50 Pictures From The Past That Will Give You The Chills

Are you someone who is an avid fan of history? Well then, you should check out these 50 pictures from the past that will give you the chills. There are several events in the past that shaped the way we look at the world today. The number of photos taken in the past gives us insight into how people lived their lives and the tragic events that happened. 

These 50 pictures from the past are pretty interesting as each one has its own little story and will give you the chills once you find out more about each one. So if you are interested in learning more about these 50 pictures from the past that will give you the chills, then check out this gallery, as you will certainly learn something new about the past that you may not have known before. 

Easy Company was the second battalion in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment that was part of the 101st Airborne Division. Also known as the "Screaming Eagles," the U.S. infantry division is considered to be one of the most famous to have fought in the European theater in World War II. 

This picture was taken during the 1930s when the Rockefeller Center was under construction and showed some construction workers enjoying their lunch break 850 feet above the ground. Back then, there weren't any safety harnesses to prevent construction workers from falling off skyscrapers, and you had to be someone who wasn't afraid of heights, as these heights would scare the common person away. 

Not too many people know that Elvis Presley joined the military before he became the "King of Rock." Presley joined the army in 1958 and served his country until 1964 when he was discharged from the Army Reserve. Presley was part of two different armor battalions and was even stationed in Germany for a couple of years. 

This picture from the past shows two lumberjacks cutting down a Sequoia tree located in the Pacific Northwest in 1915. Sequoia trees are also known as Redwood trees and are the tallest trees in the world as you can see from the size of the tree trunk in this picture. It would take several hours or even days to cut down just one of these giant trees. 

This picture from the past shows the interior of Amiens Cathedral during World War I. When the first World War broke out, France was quite surprised by Germany when they started to bomb their cities as it was a new type of warfare that was invented at the time. France ended up losing several cathedrals and other historical monuments as the Germans were bombing anything that they could. 

This picture shows a long line of desperate men looking for work during the Great Depression in America. The Great Depression was an economic crisis that affected the whole world and left many people unemployed during a ten-year period. Almost every sector in the nation was affected by the Great Depression as trade income was cut by fifty percent and unemployment was up by twenty-three percent. 

This is a photo that might give you the chills as it is the first picture that was taken of Juliane Koepcke who survived a plane crash and eleven days in the Amazon rainforest. Koepcke was only seventeen years old at the time when she boarded LANSA Flight 508 which was flying over the Peruvian rainforest. 

This picture from the past shows brave American soldiers storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. The Allied Invasion of Normandy was the largest seaborne invasion in history and was one of the reasons why the Allies won World War II. The Americans were not the only country that participated in the Normandy landings as there were several countries that worked together with the big ones being the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. 

This picture from the past shows an East German soldier risking his life to help a little boy cross over the newly built Berlin Wall as the little boy was separated from his parents. The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 and encircled West Berlin. Once the wall was in place no one was allowed to cross over to the other side. 

The destruction of the Hindenburg was one of the most tragic aviation disasters to happen during the 1930s and is one of the main reasons why hydrogen-filled rigid airships were abandoned. The Hindenburg was the longest and largest airship in the world and was the pride and joy of Nazi Germany.  

This is one of the last pictures of the Titanic before it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and met its end. The RMS Titanic was the largest passenger ship at the time and was built in Liverpool. The Titanic is one of the most famous ships in history as the sinking of the Titanic was the deadliest sinking of a single ship. 

This picture from the past shows Howard Hughes controlling his RC airplane from a remote controller. Howard Hughes was a man of many traits as he was a successful businessman, pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist. Hughes was most known for his inventions in aviation and was the pioneer for many things that we use in aviation today. 

This picture from the past shows a female Lockheed Martin employee riveting an aircraft. Lockheed Martin was one of the first aviation companies to employ females in the early 1940s. Although aviation jobs were mostly done by men, women started to join the force as power tools helped women perform on the same level as men. 

This picture shows the famous Rat Pack in front of the Sandals casino sign in Las Vegas. The Rat Pack consisted of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. There were a couple of members of the group who were known to party with the Rat Pack, such as Humphrey Bogart and even Lauren Bacall. 

On February 23, 1945, this picture was taken of six marines raising the American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima, which has become one of the most iconic photographs of the Pacific theater. The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles fought in the late stages of the Pacific War. 

This picture from the past captures the moment Mount St. Helen erupted, which is located in Skamania County, Washington, and occurred in 1980. A number of volcanic explosions started at Mount St. Helen, which surprised everyone within the region as no one expected the volcano to erupt even though it was known to be active. 

This photograph from the past shows King George VI, who was Duke of York at the time, enjoying himself by sliding down a newly built slide in 1925. This is a rare image of the royal, as you usually don't see him in this setting in his other photographs. 

On Easter Sunday in 1945, Sergeant William E. Thomas and Private First Class Joseph Jackson were preparing some Easter gifts for Hitler and his troops. Soldiers have been writing messages on artillery shells since World War I, and it is still something that is done by soldiers today as it is a way to poke fun at the enemy. 

This photograph from the past shows a milkman during his daily route right after a German bombing raid on a street in London in 1940. This milkman is not deterred from working his job despite the bombs dropping overhead and depicted how strong the will of the British people was during the Blitz of London.

This photograph from the past captured an Ojibwe Native American spearfishing in what is now southern Canada. The Ojibwe tribe was known for being skilled fishermen and was famous for making birchwood canoes which were far superior to canoes other tribes were making. The Ojibwe tribe was also known for copper mining and making maple syrup. 

On June 8, 1958, David Isom decided to cross over the segregation line that was present at an indoor pool in Florida. Isom was only nineteen years old at the time when he crossed the color line and swam in the section where only whites were allowed. 

This photo from the past captures the moment a nuclear bomb exploded in the deserts of Nevada. The Nevada Test Site was just located about 65 miles southeast of the city of Las Vegas, which was created in 1951 and used to test nuclear bombs. The government first dropped a 1-kiloton-of-TNT to test if the site was suitable for nuclear bombs. 

This photograph from the past shows the filming of the original MGM logo, which was captured in 1917. Leo the Lion was the name of the real lion used to film the iconic logo that was used by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio. The idea of the logo was thought of by Paramount Studios' art director Lionel S. Reiss, who made one of the most iconic film studio logos. 

This photograph from 1899 shows Nikola Tesla in his Colorado Springs laboratory while his magnifying transmitter was on. The magnifying transmitter produced an insane amount of high-voltage energy and was one of the many inventions that Tesla created during his life. 

On August 21, 1934, the amazing "Three Jacksons," Jarley Smith, Jewell Waddek, and Jimmy Kerrigan, performed acrobatics on top of the Empire State Building. The three were performing some of the most difficult acrobatic moves one thousand feet above the ground, and there were no safety nets to catch them if they fell. 

This photograph shows the Statue of Liberty under construction in Paris before it was shipped to the United States. The Statue of Liberty was designed by French sculptor and painter Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, which he named the Liberty Enlightening the World. The Statue of Liberty was completed in 1884, and two years later, was dismantled into 350 pieces. 

This photograph was captured in 1967 and shows the remains of Vladimir Komarov, the first man to die in a space flight. Komarov was a dedicated Soviet test pilot that participated in a couple of spaceflights during the early years of the Soviet space program. Although Komarov was medically unfit for spaceflight, he went up to space twice.

This picture from 1910 shows a couple of workers painting the Eiffel Tower at an extreme height with no safety harnesses. People back in the day were made of something else, as they had no fear when it came to heights and working in extreme conditions. 

The photograph from 1939 shows the construction of Mount Rushmore, which began in 1927. It took fourteen years for the construction of Mount Rushmore to be completed. Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of the national memorial, decided to choose George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt to be carved into the mountain. 

This photograph from the past shows Marilyn Monroe on the set of The Seven Year Itch, which was one of the most popular films in which she starred in. Marilyn rose to fame during the 1950s and 1960s as she was a popular singer, actress, and model that would turn heads everywhere she went. Monroe starred in a number of films, such as As Young as You Feel, Monkey Business, Clash by Night, and Don't Bother to Knock. 

This photograph shows the construction of the Hoover Dam, which started in 1931. This was one of the largest construction projects going on at the time as the Great Depression had just started, but despite the economic setback, the builders were able to finish the construction of the Hoover Dam in 1936. 

This rare photograph from the past shows the moment that the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spencer destroyed the German U-boat, U-175. It wasn't easy to destroy a German U-boat as they were not easy to find and they could easily maneuver out of danger's way. 

This photograph from 1945 shows the massive amount of graffiti that was left by the Soviets once they took control of the Reichstag. The Russians planted the Soviet flag on top of the Reichstag in May 1945, which marked the end of World War II in Europe. Since Germany had pushed deep into Russia and killed millions of its civilians and troops, the Russians had a deep resentment for the Germans which led them to graffiti the Reichstag as it was the capital building of Germany. 

This picture from 1923 shows two men testing out the bulletproof vests they invented, and presented, to officials in Washington, D.C. The first bulletproof vest was invented in 1561 by Filippo Negroli, an Italian master armorer that made armor strong enough to withstand gunfire. 

This photograph from the past shows the racetrack that was built on top of the Fiat factory. The factory and racetrack were designed by Italian engineer Giacomo Mattè-Trucco. The factory started being constructed in 1916 and was completed in 1923. This was the first building of this magnitude made out of reinforced concrete. 

This rare historical photo might give you the chills as it shows Niagara Falls during the winter of 1911, which was completely frozen over. The harsh winter of 1911 created a thick sheet of ice that created the amazing snowscape that you see in this photograph. Although the falls were frozen over, the Niagara River was still flowing below fifty feet of ice. 

This photograph from the past shows Helen Keller meeting Charlie Chaplin for the first time. The two met in 1919 at Chaplin's Hollywood Studios on the set of Sunnyside. Although Keller was both deaf and blind, she still wanted to meet the man who was the world's most famous actor. 

This photo from 1933 shows Captain Kahn with the Great Manta that he caught while out fishing off the coast of New Jersey. Kahn was a rich man from New York City that loved to fish with his buddies. When Captian Kahn and a couple of his friends decided to go fishing on a hot August day, they didn't predict what was going to happen to them next. 

This photograph from the past shows two men from the Terra Nova Expedition of 1911 standing in front of an ice grotto. The Terra Nova Expedition was led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who was accompanied by 64 other men, which consisted of mostly skilled scientists and sailors. 

This photo from 1969 shows an aerial view of the music festival Woodstock. Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held from August 15th through the 18th on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York. Around 400,000 people attended the three-day music festival, which featured some of the most popular musicians at the time, such as Richie Havens, Santana, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, and several more legendary musicians. 

This photograph from the past shows the shadow of a Hiroshima resident seated on the Sumitomo bank steps. This resident was enjoying another day in Hiroshima and had no idea that an atomic bomb was about to go off several hundred feet away. The victim was walking with a cane on the steps and was incinerated within seconds, which left a shadow of where they once stood. 

This photograph was taken in the late 1800s from a hot air balloon looking down on the Sphinx before it was excavated. The Sphinx was first excavated by Giovanni Battista Caviglia in 1887. Still, it wasn't until the 1930s that the Egyptian government decided to repair the head of the Sphinx and the rest of the body. 

This photograph from 1895 shows the Granville to Paris Express train after it derailed from its tracks at the Gare Montparnasse in Paris. The accident was caused by the train driver, who realized the train was behind schedule and decided to accelerate to make up time. 

This photograph was taken on December 7, 1941, by a Japanese pilot during the attack on Pearl Harbor. This was the beginning of the surprise attack that resulted in over 2,300 deaths and several American naval ships being destroyed. This marked the beginning of the Americans joining World War II on both fronts and the main reason the American public wanted to go to war. 

This photograph from the past shows a locomotive train on the Southern Pacific Railroad plowing through snow-covered tracks in 1949. The Southern Pacific Railroad started being constructed in 1865 and was one of the main ways to get supplies out to the west. 

This photograph from the early 1900s shows two men carrying a punt gun which was actually used to shoot birds. The punt gun is a huge shotgun that was used to shoot down waterfowl in large numbers. These guns were not intended to be held by one person but would often be mounted onto a boat. 

This historical photo that was captured on May 1, 1947, shows what many call the "most beautiful suicide." Evelyn McHale was the name of the beautiful lady that jumped to her death from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. The picture was taken about four minutes after McHale jumped to her death by photographer Robert Wiles. 

This picture from 1963 shows a navigation hotline in London. Back then, there was no such thing as the internet or GPS devices, so people would have to contact these navigation hotlines if they found that they were lost. Navigation hotlines were used worldwide as it wasn't easy getting around with just paper maps. 

This photograph was taken in 1870 and shows a massive pile of bison skulls ready to be ground up and made into fertilizer. Sadly, bison were nearly extinct when the settlers came west, as they killed over 50 million out of the 60 million. By 1886, only a couple of small herds of bison were located on the Great Plains.