Have you ever seen something that is just too hard to believe? Maybe a flying saucer in the sky or a fairy flying around in your backyard? Well, these things were captured on film and there exist pictures that prove that these impossible things exist in reality. Take a gander at them and feel your mind take off into another world.

Maureen

Maureen earned her crust as a member of the Robert Brothers Circus in Britain. And in case it’s escaped your notice, she was an elephant. In this stunt from 1979, it looks like she’s attempting to make a getaway aboard a London bus. But apparently, the conductress told Maureen that there wasn’t enough room.

The Cyclomer

It has the appearance of a bicycle, but one that’s gone seriously wrong. What we’re looking at here was called a cyclomer, and it was invented to solve an intractable problem: how can you cycle on water? Whether this thing worked or not, it seemingly disappeared without a trace after it was launched in Paris back in 1932.

The Cottingley Fairies

To the delight and intrigue of the British public, Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published this apparent photograph of fairies in flight in the early 20th century. In the image, Frances Griffiths plays with the fairies, while her cousin Elsie Wright was behind the camera. Disappointingly, albeit unsurprisingly, the image was later exposed as a fake. It was the 1980s when Griffiths and Wright admitted that they’d mounted the “fairies” — which were drawn on paper — on hat pins.

Black Knight

This photograph of an alien satellite was taken from NASA’s Endeavour space shuttle, which was on its first flight to the International Space Station in December 1998. “Hang on a minute,” we hear you say. “Does this image really show an alien satellite?” Well, it does if you’re one of the avid conspiracists who even gave the item a name: the Black Knight. Others may well have their doubts. NASA said it was simply space debris. You decide.

Stupendous sweet potatoes

The good news is that this farmer has just harvested perhaps the largest sweet potatoes ever seen. The bad news is that the weight of these extraordinary root vegetables has busted his wagon. Let’s hope the price he got at the market for these behemoths was high enough for him to afford a new cart.

Man or Peacock?

You’d be forgiven for wondering why this man has decided to dress up like a peacock, complete with a splendid display of flamboyant tail feathers. But there’s an explanation. The year is 1926, and the location is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The occasion is the city’s annual Mummers Parade, held on New Year’s Day, which accounts for Francis Patameda’s extravagant costume.

Spirits

The man in this picture is an English vicar and he’s accompanied by two spirits. Apparently, with the help of spiritualist William Hope, the clergyman was trying to get in touch with his stillborn child. The image appears to show two apparitions. The one with a recognizable face was apparently the cleric’s late father. Even after Hope was exposed as a charlatan who utilized multiple exposure methods in his photographs, he continued to ply his paranormal trade.

Horse Diving

Why was this horse jumping off a platform into the water? It’s hard to believe that this was a voluntary action by the animal. The fact that photographer John Margolies captured the image at Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, gives a clue as to what was going on here in 1978: the horse is performing for the amusement of an audience. We’d like to think that nearly five decades later, such a spectacle wouldn’t happen.

Chaos in Stockholm

Think of Sweden and you’re likely to envision a well-ordered Scandinavian country that spurns anarchy and disorder. Yet this picture shows a scene from Kungsgatan, a street in the nation’s capital of Stockholm, one morning in September 1967. As you can see, the traffic has descended into total chaos. And that’s because, on this day, traffic throughout Sweden began to drive on the right after decades of driving on the left.

Masked beauty

Eleven women stand in a row. Two men and another woman look on, wielding pens and notebooks. But what catches the eye are the white bags over the women’s heads. Are these a precaution against disease? Or a sign of some kind of weird cult? Neither. It’s 1951, and a beautiful leg contest is in progress at the Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey. The women are partly concealed so that physical qualities other than their legs won’t bias the judges.

Dalí Atomics

Cats, a chair, water, and the artist Salvador Dalí fly through the air. What’s going on? The photographer in 1948 was Philippe Halsman. Apparently, in order to achieve the desired effect for this image entitled Dalí Atomics, the artist and the photographer required 28 attempts. So, what does it all mean? Your guess is as good as ours.

Sneeuwstormbeschermer

Obviously, face coverings have been a big thing in recent times, but we haven’t seen any that look quite like the ones worn by these two women in Montreal, Canada, in 1939. These masks are supposed to provide protection from driving blizzards. The photographs are from the National Archive of the Netherlands, with the Dutch word for this type of facial equipment being sneeuwstormbeschermer.

High-speed Hornet

Why is this jet fighter emerging from what looks like a large lump of cotton candy hanging in the sky? Seems a fair question. We’re looking at a F/A-18C Hornet flying off the South Korean city of Pusan. It’s going very fast, actually breaking the sound barrier. According to NASA, “The origin of this cloud is still debated.” And if NASA doesn’t have a definite answer, then neither do we.

Giant tubas?

What on earth do we have here? Giant musical instruments? Well, no. These bizarre things are actually hearing devices, designed by the Japanese before the outbreak of World War II. One of the figures in the shot is Japan’s ruler Emperor Hirohito, who is inspecting these rudimentary machines designed for detecting enemy planes.

Brewster Body Shield

This photograph is from the later years of World War I, and it doesn’t depict some grotesque Halloween outfit. This thing is actually a form of body armor designed by Dr. Guy Brewster. The good doctor tested his Brewster Body Shield himself under a barrage of live fire from American soldiers — and he survived. Even so, his invention never really caught on, probably because it was so cumbersome.

Indoor electric storm

This is the laboratory of the renowned Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla. For a man sitting in a room with what looks like a severe electrical storm raging, he appears remarkably relaxed. What we’re seeing is Tesla’s magnifying transmitter discharging electrical pulses, but there’s a twist in this picture. The photographer Dickenson V. Allen has combined two negatives: one with Tesla in the room, and one with the magnifying transmitter in operation. This explains the inventor’s nonchalance.

Krummlauf

It looks like a circus strongman has gotten hold of this rifle and bent the barrel. But no big-tent performers were involved in the transformation of this firearm, as it’s just a standard German military World War II rifle with an added attachment. But what’s the purpose of this bizarre extension, which is called a krummlauf? To fire around corners, of course!

Flying saucer

The year is 1952, the height of the flying saucer craze. And here we are, seemingly looking right at one flying through the sky above Passaic, New Jersey. This thing certainly looks the part, but skeptics might suggest a photograph like this would’ve been easy enough to fake, even in the days before Photoshop. You’ll have to make your own mind up.

Tumbling train

We’re in Paris, France, in 1895, at the Montparnasse railroad station. It appears that this locomotive wasn’t content to stop at its appointed place at the end of a platform. Miraculously, there were no fatalities aboard the train and only a relatively small number of people were left injured. Although, sadly, a woman in the street was killed by falling debris. The driver was fined 50 francs for his carelessness, which seems a tad on the lenient side.

Coats galore

Why would you go to the trouble of completely covering a building in thousands of coats? Seems like the act of someone who’s lost their marbles. But there was a method to the madness of Christian Troelstrup, a clothes store owner in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Back in 1936, he had a lot of coats to shift. So, he cloaked his building with his stock. Hordes of people came to marvel at this bizarre creation — and they bought every one of the coats.

Is it a plane?

It looks like these lads are having fun on their bicycles dressed up to look like aircraft. But it isn’t merely fun and games. Believe it or not, these are Royal Air Force cadets in Britain, and this is a serious piece of training in formation flying. The year was 1942 when the country was in the grip of World War II. It seems there weren’t any training planes to spare.

Aflame

Generally speaking, it’s never a good idea to set yourself on fire unless you’re a highly experienced Hollywood stuntman. But A. George Stern of Silver Spring, Maryland, had a secret up his sleeve — or more exactly, on his hands. This guy invented a fluid that burned without generating heat. His burning hands are a demonstration of his strange innovation.

Ectoplasm

Purportedly, this is a picture of ectoplasm. What exactly is that? Well, in the paranormal world, it’s what the Britannia website describes as a “usually light-colored, viscous substance that is said to exude from the body of a spiritualist medium in trance.” A medium called Stanislawa P. supposedly conjured up this particular ectoplasm in 1913. Amazing.

Haunting the Coopers

This should have been an everyday snap of members of the Cooper family of Texas. The photograph was taken to mark the fact that they’d just moved into a new house. But when the negative was developed, something very peculiar emerged. As you can see, there appears to be a man dangling above them. Where did he come from? It’s still an enigma.

Faradizing an Old Man

Who knows what people made of this extraordinary image when it was first published? But what’s actually going on? Well, a physician named Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne and his assistant is “faradizing” a patient’s facial muscles. Basically, they’re using their subject — who’s described somewhat dismissively as “the old man” — to demonstrate the physiology of facial expressions. And they’re using electrical charges to do it — that’s what we call “faradizing.”

What’s happened to gravity?

We found this photograph lurking in the nether regions of the archives. Unfortunately, it comes with no information. But as you can see for yourself, a human hovers in the air, apparently supported by nothing more than a pole. The pose appears to defy the accepted laws of gravity. Baffling.

Back from the dead?

Here’s a group portrait from around 1920 in which a strange cloud with three faces rises above more solid humans. The image may well have been created by British spiritualist William Hope, who claimed to be able to put people in touch with deceased relatives. In the years after World War I, there were all too many bereaved people who wanted to contact lost loved ones. Hope was exposed as a fraud in 1922.

A buzzing beard

This man seems to be sporting a fine beard. But a closer look reveals that his facial hair is actually a swarm of bees, comprised of as many as 200,000 of the buzzing insects. Who was he, and why was he doing this? All we know is that the photograph was taken around 1955. Other than that, this image and the scanty information we have raised more questions than answers.

An astonishing sky

This photograph shows us a strange phenomenon in the skies above Sri Lanka. Somehow, the image ended up in the hands of Britain’s Ministry of Defense. Taken in 2004, the picture perhaps shows the result of some unusual meteorological conditions. But, then again, maybe it reveals something rather more otherworldly than that. We just don’t know.

Fata Morgana

For all the world, the ship in this image taken off the coast of Queensland, Australia, appears to be floating above the ocean. But of course, that makes no sense at all. Thankfully, in this case, there’s a rational explanation. It’s an example of something called Fata Morgana, a type of mirage. Experienced mariners are quite accustomed to the phenomenon, which is caused by a particular set of atmospheric conditions.

UFO over the farm

Speaking to a local newspaper, Evelyn Trent described the flying saucer that flew over her homestead in 1950. She said that it looked “like a good-sized parachute canopy without the strings, only silver-bright mixed with bronze… It was as pretty as anything I ever saw.” Her husband Paul took the photo. UFO experts were unable to come up with a convincing explanation for this image.

Square waves

Surely this weird image of the sea has been created with a bit of skillful Photoshop skullduggery? Not so! What you see here is an entirely natural phenomenon known as a cross swell. This image was captured by the shores of Île de Ré, an island off the west coast of France. The strange wave pattern is created when two wave systems collide, though the strong undercurrents actually make the sea highly dangerous. Don’t go in for a swim if you ever see this.

Crop circles

This stunning example of a crop circle comes from Switzerland in 2007, although the phenomenon was first observed in England in the 1970s. These otherworldly patterns appeared in grain fields overnight, leading to countless theories about what creates them. There’s even a name for researchers who study them: cereologists. The circles have been blamed on everything from hedgehogs to aliens to time travelers, but there are those who claim they’re the work of plain old humans.

The Dynasphere

This odd gizmo is called the Dynasphere. Invented by an Englishman from Cornwall named Dr. Archibald Purves, it was revealed to the world in 1932. The boffin was apparently inspired by a Leonardo da Vinci drawing. In an apt description, in 2017 the SomersetLive website dubbed it a “sort of giant hamster wheel.” Purves believed it to be “the high-speed vehicle of the future.” Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t.

What are they doing?

Are they hunting for a lost contact lens? Perhaps they’re deep in prayer? No, the reason these people are down on their hands and knees is that they’re taking part in a pea-pushing contest in London, England. And one of the rules is that you can only push your tiny vegetable with your nose. Why on Earth would you do this? It turns out that it was a charity fundraising event.

Gigantic corn cobs

These ears of corn, allegedly harvested in Iowa around 1910, make you wonder why cobs have become so small over a century later. Then again, you’d need huge amounts of corn to satisfy the enormous pig sitting in a cart in the background. We have the slightest suspicion that this photo may have been doctored, but perhaps we’re being too cynical?

Conversation with another world

Here is the Perrot family: mom, dad, and son Dominique, who was living in the French town of La Machine back in 1976. Apparently, a spirit from another dimension appeared to them every evening and had been doing so for the previous two years. This emanation, apparently appearing from the wallpaper in Dominique’s room, then chatted to the boy. Reportedly, the local police even confirmed that the phenomenon was genuine.

Strange collars

These unfortunate women are suffering a punishment that was formerly used in imperial China. We don’t know what crime they’ve been convicted of in 1922, but they’ve been sentenced to a period in the “cangue.” This wooden device was locked around the neck and was a peculiarly cruel form of punishment. Thankfully, the practice was long ago consigned to the past.

Floating in comfort

This looks like a great way to sunbathe in comfort on a pebble beach. But you’d need to have a magician with you to accomplish this amazing feat of levitation. The conjurer here is Robert Harbin and the scene is unfolding in 1956 in the English seaside town of Eastbourne. If you can work out how he’s doing this, you’re smarter than us.

The S.S. Watertown ghosts

S.S. Watertown, an oil tanker, embarked from California in 1924. A pair of crewmen by the names of James Courtney and Michael Meehan were cleaning a tank when fumes overcame and killed the unfortunate pair. They were duly given a sea burial. But the next day, phantom images of the mariners’ faces appeared in the water. Later in the voyage, the faces materialized again in the ocean and one of the crew took this picture. It remains an unsolved mystery.

Isolation mask

Of course, we’ve had plenty of mask-wearing experience in recent times. But not like this. Pictured is one Hugo Gernsbach who wears a contraption he himself invented. In fact, his headgear wasn’t designed to combat infection. What the man craved was perfect silence, even although it meant he had to breathe oxygen through a tube. Well, silence is golden, they do say. But that golden?

Painted stockings

These strange goings-on were happening in Croydon, a suburb of London, England. The women with the brushes are actually painting the legs of their customers to make it appear that they’re wearing stockings. It sounds more than a little bonkers but it was all because of wartime shortages. The year is 1941 and Britain had already been at war for two years. Stockings were not to be had at any price.

Cow shoes

We found this intriguing image lurking in the Library of Congress archives. Enigmatically, the only description offered is “Prohibition Unit (Cow Shoes).” Speaking to The Evening Independent newspaper in 1922 state Prohibition enforcement director A.L. Allen described the purpose of these bizarre shoes. Booze smugglers would wear them to bamboozle any cops on their trail. The theory went that law officers would be thrown off the scent when they saw cattle instead of human prints.

Birdman

French daredevil and former paratrooper Leo Valentin earned his “Birdman” nickname by attempting to fly with a rudimentary set of wings tied to his back. Sadly, his ill-considered project came to an abrupt end in 1956, as did his life. A 100,000-strong crowd at an airshow in Liverpool, England, watched in horror as he leapt from a plane and crashed to the ground.

Towing the Titanic

It’s not the actual Titanic, of course: that had sunk beneath the waves almost 70 years before a photographer captured this shot. In fact it’s an image from the set of the movie Raise the Titanic, released in 1980. Here we see professional diver Courtney Brown hauling a 55-foot model of the ill-starred liner though the water. The replica cost a reported $5 million to build – the 1912 original only cost about $7.5 million.

Michelin Men of music

The Michelin Man has to be one of the best-known brand symbols of all time. These ten costumed fellows are the members of an actual orchestra, and they’re engaged in a bit of promotion. Strangely they were publicizing a new radio show launched in 1924, the Michelin Hour. So their audience wouldn’t have been able to see those magnificent outfits. Go figure.

Airborne tennis

“Anyone for tennis?” It’s a question that takes on a whole new meaning in this colorized image from 1925. The daredevil players are Gladys Roy and Ivan Unger. Roy was a well-known and fearless stuntwoman: when she wasn’t playing tennis on a biplane’s top wing, she was dancing the Charleston on it or crossing it blindfolded. Unger was a minor movie actor probably best remembered for this single image.

Fancy a grape?

Most people enjoy a grape or two, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing. And it looks as though there is a surfeit of fruit here. This photo of Wilma Smith was taken at the McClure Vineyards in Burbank, California, in 1930. The occasion was the annual grape festival featuring the crowning of the Queen of the Vineyards. Looks like it was a bumper harvest that year – the crop was reportedly worth $50 million.

New Iron Horse

It’s 1882 and this woman rides along aboard a tricycle which is apparently called a New Iron Horse. The inventor – and photographer – was one Charles W. Oldrieve, a figure whose history remains obscure. Whether he ever managed to sell any of these outlandish machines is unknown. But what wouldn’t we give for a shot on one?

A bumpy ride

You’re looking at something called an Auto Thriller Highway, one of motoring’s most curious developments. The original caption declared, “Here’s a humpy highway for meandering motorists,” and we can hardly better that. This roller coaster for cars was the creation of one Harry Rocks and was located in Los Angeles – where else? Adrenaline junkies of the 1920s could ride the highway’s 10-foot humps along its 800-yard length at speeds of up to a dizzying 40mph.

Mickey Mouse Club

Something about this mass meeting of Mickey Mouse fans puts us in mind of a cult rather than a club. The sea of Mickey Mouse-masked youngsters is more than a little sinister, not to say downright terrifying. But back in the 1930s this get-together in honor of Walt Disney’s most famous creation was probably entirely innocent. We hope.

The Great Blondin

The Great Blondin, actually a Frenchman called Jean François Gravelet, was one of the most famous daredevils of his day. And perhaps his best-known stunt was crossing the Niagara Falls on a 1,300-foot tightrope. Some 25,000 spectators, breath bated, watched this superlative feat in 1859. He accomplished the crossing in 23 minutes while wearing spangled pink tights and carrying a 50-pound balancing pole.

Masked man

Looking rather like some outré fetish gear, this leather mask and helmet combo was actually designed for flying. The man inside the weird headgear was the American Polar explorer Commander Richard Byrd. He wore the helmet to fly across the North Pole and back from the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in 1926. Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett completed the 1,360-mile journey in just over 15 hours.

Ankles galore

Just look at all those ankles – and don’t underestimate the thrill they would have caused in the more innocent times of the early 20th century. This offbeat photo, dated July 1930, actually records a prettiest ankle contest in Hounslow, an otherwise unremarkable suburb of London, England. But why was a police sergeant roped in as judge? Your guess is as good as ours.

Give the pig a beer!

With evident relish, this young porker sucks down the proffered bottle of beer. Whether the pig was actually of an age to be glugging an alcoholic beverage is open to question. In any case these two men, seen here in late-19th century Mansfield, Ohio, seem happy enough to quench the animal’s thirst. Did the good citizens of Mansfield often indulge their livestock like this? Unfortunately, no further information is available.

The lion who came to tea

You may well recognize the man in this shot. It is of course the feted British film director Alfred Hitchcock. As for the lion, he’s probably Leo – who from 1957 was the mascot of Hollywood’s Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. History tells us that there were seven MGM lions over the years, but Leo holds the distinction of being the longest-serving post-holder. Hitchcock, on the other hand, made only one movie with MGM, although it was the classic North by Northwest.

Feeding time

It’s feeding time alright, but you’d have to wonder if the hungry polar bears will be content to stop at the tinned milk this Soviet soldier is handing over as a treat. He’s a lot closer to the animals as he feeds them than we’d choose to be. That tank looks quite icy and one slip into the paws of these two powerful creatures could be fatal. And if those bears decide the tank looks like tinned human, the result would probably be the same.

Portable TV

Nowadays, your tablet or smartphone is effectively a portable TV. But back in 1967 such gadgets were the stuff of science fiction. So the boffins had to come up with something else for those who wanted to watch their favorite shows while on the move. And this is what they invented. If we’re honest, we’re not that impressed. But we are laughing.

Eyes only

This is a thoroughly creepy variation on the traditional beauty pageant format in 1930s Florida: the Miss Lovely Eyes contest. Eyes alone were displayed and appraised, and just to make sure the judges gaze didn’t stray to the mouth, nose or any other facial feature, these special masks were compulsory. It lends a whole new perspective to the traditional hypnotist’s line, “Look into my eyes.”

A rush of blood to the head

Here’s Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly showing his disdain for superstition about Friday 13th. It was on that date in October 1939 that he performed this bloodcurdling stunt 54 floors above the streets of Manhattan. He has a cup of coffee with him plus, of course, some donuts for dunking. Kelly was renowned for his stunts, which included a habit of sitting atop flagpoles sometimes for days or even weeks at a time. Sounds distinctly uncomfortable.

Niagara barrel

Here’s Annie Edson Taylor whose proudest achievement came in 1901, when she became the first complete idiot, sorry, brave heroine to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and live to tell the tale. And indeed Ms. Taylor poses proudly with the very barrel – once filled with pickles – in question. It seems an unlikely feat for a 63-year-old schoolteacher, but as we always say never underestimate educators in their 60s.

One hippopower

You’ve heard of horsepower but how about hippopower? One hippopower to be exact. In 1923 an unknown gent hitched his carriage to a young hippo for reasons lost to the mists of time. Perhaps his horse was sick. Or maybe he just had a thing about that noble animal, the hippopotamus. We’d hazard a guess that man and hippo may well have a circus connection.

Spring shoes

These two demure-looking young women probably wouldn’t attract more than a conventionally admiring comment. Except for their shoes. Kangru-Spring-Shus to be precise. To be honest, they look like a certain recipe for broken ankles to us. But what do we know? After all, we’ve never actually worn spring shoes. And we have no plans to do so. But each to her own.

The motorwheel

This idiosyncratic contrivance can just about be classed as a motorcycle although it’s actually called a Motorwheel. Certainly it’s a motorbike like none we’ve ever seen before, operating on a metal rail set inside a tire. The man at the wheel is a Swiss engineer, Monsieur Gerder. It’s 1931 and he’s seen here in the French city of Arles, on a trip across France to Spain. We wonder if he made it?

Heavy metal-heads

Generally heavy metal-heads are people who enjoy the music of bands such as Metallica. But in this case we mean the term quite literally. Looking for all the world like newly arrived alien space travelers, these are in fact humans working as mechanics for TWA at La Guardia, New York in 1941. They’re wearing steel propeller covers on their heads. Perhaps it was just the easiest way to carry them. Or maybe they were having a laugh. We’ll go for the latter.

Shedding the pounds

Wacky weight-loss gadgets are still with us today, but this one dates from the early 20th century. Gripped in the gadget’s embrace is movie actress Raquel Torres, who doesn’t look to us as if she especially needs to shed any pounds. In any case we’re happy to count ourselves as fans of the Mexican-American star. That’s because she appeared in the Marx Brothers’ 1933 classic Duck Soup.

There’s something in my eye

You’d have a hard time guessing which president’s eye this is, rendered giant-size on the face of Mount Rushmore. Luckily, the original caption from 1954 tips us the wink. It’s Thomas Jefferson. Why this fellow is “hanging on for dear life,” as the caption has it, is not revealed. So you’ll have to use your own imagination if you want to fill that gap in the historical record.

Toss that caber

A peculiarly Scottish sport, tossing the caber involves hurling a tree trunk as far as you can using nothing more than brute force. It’s a competitive staple of Highland Games events wherever the Scots have settled – which is just about everywhere. This 1935 shot held in the Austrian Archives shows us a bekilted Private McDonald practicing his toss to the evident gratification of his platoon.

Sun-tan lotion vending machine

Imagine the scene. You’re out and about when suddenly the sun comes out. But you’ve left home without that absolute essential, sun-tan lotion. What to do? Well if you’d been at the Annual Vending Machine Convention in 1949 in Chicago, Illinois, you’d have been fine. Because you could have used the sun-tan vending machine on display there. Just like the model in the picture.

Sea-shoes

They’re called sea-shoes but inventor M. W. Hulton is actually showing off his handiwork on an inland waterway in 1962 – England’s Grand Union Canal. It runs for 137 miles northwards from London to the Midlands city of Birmingham. We’re doubtful that he navigated its entire length aboard his sea-shoes. Even with the help of the “duckfoot propellers” that drove them.

Mom, pop, and baby too

This image of a peculiar variety of bicycle comes from the 1890s. Actually it’s got three wheels, so we should probably call it a tricycle. It’s clearly a family affair with mom and dad up front and baby bringing up the rear. What worries us is, how would the doting parents know if their child had fallen out of its carriage? They might carry on for miles before they noticed. And one final point: how did they get on and off?

Modesty preserver

Getting changed at the beach into warm, dry clothing after a bracing sea swim while preserving your modesty is a perennial problem. But here’s an ingenious answer. The Skreenette bathing tent. As these two demonstrated in 1929 you can strip off in public without the danger of prying eyes seeing what they shouldn’t. What a relief!

The Churchill Egg

This weird gizmo, rather reminiscent of a medieval torture chamber, was apparently made with Sir Winston Churchill in mind. The idea was that he could clamber into it when flying around the world in unpressurized aircraft. Dubbed the Churchill Egg, sadly there’s no evidence that the great man ever actually graced it. Indeed, the International Churchill Society website is unequivocal. It says, “Churchill never used the pod designed for his use.”

Frozen face

The bizarre creation stuck to this unfortunate woman is called the “facial icebox mask.” According to a 1966 edition of the New York Journal-American this ice mask was “used in Hollywood to refresh the face between takes without spoiling the makeup.” We’d have thought that melting ice would quickly mess up your makeup, but what do we know?

A kangaroo in London

Normally, if your heart’s desire was to see a marsupial in London, you’d go to the zoo in Regent’s Park. But on this day in 1931 you’d only have had to visit Trafalgar Square in the heart of the city. Displaying a startling lack of originality, this animal is called Aussie. The photographer, who’s either trying to get a close-up or is squaring up for a few rounds with this boxing kangaroo, is called Fred Morley.