Albert Einstein with an Albert Einstein puppet.

Albert Einstein with an Albert Einstein puppet.

SS Brigadeführer seconds before his execution.

Dramatic Photo Before Execution: SS Brigadeführer seconds before his execution.

A Native American overlooking the newly completed transcontinental railroad

The Legend of Cliff Young: The 61 Year Old Farmer Who Won the World’s Toughest Race

The Legend of Cliff Young: The 61 Year Old Farmer Who Won the World’s Toughest Race

In 1983 a 61 Year Old Farmer Won a 544 mile endurance race because he ran throughout the night while the younger 'professional' athletes slept

An Unlikely Competitor: Every year, Australia hosts 543.7-mile (875-kilometer) endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. It is considered among the world's most grueling ultra-marathons. The race takes five days to complete and is normally only attempted by world-class athletes who train specially for the event. These athletes are typically less than 30 years old and backed by large companies such as Nike.

In 1983, a man named Cliff Young showed up at the start of this race. Cliff was 61 years old and wore overalls and work boots. To everyone's shock, Cliff wasn't a spectator. He picked up his race number and joined the other runners. The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. They told him, "You're crazy, there's no way you can finish this race." To which he replied, "Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn't afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I'd have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I'd always catch them. I believe I can run this race."

When the race started, the pros quickly left Cliff behind. The crowds and television audience were entertained because Cliff didn't even run properly; he appeared to shuffle. Many even feared for the old farmer's safety.

The Tortoise and the Hare: All of the professional athletes knew that it took about 5 days to finish the race. In order to compete, one had to run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining 6 hours. The thing is, Cliff Young didn't know that! When the morning of the second day came, everyone was in for another surprise. Not only was Cliff still in the race, he had continued jogging all night. Eventually Cliff was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. To everyone's disbelief, he claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping.

Cliff kept running. Each night he came a little closer to the leading pack. By the final night, he had surpassed all of the young, world-class athletes. He was the first competitor to cross the finish line and he set a new course record.

When Cliff was awarded the winning prize of $10,000, he said he didn't know there was a prize and insisted that he did not enter for the money. He ended up giving all of his winnings to several other runners, an act that endeared him to all of Australia.

Continued Inspiration: In the following year, Cliff entered the same race and took 7th place. Not even a displaced hip during the race stopped him.

Cliff came to prominence again in 1997, aged 76, when he attempted to raise money for homeless children by running around Australia's border. He completed 6,520 kilometers of the 16,000-kilometer run before he had to pull out because his only crew member became ill. Cliff Young passed away in 2003 at age 81.

Today, the "Young-shuffle" has been adopted by ultra-marathon runners because it is considered more energy-efficient. At least three champions of the Sydney to Melbourne race have used the shuffle to win the race. Furthermore, during the Sydney to Melbourne race, modern competitors do not sleep. Winning the race requires runners to go all night as well as all day, just like Cliff Young.

Sunset on Mars

Sunset on Mars

The 'Cassowary' can kill people with one strike of their feet

The 'Cassowary' is a huge bird somewhat similar to the Ostrich, that can kill people with one strike of their feet and some experts have claimed it can disembowel a man.

Lincoln Assassination conspirator Lewis Payne in custody, April 1865. Photo credit: Alexander Gardner

Lincoln Assassination conspirator Lewis Payne in custody, April 1865. Photo credit: Alexander Gardner

Adolf Hitler playing with his dog

Adolf Hitler playing with his dog, presumably Blondi, at field headquarters, probably 1943.

SAM ALEXANDER – The man with two faces

SAM ALEXANDER – The man with two faces

Sam Alexander was born a relatively average man. In his early 20’s he was actively pursuing a career in theatre and had been recently promoted at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago when personal disaster struck. Although the details are a little sketchy, Sam was ultimately involved in a huge gasoline explosion that was the result of his own carelessness. While he was able to instinctively save his eyes by raising his arm, he received deep burns around his lips and lower face. Even more unfortunate, his wounds festered and became severely infected. Doctors were forced to remove much of his lower face and lips, practically to the bone. As a result, Sam Alexander was left with a permanent and disturbing teeth-gnashing grimace and a gruesome visage.

Sam spent thirteen months physically recovering from his wounds in a Chicago hospital. His mental scars perhaps ran deeper than his physical ones as he was forced to endure the gasps of new nurses and the lack of eye contact from visiting loved ones. Following his recovery, Sam Alexander was placed in a halfway house, a facility for people with little or no hope of social recovery. However his fortunes changed slightly when a doctor referred him to a prosthetics master and a lifelike mask was cast and created in an effort to fake a normal appearance. In a certain light, the facade was somewhat convincing but extremely limiting and Sam Alexander was still despondent as his saw little chance to earn a livelihood in a society that was appearance driven.

Sam was a driven and ambitious man, which made his confinement all the more unbearable. One morning, as Sam read the paper, he saw an ad for the Pete Kortes Sideshow. The show was touring and was set up close to the halfway house. Same attended the show, introduced himself to Kortes and unmasked to show the ringmaster what he had to offer. Kortes was horrified and hired Sam on the spot. Sam began touring almost immediately and instantly caused a stir.

Billed as ‘The Man with Two Faces’, Sam’s exhibition consisted primarily of a stage monologue detailing his story. Sam was a soft-spoken man with a gentle manner and soothing voice. He so lulled the crowd with his tale of heartbreak that when he revealed his face in a surprising flourish, people screamed and women cried. His showcase was so disturbing that Kortes made Sam the Blow Off attraction, an extra attraction patrons had to pay a premium to see and he was sincerely billed as ‘not for the weak of heart’.At more than one venue, Sam Alexander was paid not to perform.

Sam Alexander was soon in demand. During his career he joined the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey show, the Clyde Beatty Circus and worked for venerable showman Ward Hall from 1960 to 1967. Sam Alexander eventually even created and ran his own sideshow and was ultimately responsible for rescuing the legendary Schlitzie the Pinhead from institutionalized life.

Despite it eventually becoming his livelihood, Sam Alexander endured seventy-two operations in his lifetime in the effort to restore his damaged face. While the operations were never quite completely successful, Sam eventually retired his mask regardless of the patchwork appearance his face bore. Sam was a man without a prejudice or bitter bone in his body and he was determined to live the last years of his life as himself – without hiding behind a mask.

Sam Alexander passed away in 1997 and today is remembered fondly by all who knew him as a man with a kind heart and a face to match.

In 1945, a B25 bomber flew into Empire State Building

In 1945, a B25 bomber flew into Empire State Building

The B-25 Empire State Building crash was a 1945 aircraft accident in which a B-25 Mitchell piloted in thick fog crashed into the Empire State Building. The accident did not compromise the building's structural integrity, but it did cause fourteen deaths (three crewmen and eleven people in the building) and damage estimated at $1,000,000 ($13,000,000 current dollar adjustment).

Details: On Saturday, July 28, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith, Jr. was piloting a B-25 Mitchell bomber on a routine personnel transport mission from Bedford Army Air Field to Newark Airport. Smith asked for clearance to land, but was advised of zero visibility. Proceeding anyway, he became disoriented by the fog, and started turning right instead of left after passing the Chrysler Building.

At 9:40 a.m., the plane crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 78th and 80th floors, carving an 18 ft (5.5 m) x 20 ft (6.1 m) hole in the building where the offices of the National Catholic Welfare Council were located. One engine shot through the side opposite the impact and flew as far as the next block, landing on the roof of a nearby building and starting a fire that destroyed a penthouse. The other engine and part of the landing gear plummeted down an elevator shaft. The resulting fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. It is still the only fire at such a height that has ever been successfully controlled.

Fourteen people were killed: Smith, the two others aboard the bomber (Staff Sergeant Christopher Domitrovich and Albert Perna, a Navy aviation machinist's mate hitching a ride), and eleven people in the building. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver was injured. Rescuers decided to transport her on an elevator which they did not know had weakened cables. She survived a plunge of 75 stories, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall.

Despite the damage and loss of life, the building was open for business on many floors on the following Monday. The crash helped spur the passage of the long-pending Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946, as well as the insertion of retroactive provisions into the law, allowing people to sue the government for the accident.

a firefighter sharing his water with an injured koala captured hearts around the world.

When wildfires swept across Australia in February 2009, this photo of a firefighter sharing his water with an injured koala captured hearts around the world. The koala later died — not of fire-related injuries, but of chlamydia. Koalas in Australia are suffering from an epidemic of chlamydia, says Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz. "There's no such thing as safe sex in the wild."

The Last Photograph of an Astronaut on the Surface of the Moon

The Last Photograph of an Astronaut on the Surface of the Moon. Jack Schmitt, LMP of Apollo 17, 12:40 a.m. December 14, 1972.

Charlie Chaplin looks though a movie camera on April 22, 1935

Actor Charlie Chaplin looks though a movie camera on April 22, 1935. He was directing, as well as acting in, a comedy tentatively titled Production No. 5.

In 1934 a 5,000 lb. manta ray was caught.

In 1934 a 5,000 lb. manta ray was caught. Usually large specimens are 3,000 lbs.

A GIANT Manta Devil Fish became entangled in the anchor and anchor rope of Captain A. L. Kahn’s fishing boat while he was angling just off the shore of New Jersey, almost capsizing the heavy boat. A Coast Guard vessel came to the rescue, and killed the 5,000-pound monster Manta Birostris with 22 shots from a high-powered rifle. The sail-like fish has been mounted and placed on exhibition by Captain Kahn.

An 18-inch baby Manta was born shortly after the mother fish was dragged ashore. These huge ray fish are seldom seen, since they live in the deepest parts of the sea.

Saigon Execution: The real story behind Eddie Adams’ iconic Vietnam War photo, 1968

Saigon Execution: The real story behind Eddie Adams’ iconic Vietnam War photo, 1968

This is one of the most infamous photographs ever taken. The photographer Eddie Adams would later regret being on the scene at the time, because his photograph would go on to destroy the lives of the gunman and his family. He is Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, a Major General in the South Vietnamese Army, and the National Chief of Police.What you don’t see in the photograph is the reason Loan was executing the prisoner.

That man is believed to be Nguyễn Văn Lém, a local Viet Cong officer who had been operating a gang of murderers bent on killing all the local police officers in that area of Saigon. He was responsible for arranging the drive-by shootings or hit-and-runs of dozens of policemen—and if they themselves could not be attacked, he targeted and murdered their families instead.So when he was finally caught and brought before Loan, the Chief of Police calmly unholstered his revolver and shot Lém in the temple, killing him instantly. Adams had no idea what he was about to photograph. He claimed that this picture destroyed all American pro-war sentiment.

The Kiss of Life by Rocco Morabito, 1967

The Kiss of Life by Rocco Morabito, 1967

This 1967 award-winning photo entitled "Kiss of Life" photo shows two power linemen, Randall Champion and J. D. Thompson, at the top of a utility pole. They had been performing routine maintenance when Champion brushed one of the high voltage lines at the very top. These are the lines that can be heard “singing” with electricity. Over 4000 volts entered Champion’s body and instantly stopped his heart (an electric chair uses about 2000 volts).

His safety harness prevented a fall, and Thompson, who had been ascending below him, quickly reached him and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was unable to perform CPR given the circumstances, but continued breathing into Champion’s lungs until he felt a slight pulse, then unbuckled his harness and descended with him on his shoulder. Thompson and another worker administered CPR on the ground, and Champion was moderately revived by the time paramedics arrived. Champion survived and lived until 2002, when he died of heart failure at the age of 64. Thompson is still living. The photograph was published in newspapers around the world.

Adolf Hitler with Helga Goebbels, his favourite little girl. ca.1930's.

Olympic rower named Henry Pearce stopped mid-race to allow ducklings to pass by him and he still won the race

An Olympic rower named Henry Pearce stopped mid-race to allow ducklings to pass by him and he still won the race

In his quarter-final, against Frenchman V. Savrin, Pearce not only set an Olympic record of 7 min 42.8 seconds, but, according to one Dutch newspaper, he also won the goodwill of the children of Amsterdam. He did this with one spontaneous gesture of grace under pressure: he pulled up mid-race to allow a duck, followed by a small flotilla of ducklings, to cross the course, to the delight of the onlookers, mostly children.

Pearce caught the Frenchman to win that race easily, and won the semi-final against Theodore Collett, of Great Britain, by four lengths without much effort. In the final, he was matched against the undefeated American Kenneth Myers, whom he beat by four lengths to set another Olympic record of 7:11.0 seconds. That record stood for 44 years, until the Soviet Union's Yuri Malishev took less than one tenth of a second off it in Munich 1972. Pearce was not really pressed in any of his five races, and his deceptively relaxed stroking style game him an air of easy invincibility. Thanks to his large winning margins and his behaviour in the episode of the ducklings, his was one of the more popular victories in Amsterdam.

Later life: During World War II, Pearce joined the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, and was made a lieutenant in charge of training new soldiers. He also did public relations work for the Royal Canadian Navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander by his retirement in 1956. He then resumed his work as a liquor salesman, and in 1972 became a Canadian citizen. Pearce died in Toronto of a heart attack in 1976, at the age of 70. He was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1952 and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986. He is also an inductee of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

The Battle of Los Angeles, 1942

The Battle of Los Angeles, 1942 

On February 24, 1942 in Los Angeles, the air raid sirens began to go off. Many believed that the United States is experiencing another attack from Japan and we were ready to go. A complete blackout was fired as the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade unloaded 1400 12.8lb anti-aircraft shells at a mysterious object floating in the night sky. The bombardment went on for a full hour with the “all-clear” being given at 7:21am.

The media went crazy after the incident, and it became front-page news. What could possibly remain in the night sky with multiple spotlights on it soaking up 1,400 rounds of anti-aircraft munitions over the course of an hour? A weather balloon of course! Well that’s what the government said when questioned about the incident. The missiles killed four to five civilians, and three people died of stress-induced heart attacks. The craft then moved over the state, hovering at certain times while it was being fired at. Some described it as one large object and others as multiple small objects. Regardless, there was something mysterious over the city of Los Angeles that night that, to this day, defies explanation.

Image Description: Page B of the February 26, 1942, Los Angeles Times, showing the coverage of the so-called Battle of Los Angeles and its aftermath (lots of articles on people finding dud shells, unexploded ordnance, etc.)

Boeing 777 crash-landed at San Francisco airport on Saturday.

At least two people were reported to have died and more than 60 injured after a Boeing 777 crash-landed at San Francisco airport on Saturday.

Ondine's Curse: The boy who could die if he falls asleep

Ondine's Curse: The boy who could die if he falls asleep

When Liam Derbyshire lays himself down to sleep, he might pray the Lord his soul to keep. Without the help of a life-support machine to sustain his breathing, the 14-year-old boy might really die before he wakes.

During the day, the 14-year-old can consciously inhale and exhale, but at night, when consciousness fades away, his breathing stops. Liam, who lives in Britain, has Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS) or Ondine's Curse -- a potentially fatal and incurable disorder that affects only about 300 children worldwide. "When Liam goes to sleep, his brain forgets to tell his lungs to breathe," said Dr Gary Connett, a pediatrican and respiratory consultant from Southhampton General Hospital, who has treated the boy since infancy. The boy already has outlived all medical expectations. His parents, who live in the town of Gosport, Hampshire, were told Liam wouldn't live beyond six weeks.

"'Every day the doctors are amazed at how fit he is," said his mother, Kim Derbyshire. "He has defied all the odds."

"We have been very fortunate with Liam that he has had the life that he's got," she told the Portsmouth News, which first reported the story. "We always wanted him to have as normal a life as we could give him. He's exceeded all expectations."

Plugged in to a life support machine at night to stay alive, the boy also carries a battery-operated ventilator in case he falls asleep in the car or on a plane. The family has spent thousands of dollars on electricity bills and even has installed emergency equipment in case of a power outage. So far, all his care has been covered by Britain's National Health Service.

"But the human costs in terms of commitment to getting him home and managing him have been enormous," said Connett.

"It's an amazing story, and he is fortunate to have lived this long," said Dr. Ramon Cuevas, a pediatrician and assistant professor of neurology at Vanderbilt University's Children's Hospital.

"This is a very rare condition, and I have only seen one case of it," he said. "Only in one in a couple hundred thousand kids are diagnosed with it."

Cuevas' patient died at the age of 4.

CCHS is a rare disorder of respiratory control of the autonomic nervous system caused by a mutation in the PHOX2B gene, according to the National Organization of Rare Diseases (NORD).

In addition to breathing, that unconscious system regulates involuntary body functions including heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and body and bladder control. Lungs and airways are normal, and daytime breathing, which can be controlled through the conscious part of the brain or cortex, is generally unaffected.

The disorder often is called by its more dramatic name -- Ondine's Curse, named for the epic German nymph who falls in love with a mortal. He swears that his daily breath is a testimony to her love. But when the man is unfaithful, the king punishes him by making him remember all his bodily functions.

When the mortal falls asleep he forgets to breathe and dies.

Abandoned boy holding a stuffed toy animal. London 1945. Photo by Toni Frissell.

LIONEL – The Lion Faced Boy

LIONEL – The Lion Faced Boy

Stefan Bibrowski was born in 1890 in Warsaw. He was discovered by a unknown German showman at the age of four and, with the permission of his parents, he began his exhibition career in 1895. He was given the name Lionel The Lion-Faced Boy and a back story involving his mother witnessing his father being eaten by a lion was added to his biography. This was cited as the cause of his four inch long fur and the concept – know as imprinting – was a commonly held belief in the 1800′s.

He did indeed have hypertrichosis and by all accounts was a very intelligent man who spoke at least five languages and had aspirations of being a dentist. Physically he was not an imposing figure as his official height was only five feet, three inches. Also, as is common with many forms of hypertrichosis, Lionel only had a couple of teeth in his mouth.

Lionel toured mostly in Europe but he did do several American tours – almost always with Barnum & Bailey Shows and once with Coney Island Dreamland Circus in New Jersey. He actually truly enjoyed the opportunities provided by his unusual hairiness. In fact, in 1904 in New York, the hotel he was staying at caught fire and Lionel was the very first man out. He was terrified of having his furry faced singed. He was quoted as stating if that happened he ‘would just be an ordinary man’.

Shortly after becoming a German citizen in 1932, Lionel passed away. He had no wife and or children on record. According to some reports he died in Italy and according to others, he died in a Nazi concentration camp – despite being a Catholic.

Wikipedia: Stephan Bibrowski (1891–1932), better known as Lionel the Lion-faced Man, was a famous sideshow performer. His whole body was covered with long hair that gave him the appearance of a lion; this was likely due to a rare condition called hypertrichosis.

Bibrowski was born in 1891 in Bielsk near Plock in Poland with one-inch hair covering his body. His mother blamed the condition on the mauling of his father by a lion, which she witnessed while pregnant with Stephan. She considered Stephan an abomination and gave him up to a German impresario named Sedlmayer when he was four. Sedlmayer gave him his stage name and started exhibiting him around Europe.

By the time he was put on exhibit, Lionel's hair had grown to eight inches (20 cm) on his face and hung about four inches (10 cm) everywhere else. His body was almost entirely covered with hair, the only exceptions being the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. In 1901, Lionel traveled to the United States and started appearing with the Barnum and Bailey Circus. He toured with the circus from then on, occasionally going back to Europe.

In his act, Lionel performed gymnastic tricks, and also spoke to people to show his gentle side that sharply contrasted with his appearance. He was known to be a perfect gentleman, and always impeccably dressed. He was also well-educated and spoke five languages. He settled down permanently in the US in 1920, as he became a popular attraction. He moved to New York City and was a fixture at Coney Island for a while.

By the late 1920s, Lionel retired from his sideshow career and moved back to Germany. He was reported to have died in Berlin from a heart attack in 1932 at the age of 41. Images of Lionel are often confused with those of Jo-Jo and for decades images of the two were interchangable and few realized the men where two individuals.

young Arnold Schwarzenegger and Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali

Once Muhammad Ali, being refused a hamburger and told, "We don't serve Negroes", replied, "That's OK. I don't eat 'em."

Lost Cosmonauts: Sochi Six

Lost Cosmonauts: Sochi Six

At the end of World War II, the United States and Soviet Union captured a large collection of German secrets, including information on a German rocket program. The technology sparked the Space Race (1957-1975) between the United States and the Soviet Union. In each country, a select group of individuals were chosen as the first astronauts. In most cases, these people were kept secret from the public. A good example is the Russian born astronaut Grigori Nelyubov. Little is known about Nelyubov, but he was likely the third or fourth person to travel into space before his dismissal from the Soviet space program in April, 1963, for disorderly conduct.

Following his dismissal, all information regarding Nelyubov’s life was stricken from the Soviet record. Grigori Nelyubov’s image was removed from a collection of famous photographs, including the Sochi Six picture, which shows the top members of the original class of Soviet cosmonauts. This airbrushing has led to a large collection of conspiracy theories regarding lost cosmonauts and unreported space flight. In 1966, Nelyubov committed suicide. From 1961 to 1972, at least eight former Russian cosmonauts are known to have died. The Sochi Six picture was officially released in the 1970s and the deception was only discovered after Russian news managers lost track of which versions of the picture they had already published. The fakery has caused some to label the Soviet Union’s string of space triumphs over the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s as a series of falsifications. I have included the original Sochi Six photograph before Nelyubov was removed. He is the tallest man in the picture.