Rat Catchers: During a time when cities were heavily infested with rats, a rat catcher was considered a very important public service. Rats commonly carried diseases, and it was a rat catcher's job to eliminate as many as possible while risking getting bitten.

P.T. Barnum’s “Living Curiosities”: Think of them as the cast of a reality show—so real they were actually on display 365 days a year at P.T. Barnum’s American Museum.

The Ultimate Awkward Family Photo

Proof of a virgin wedding consummation.

FRANCESCO LENTIN: Lentini was born in 1889 in Rosolini in the province of Sirocusa, Sicily as one of twelve children. Technically, he was one of 12 and a half children. His twin brother, who consisted of a leg and a set of genitals, was born attached to Francesco’s spine. While he was billed as ‘The Man With Three Legs’, Lentini actually had four feet as a small malformed secondary foot protruded from his third leg. Thus in total he had three legs, four feet, sixteen toes and two sets of functioning male genitals. Furthermore, to complicate his life further, all of Francesco’s legs were of different lengths.

Three Nurses Carry Babies Cocooned in Gas Masks During a Drill. London, 1940.

Some guy wearing one of those things, early 50's

Victorian era postmortem photograph of a burn victim.

Leper

Winter in Siberia. 1960

The Little Albert experiment was a case study showing empirical evidence of classical conditioning in humans. The aim of Watson and Rayner was to condition a phobia in an emotionally stable child. For this study they chose a nine-month old infant from a hospital referred to as "Albert" for the experiment. Watson followed the procedures which Pavlov had used in his experiments with dogs.