# 50 unexplainable photos **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292 "2011-10-01T21:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/41 "2011-10-02T15:34:42Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I think #10 is [Krampus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus), who travels around with St. Nicholas punishing the bad children – the bundle of twines is emblematic. The boy must’ve been very naughty when there’s two of him, though… Only one of them is Krampus. i’m pretty sure the other is Zwarte Piet. #48 is where John Irving is ultimately headed with his writing. I’d love to know the stories behind #32 and #36 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/42 "2011-10-02T15:35:06Z")
It seems to me that a lot of these are a.) Photos that are set-ups, from places that today offer “Real Historic Photos of You and your Friends!” #1 is definitely this – two ladies next to a barrel in front of an ocean backdrop? It’s a souvenir photo, no doubt. #6 maybe – I’ll bet the bear’s trained. #7 b.) Photographer studio people screwing around on their off time Maybe #7 – that’s a studio set-up if ever I saw one. #14 #17? #25 #32, without a doubt #36 #47, definitely c.) Unusual publicity-type photos Maybe #6 #5 #13 #30 #40 #44 d.) ordinary folks just screwing around with weird posing. # 3 #4 (“put a cigarette in junior’s mouth! It’ll be funny!”) #10 #14 (cigarettes in kid’s mouths are _always_ funny) #17? #22 #23 #24 #35 #31 looks like an armadillo fetus to me. #46 is two students hving a dream or nightmare about math (the Pythagorean theorem is there, along with Calculus and math symbols). Loks like a photo from a college skit or revue. I observe that the title lies. There is no #11 or #19 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/43 "2011-10-02T15:39:47Z")
I’m not sure #40 was an edit. It could be an actual pituitary giant\* holding a dwarf. \*someone like [Robert Wadlow](http://bestworldstuff.blogspot.com/2010/12/world-tallest-man-ever-lived-robert.html). ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/44 "2011-10-02T15:48:28Z")
I got #11 and there is a 19 but I can’t get it to load. Actually right now the whole thing won’t load; I think we overloaded it (heh). ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/45 "2011-10-02T15:52:39Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Only one of them is Krampus. i’m pretty sure the other is Zwarte Piet. Do they ever show up together, though? > [@](#): > > #48 is where John Irving is ultimately headed with his writing. Ha, first thing I thought of when I saw that one was _Hotel New Hampshire_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/46 "2011-10-02T16:14:48Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > I got #11 and there is a 19 but I can’t get it to load. Actually right now the whole thing won’t load; I think we overloaded it (heh). Neither one comes up on my computer. I think **Half Man** is right about Black Peter. #49 looks like something from Stephen King’s _Overlook Hotel_. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/47 "2011-10-02T16:28:38Z")
I can see both #11 and #19. #11 is a bicycle contraption labeled “Orginal Insane Moving Pedestal” and is almost certainly a publicity photo. #19 is a band with dancing girls onstage, all (band and dancers) wearing gas masks. Maybe some sort of war time civil defense ad? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/48 "2011-10-02T17:27:49Z")
#38 is a publicity shot to [kick off National Pickle Week](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SqhhJb_P3Kk/S9STFvdSLfI/AAAAAAAALt8/2qMIKJ-nboo/s1600/National+Pickle+Week.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/49 "2011-10-02T18:29:10Z")
#23 reminds me of a Gary Larson cartoon titled “how nature says stay away.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/50 "2011-10-02T19:04:40Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > #40: Obviously some sort of old-timey photo edit. More likely a promo for a circus, with the tall man and midget. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/51 "2011-10-02T19:20:12Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I think #10 is [Krampus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus), who travels around with St. Nicholas punishing the bad children – the bundle of twines is emblematic. The boy must’ve been very naughty when there’s two of him, though… > [@elfkin477](#): > > Only one of them is Krampus. i’m pretty sure the other is Zwarte Piet. Yes, me immediate reaction to that one was “It’s Black Pete!” There are probably plenty of old European photos like this. #19 reminds me of a scene early in the film version of The Who’s _Tommy_, where WWII era chorus girls flee a building during an air raid wearing gas masks. I could believe that there were actually performances during the war years where dancers put on gas masks for humorous effect. I think #16 is supposed to represent “saving for a rainy day”, with a piggy bank under an umbrella. Several of these look like pretty ordinary pictures of little kids playing, or little kids posed in a humorous manner by their parents – #14, #22, #35, #36, and #50 in particular. There are probably plenty of similar photos taken today. My mother has a picture of me taken when I was a toddler where I’m wearing overalls, holding one of my stuffed animals and a “rifle” made out of cardboard, and posed like a hunter with my kill. #42 is a mundane photo of two members of the Boy Scouts (or similar organization), the only thing making it seem at all weird is the propaganda (?) poster behind them reading “We Don’t Want This”. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/52 "2011-10-02T20:03:24Z")
Being from Edinburgh, number 8 didn’t look at all strange or unexplainable: [Edinburgh Zoo Penguin Parade](http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/attractions/penguinparade.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/53 "2011-10-02T20:34:43Z")
> [@horsetech](#): > > #19: Are you my mummy? Exactly where my brain went too. _shudders_ ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/54 "2011-10-03T03:20:40Z")
The kid with cigarettes are going to give me nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![Sodalite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@Sodalite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sodalite)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/55 "2011-10-03T07:09:13Z")
#32: Fine, I can take a hint. I’ll never serve beans and broccoli at the same meal again. #50: I have no idea what you’re talking about. Not only was Jimmy still alive, he had all his appendages when I left. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/56 "2011-10-03T08:03:14Z")
Kinda looks like file photos the SCP Foundation would have of [REDACTED]. At least it didn’t have any of those 19th century medical school prank photos. Y’know, the ones where the student is either playing poker with, or sleeping on a dissection table and about to get dissected by, cadavers? Partially dissected cadavers? That are posed standing up? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Intolt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ec9cab/32.png) [@Intolt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intolt)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/57 "2011-10-04T21:13:26Z")
I always thought #31 was ‘Pere Ubu’ by Man Ray, but [this](http://www.carladiana.com/uberobjects/doramaar/Dora_Maar.html) says by Dora Maar. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/58 "2011-10-05T05:52:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > #1: Suffragettes? > > #10: Either Halloween, or the most avant-garde production of _A Christmas Story_ ever dreamed of. Actually number 10 is Christmas. (I think) Christmas used to be very much more a judgement day for kids. These characters would show up at your house with switches and listen to your parents talk about all the bad things you did and would give the switches to your parents if you were too bad. It was in Pennsylvania so it may have Dutch origins? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292/59 "2011-10-05T13:57:44Z")
#8 is probably an old picture of the daily [Penguin Parade](http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/attractions/penguinparade.html) at Edinburgh Zoo, which started back in 1950. These days it stays within the zoo grounds but originally they used to let the penguins walk a little on the pavenment outside. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-unexplainable-photos/598292.md?page=2)