People in Unusual Circumstances

London children as young as 4-years-old forced to squeeze through miles of pitch-black, claustrophobic, suffocating 7-inch chimney flues (1800’s).

// March 12th, 2019 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

The child had no choice. Sold as cheap labor by poverty-stricken parents with too many mouths to feed, they were between 4 and 8 years of age, too young to defend themselves or flee their owner and live on their own. Unfortunately, they were just the right size to squeeze into narrow, pitch black, claustrophobic, […]

That time a sewer worker discovered a drainage pipe leading into a vault full of gold

// March 11th, 2019 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

About 1836, Randolph Gentry was directed to make a repair to a drain in east London. Gentry scooted through the tunnel dragging his pole behind him until the tunnel ended at a brick wall and an attached ladder. He climbed the ladder, heaved a plate aside and poked his head through the hole. To his […]

The many times Ernest Hemingway almost died from bizarre accidents (before taking his life by his own hand).

// April 17th, 2018 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

Ernest Hemingway in a hospital bed after one of his many accidents thumb

From the mid 1920’s through the mid 1950’s, Ernest Miller Hemmingway produced some of the world’s greatest literary works. His books are considered American classics for which he was awarded a Nobel Prize. Ultimately Hemmingway died by his own hand, and odd ending to a life plagued with bizarre, horrific accidents, many of which nearly […]

The Waiting for Death photo – photographer captures memorable dying child scene, then kills himself

// May 4th, 2016 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

The Waiting for Death photo - starving Sudanse child awaits death while a vulture sits nearby thumb

The graphic picture shows a starving Sudanese child collapsed on the ground, kneeling, waiting for death as a wide-eyed vulture waits patiently in the background for its next meal. When the picture was published in the New York Times on March 26, 1993, the international community was horrified – and awakened – while the toll […]

Mother and six children held in underground room for 24 years see outside world for first time- the Fritzl case

// March 8th, 2016 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

When the public found that Josef Fritzl had held a woman and three children captive in a basement dungeon for 24 years, the act seemed unspeakable. The trail of Josef exposed a web of horror, a series of events that surpassed the worst snuff film or penny dreadful, events that would cause permanent physical and […]

That time President Roosevelt was shot in the chest but went ahead, took the stage, and made his speech anyway

// January 20th, 2016 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

Any presidential assassination attempt is highly unusual but the attempt to assassinate President Theodore Roosevelt stands head and shoulders above any other. Roosevelt was shot in the chest just before making a speech, but with blood seeping through his shirt and a bullet lodged in his chest, he took the stage anyway and made his […]

That time in World War II when Japan used a hot air balloon to bomb Oregon and kill six people

// January 19th, 2016 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

It may surprise you to find that there were actually six civilian casualties in the 48 states during World War II. The incident occurred in 1945 when a Japanese balloon bomb floated into the United States where it killed six people in rural eastern Oregon. They are the only World War II U.S. combat casualties […]

Interesting official testimony from survivors of the Titanic (Long)

// November 6th, 2015 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

During the United States Senate Inquiry into the sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic on April 15, 1912, many survivors provided testimony describing their last moments on the ship. Below is a sampling of those testimonies.

14-year-old George Stinney – youngest person ever executed in the U.S. – required a booster seat in the electric chair

// October 20th, 2015 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

At only 14 years of age, George Junius Stinney, Jr. was the youngest person executed in the United States. Weighing only 90 lbs., Stinney was so small, he required a booster seat to reach the headpiece of the electric chair that took his last breath. With no physical evidence in the case, the all-white jury […]

In eerie coincidence, hi-speed photo of airshow plane crash captures the very moment wing walker Jane Wicker died

// September 4th, 2015 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

It’s a common thought – what happens at the precise moment we pass from this life to the next. However, it’s an extremely rare event when that moment is captured in a photograph. Such was the case on June 22, 2013 at the Vectren Dayton Air Show in Dayton, Ohio when an eagle-eye noticed that […]

23-year-old man stuck in mind-numbing deja vu loop – relives each moment over and over again for 8 years

// January 22nd, 2015 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

It’s a fairly rare occurrence but something all of us experience from time to time. That unusually strong sensation that you’ve been there before or already experienced what you’re doing (or reading) in the present time – it’s called déjà vu. For most people, the feeling passes quickly leaving us slightly frightened and more often, […]

He survived! Ex-NFL running back tumbles from boat off Florida coast – swims for 16 hours to reach safety

// January 13th, 2015 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

Former Miami Dolphins fullback Rob Konrad has quite a tale to tell his grandchildren after an unusually dangerous situation presented itself to him on January 7, 2015. He was nine miles off the east coast of Florida when a wave knocked him out of his boat into the frigid Atlantic waters. Despite being circled by […]

World Trade Center photographer’s last picture before North Tower collapsed on top of him

// January 13th, 2015 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

54-year-old William G. Biggart first heard about the World Trade Center terrorist attacks from a passing taxi driver. News that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center prompted Biggart to rush to his apartment near Union Square and grab three of his cameras – two film and one digital. He then walked […]

50-year-old homeless bodybuilder lives in a tent and makes the streets of Paris his own personal gym

// January 12th, 2015 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

50-year-old Sayagh Jacques has lived on the streets of Paris for many years, scrounging for spare change and nuggets of food just to stay alive. He spends his nights sleeping on the street in a tent that he has patched and insulated with pieces of cardboard. His two dogs help keep him warm. However, his […]

Yambuku – Ebola virus ground zero and the terrifying discovery (and death) of “patent zero”

// October 3rd, 2014 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

The Ebola saga began in 1976 in a small village in Congo called Yambuku and the news leaking out of the area was terrifying – lifeless bodies of feverish birds falling from the sky and human bodies piled by the roadsides formed impressions of the apocalypse in the minds of medical professionals. When samples of […]