Old photographs have a special value to them – they allow us to take a glimpse into the past and experience what life was like a long time ago. Sometimes, you see photographs from the past that are so startling or fascinating that you can’t help but wonder “Is this for real?”. The following 21 blasts from the past (some of them artfully colorized) are great examples of this.
1. A polar explorer offers a can of condensed milk to a polar bear, USSR, 1980s.
2. A nanny poses with her young charge, Farrokh Bulsara, in Zanzibar, 1947. Twenty-five years later, he would become known as Freddie Mercury.
3. A Sioux tribe member and his horse, 1905.
4. A 7,600-ton housing block is moved in order to extend an avenue in the Romanian City of Alba Julia, 1987.
5. Claude Monet and his paintings, 1923.
6. The Beatles performing for 18 people in a club in the town of Aldershot, December 1961. One year later they would be known worldwide.
7. Marilyn Monroe joking and posing for soldiers, 1954.