “From the next day everybody had to wear the scarf.”
Before the creation of the EPA, New York was one of America’s most polluted cities – 1966
A man selling his new Chrysler for a fraction of its value after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, New York
1924-1929 Chrysler Series 75. MSRP for the base model started around $1600, or $22,590 in todays dollars. He’s asking the equivalent of $1400 for his new $22000 car.
Deadwood, USA 1876
The Clark Doll Experiment, 1939
This was a test done for a Master’s thesis that involved children being presented with 2 dolls, 1 black 1 white. They asked the children which they would play with, which one is nicer/better, etc. The experiment showed a clear preference for the white doll. Some of the actual data is hard to find, but the work was accepted enough that the Supreme Court used it in Brown v Board of Education.
Muhammad Ali prevents a suicide 1981
“Over the next few days, Ali spent over $2,000 getting the man clothes, an apartment and a job. The poor fellow broke down in tears. He couldn’t believe the heavyweight champion was helping him,” Bingham said.”
“He grasped Ali by the hands, tears running down his cheeks, and said: ‘I spent years alone after returning from Vietnam. ‘I became convinced that nobody cares whether I live or die, so I decided I would die – but you changed that for me. You have given me the strength to carry on,’” Bingham claimed.
Ali stayed in touch with the vet for years, Bingham said.
“The champ called him every few months. There’s no doubt that Ali saved his life and helped him get a new start,” he said.
Teenagers at a party in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1947
Chang ‘The Chinese Giant’ with his wife and manager. His height was claimed to be over 8 feet and he was reportedly able to speak between six to ten languages 1871
Vance, a Trapper Boy, 15 years old. Has trapped for several years in a West Va. Coal mine. $.75 a day for 10 hours work. All he does is to open and shut this door: most of the time he sits here idle, waiting for the cars to come. On account of the intense darkness in the mine, the hieroglyphics on the door were not visible until plate was developed. 1908
Luftwaffe bomber crew patched up, apparently shot down in the Leningrad region in 1941.
A Harlem couple wearing raccoon coats with a Cadillac 1932
Al Capone’s FBI criminal record, showing most of his criminal charges were dismissed 1932
Ford Model T assembly line 1920s
President of Chile Salvador Allende moments away from death during military coup at Moneda Palace in Santiago.
William "Bill The Butcher" Poole, the inspiration for the character portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York, 1875.
The anti-foreign, anti-Catholic, and anti-immigrant “Native American” political party was formed in 1843. (At the time, the phrase “Native American” referred to people born in the U.S. and NOT to the indigenous people of the country.) William Poole (the basis for the character “William Cutting” in the movie “Gangs of New York”) was a member of the New York branch of that organization (which was often called the “Know Nothing” Party). He was also the head of his own West Side gang.
The Native Americans used Poole as their chief “enforcer.” As a butcher in real life, Poole (wielding the knife of his trade) could accurately hit a target from 20 feet. He had served an “apprenticeship” with the Bowery Boys, was known to gouge out the eyes of his foes, stood more than six feet and weighed more than 200 pounds.
He, and members of his gang, had special jobs to do for the Nativists on election days: commandeer votes. It is said that they stood outside polling places with bludgeons in their hands. Sometimes they forced people to vote more than once. They sought to elect candidates who would guard against “foreigners” getting jobs they believed should go to native-born Americans.
Julia Child on the set of her TV show ‘The French Chef’, 1963
Wilt Chamberlain demonstrates his reach to Muhammad Ali – 1967
Cabinet ministers lined up for execution after a coup d’état in Liberia, 1980
Adam West donning the cowl on the set of Batman 1966
Exhausted contestants try to keep moving during a grueling dance marathon that began March 31, more than 900 hours earlier, in the Bronx, 1932
Lumberjacks pose by a large Douglas fir ready for felling Oregon 1918
British Airship R33 preparing for launch at an aerodrome in Barlow, Yorkshire. 1919
Butcher shop on Water Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico 1905
Grand Central, New York City 1941
A portrait of a British war veteran and his wife, circa 1855. His medal indicates that he fought in five battles during the Napoleonic Wars
Civil Rights protesters standing up to fire hoses aimed at them by the authorities in Birmingham, Alabama. 1963
In the ’50s black musicians were often limited to small nightclubs. The Mocambo wouldn’t book Ella Fitzgerald until Marilyn Monroe said she would take a front table every night Ella played. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was true to her word.
The last bare-knuckle heavyweight championship fight at Richburg, Mississippi, in which John L. Sullivan (left) defeated Jake Kilrain in 75 rounds. It was one of the first American sporting events to receive national press coverage. 1889
Getting cooled air piped into the car while enjoying a meal at a drive-in restaurant in Houston, Texas 1957
A teenager at an Elvis Presley concert at the Philadelphia Arena on April 6, 1957
Clyde Barrow, of Bonnie & Clyde fame, poses with his car and guns in Joplin, Missouri 1933
Grandmaster Ip Man with his student Bruce Lee practicing Wing Chun during the 1960s
The Beatles step onstage in Tokyo, Japan. 1966
John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States 56 years ago, Jan. 20, 1961. He is pictured here with his wife Jackie Kennedy in the Presidential Box overlooking the crowd during his Inaugural Ball.
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