From doll masks to decorated bags over heads to specially crafted outfits, these fascinating and nightmarish photos capture random people donning their Halloween costumes. It has to be said that these vintage photos were taken using much less sensitive cameras, so the pictures look already gloomy and eerie, regardless of the content. Halloween, contraction of All Hallows’ Ev e, marks the day before the Western Christian feast of All Saints and initiates the season of Allhallowtide, which lasts three days and concludes with All Souls’ Day....

About 10,000 members of German organizations lined the pier. In New York City, funeral services for the 28 Germans who lost their lives in the Hindenburg disaster are held on the Hamburg-American pier, on May 11, 1937. About 10,000 members of German organizations lined the pier. Seems to be a mixture of Nazi Germany, American, and German-American Bund flags. Hindenburg, the massive German airship caught fire while attempting to land near Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 people aboard, plus one ground crew member....

George Lincoln Rockwell and members of the American Nazi Party attend a Nation of Islam summit in 1961. American Nazi Party Commander George Lincoln Rockwell, flanked by two members of the party, listening to Malcolm X’s speech at the Black Muslims meeting held at the Uline Arena. This is an amazing, very powerful shot. Not just from a historical point of view, but also photographically very strong, you can almost feel the tension....

German scientists testing a Messerschmitt Bf 109, 1940. The facility is the Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt Hermann Goering. It was located in Volkenrode, a suburb of Braunschweig and it was the most advanced wind tunnel test facility in the world at the time, though they were never able to fully calibrate most of the equipment due to the war. The motto on the eagle behind the plane says: “Das deutsche Volk wird sich durch die Eroberung der Luft seinen ihm gebührenden Platz in der Welt erzwingen”....

The counterculture revolution that swept through America from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s gave birth to a youth movement that would forever alter the social landscape. What began in the United States quickly spread across the globe, establishing pockets of resistance in cities from London to Amsterdam to Tokyo. This subculture, known as the hippie movement, emerged from the bohemian enclaves of New York City’s Greenwich Village, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon, and Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood....

Few figures from classic Hollywood remain as emotionally resonant as Judy Garland, whose image in vintage photographs captures both the brilliance of stardom and the weight it carried. An American actress and singer with a career that stretched across four decades, Garland was celebrated for her remarkable artistic range and powerful contralto voice. She moved effortlessly between musicals, comedies, and dramatic roles, earning a lasting place in popular culture....

These captivating photographs from the LIFE archives provide a unique window into mid-20th century China, during a period chronicled as “the last days of Shanghai”. The images were taken by photographer Jack Birns, who was sent to China to take pictures and document what was happening in Shanghai. What he found was different from expectations – scenes of refugees, prostitutes, soldiers, beggars, street executions, and urban protests. The photos depict a city immersed in Western influences, featuring American neon-lit dive bars at every turn, businesses promoting their offerings in English, and Western expatriate communities navigating daily life amid the challenges of war-torn China....

The pattern of Influenza Outbreak of 1957 is sickeningly similar to COVID-19. A new and deadly strain of flu emerges in Asia, then spreads across the world and comes to the United States. A pandemic is declared. In 1957 the new virus was first reported in Singapore, in February of that year, and then worked its way to Hong Kong. In June the disease had made its way to America....

Marilyn Monroe on stage in front of thousands of troops Korea, 1954. In February 1954, actress Marilyn Monroe traveled to Korea to entertain the American troops. She performed a quickly thrown-together show titled Anything Goes to audiences which totaled over 100,000 troops over 4 days. The tour was also a chance for the film star to overcome a degree of stage fright. She remarked that the Korea trip “was the best thing that ever happened to me....

In the early 1970s, a groundbreaking trend emerged that challenged traditional gender norms and brought forth a fashion revolution: the unisex fashion craze. It was the time of matching clothing frenzy, where the same outfits and separates were worn by both men and women (as couples). The notion of matching outfits for couples can be traced back to the early 20th century, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that it took on a whole new meaning....

The car and telephone, two pioneering inventions separated by only a decade (1885 and 1875, respectively), have transitioned from being merely technological curiosities to becoming indispensable elements of contemporary life. One would think that combining these two revolutionary innovations would be a natural step, but the truth is far more intriguing than that. Similar to many first-generation technologies, the first “car phone” was both bulky and cumbersome, hardly practical for everyday use....

Federal ironclad USS Galena showing some battle damage, 1862. It’s amazing that this broadside ironclad was designed and built without the aid of computers. Someone put pen to paper and designed this. Then the parts were made by hand in some fashion or another. USS Galena was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was initially assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and supported Union forces during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862....

The Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarines stand as emblematic symbols of Cold War military might, leaving an indelible mark that few submarines of their era could match. As the largest submarines ever constructed, the Typhoons played a pivotal role in significantly enhancing the capabilities of Soviet submarines during the early 1980s. Beyond their sheer size and firepower, these formidable vessels carried profound economic and political ramifications for the Soviet Union....

Project leader Gutzon Borglum examines a scale model in his studio below Mount Rushmore. 1930. The idea of creating a monumental sculpture in the Black Hills was first suggested in 1923 by South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson, who had envisioned creating likenesses of famous Native American and American Old West personalities on a needlelike rock formation in Custer State Park. However, American sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who was hired to design and execute the project, rejected that site because the rock there was too eroded and unstable and instead chose nearby Mount Rushmore with its solid granite rock face....

Dresden in March 1945. In the final winter of World War II, the eastern German city of Dresden was reduced to rubble, killing tens of thousands and sparking a bitter debate over whether the attack was justified. Dresden was the capital of the state of Saxony, situated on the Elbe River. It was a cultural center, containing famous landmarks as the Frauenkirche, and was dubbed the Florence of the Elbe....

Soldiers were training against fear of tanks. Soviet soldiers duck under passing tanks during an intensive training before the Battle of Kursk. The goal was to desensitize them to this experience and also to teach them the importance of digging trenches and holes strong enough to resist being driven over by tanks. Russian soldiers called this training “ironing”. The Germans actually developed a technique called “milling” to squish enemy troops to death who are hiding in foxholes or trenches, which is essentially wiggling the tank side to side to dig down and crush the occupant of the hole....

In a mesmerizing display of nostalgia, a collection of retro photos brings to light the unforgettable wardrobe and style of none other than the legendary Sylvester Stallone. Renowned for his on-screen charisma and undeniable presence, Stallone not only captivated audiences with his performances but also left an indelible mark on the fashion scene of the era. In these captivating snapshots, Stallone’s impeccable sense of style shines through, reflecting the essence of the 1980s....

Saundra Brown, the first black woman on the Oakland police force, gets instructions on how to shoot a shotgun, 1970. This picture might look like marketing material based on the way she’s holding the gun, but that’s a common shotgun technique. In the 1970s this was considered the proper way to shoot a shotgun at close range. As we can see in the picture, the stock goes much further back than this would make it appear, it’s not inside the crook of her arm, she’s using her elbow to press the side of the stock into the side of her hip....

The statue of six children dancing around a crocodile became famous worldwide due to several pictures that a Soviet photographer took after the German army’s devastating bombings. A picture of the fountain taken by Emmanuil Yevzerikhin on August 23, 1942, conveyed the devastation of the Battle of Stalingrad by juxtaposing a pastoral scene of children dancing around a playful crocodile and the city’s bombed-out, burning buildings in the background....

The invention of individual diving suits in the early 18th century allowed a more refined exploration of the ocean depths. The initial drive for the creation of diving suits was to aid salvage missions, at a time when many ships (carrying many treasures) were lost to the ocean on perilous journeys. The first diving suits were designed in the 1710s and in 1715, English inventor John Lethbridge created the first fully-enclosed suit, consisting of watertight sleeves, a pressurized air-filled barrel, and a viewing hole....