This rare picture you see is the last known public execution in America. The last person to be hanged like this was Rainey Bethea on August 14. It was an item of personal interest and controversy because Bethea was to be hanged by Florence Thompson, who was at the time the sheriff of Davies County. The former policeman of Louisville, Arthur L. Hash, was offered to pull the trigger for her, and she willingly accepted her fate.
America was disappointed because, on the actual day of execution, hash showed up drunk and missed his shot. It was a sad day for everyone!
Elvis in Uniform
Who could forget the reign of the Rock and Roll King, Elvis Presley? We bet it’s hard to imagine him in uniform after all his cool outfits, huh? In this rare photo, we see him in his military uniform, together with other soldiers walking somewhere on the base.
Quite a long time before his career shot to fame, this photo was taken in 1958. Of course, he seemed like such a young man in this photo, and we are all not used to seeing him this way. It’s quite refreshing.
The Statue of Liberty
In this amazing photo, we see a young child and a woman standing beside her face as it is being assembled in France. At the time, it was being prepared for shipment to New York so that it could be displayed as a gift to the United States.
Although this has been one of the greatest moments in history, it seems a little disturbing to only take a photo with the statue’s head. This photo was taken in 1885, which also shows women’s style back then. A very rare photo indeed!
America's Greatest Creation
Mount Rushmore was truly one of America’s greatest creations. In fact, it was even supposed to be much larger than it originally is. In this photo, we see the monument’s designer Gutzon Borglum is seen scrutinizing the scale model.
Sadly, this scale model was never continued because the project ran out of money.
Atomic Bomb
Ever wondered what an Atomic Bomb would look like when it blows up? In this photo, we see the nuclear testing at the Bikini Atoll program, which was a series of 23 nuclear devices detonated by the United States between the years 1946 to 1958. It seems a bit scary that it was detonated so close to neighboring islands, but these weapons were tested on the reef itself and in the air.
This all started in July of 1946 with Operation Crossroads. Don’t worry, though, because all the islands were uninhabitable because of all the radiation, which stemmed mostly from cesium-137. The island of Bikini Atoll is one of the 23 islands that consisted of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Now, that’s a photo we don’t see every day.