Lost Innocence

Sadly We Remember

Chain Bridge - 1865

Photographer William Morris Smith took this picture of Chain Bridge over the Potomac River near Georgetown in 1865.

Reconciliation Park

This year will mark the 150th anniversary of the largest mass execution in United States history. At 10 AM on December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota Indians were executed by the government in Mankato, Minnesota, marking the end of the Minnesota Dakota (Sioux) War. Today, a memorial statue stands in Reconciliation Park, the site of the execution.

James Meredith

Born in 1933, James Meredith, pictured here in 1962, was the first African-American admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi. 

Where It All Began

On July 2, 1962, retailer Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store, pictured above, in Rogers, Arkansas.  The company now operates 10,000 stores in 27 countries, serving 200 million customers  weekly.

Operation Crossroads

On July 25, 1946, the United States conducted Operation Crossroads, a nuclear test in the lagoon of tiny Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific. Many decommissioned ships from the US Navy fleet were purposely placed in the lagoon for the test in order to study any effects a nuclear bomb would have on them. In preparation for the test, residents of the atoll were relocated to another island, and Bikini remains uninhabited to this day as a result of unsafe radiation levels.

The Last Living Civil War Widow

In 1934, 19 year old Mandie Acklin married Civil War Veteran William Cantrell, who was 86 years old.  When Cantrell passed away three years later,  Mandie became known as the last living Civil War widow. She died in 2008 at the age of 93. 

The Search For Noah's Ark

Could this be the remains of Noah's Ark?  This recent satellite image taken over the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey shows an anomaly located about 15,300 feet up the mountainside. Some experts believe this could actually be the long lost ark. 

The Perfect Exposure

A photographer catches the Golden Gate Bridge during construction in 1929. This view from  Sausalito looking west shows the city of San Francisco in the distance across the bay.

The Lonely Hearts Killers

From 1947 through 1949, Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck were believed to have killed as many as 20 women. Known as The Lonely Hearts Killers, the couple would befriend people seeking companionship via the newspapers, eventually killing and robbing them. As a result of their being convicted for only one of the murders, Fernandez and Beck were both executed in the electric chair at New York's Sing Sing Prison on March 8, 1951.

Men Only

Race officials are pictured attempting to remove 20 year old Syracuse University junior Katherine Switzer from the Boston Marathon in 1967. About two miles from the finish line, Switzer abruptly inserted herself in the race, attempting to break the long standing tradition of the male only event.

Long Lost Bible

Twenty year old George Ford, fighting in World War I for the Sherwood Foresters, was killed in action in 1918. His personal belongings were packed in a box and sent to his family in Nottingham, England. Among those belongings was a small Bible which Ford kept in his breast pocket. In 1977, while doing some repair work on a house in Nottingham, a builder discovered the Bible, and found that it had been gathering dust in the attic for 59 years. After a 35 year search by the builder's son, the Bible was returned to George Ford's nephews in Arnold, Nottinghampshire. 

Brotherly Advice

In a Los Angeles hotel room, US Senator John F. Kennedy (left) confers with brother Robert, his most trusted adviser, during the Democratic National Convention. John would eventually win the nomination of his party and go on to become President. 

Calling Card

On April 23, 1972, Apollo 16 Lunar Module pilot Charles Duke left his family picture, which was sealed in a clear plastic bag, on the surface of the Moon.

Was Jesus Married?

A photo released by Harvard University professor of Christian Studies, Karen King, shows a fourth Century fragment of papyrus, believed to be the only existing ancient text containing dialogue in which Jesus refers to "my wife", whom he identifies as Mary. Written in a language of Ancient Egyptian Christians, the document once again raises the question of whether or not Jesus ever was married.
UPDATE (9/19) Some scholars are questioning the fragment's authenticity as of this writing. 

Four Century Flame

This lamp, located at the Vaishnavite Monastery in Assam, India has its' own unique distinction in that it has been continuously burning for the past 484 years. The flame, lit by Srimanta Madhabdev in 1528, has been tended to daily by the monastery's monks, effectively putting its' duration into the Asia Book of Records. 

Johnny Pesky 1919 - 2012

Boston Red Sox legend Johnny Pesky, died Monday at the age of 92. Nicknamed "The Needle", Pesky served the club in various capacities following his playing days at shortstop. These included manager, coaching, scouting, and in the front office. His memory will always be associated with Fenway Park's right field foul pole, known as 'the Pesky pole'. In 2008, his number 6 was retired by the Red Sox, and hangs along side other Red Sox greats such as Carl Yastrzemski, and Ted Williams. 

Battle of Midway

The crew of the sinking carrier USS Yorktown abandon ship after being hit by Japanese aerial torpedoes on June 4, 1942. The USS Balch remains nearby to render assistance. From June 4 - 7, 1942,  the battle of Midway proved to be the turning point of World War II in the Pacific.   

Proto Zamboni - 1917

California beauty Dorothy Klewer is shown driving this early version of the newest ice surfacing technology. 

Panama Canal - 1915

Pedro Miguel Lock, Panama Canal (Circa 1915)

The Automobile

Taken in October 1899, this photograph shows the first Honoluluans to drive an automobile on the Islands. 

Together For The Last Time

The RMS Olympic is pictured entering dry dock in Belfast on March 6, 1912 for repairs. In order to accommodate Olympic, her sister ship, the RMS Titanic (right) was moved. This would be the last time the vessels would be seen together. The very next month, while on her maiden voyage, Titanic would collide with an iceberg, sending her to the bottom of the North Atlantic.

USCGC Taney

Launched June 3, 1936 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the US Coast Guard Cutter Taney is the last of the 101 US fighting ships present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Today , the decommissioned Taney makes its' home at the Baltimore Maritime Museum.

This US Coast Guard picture shows the cutter Taney as she appeared in 1944.

Photo Op

This photo of President Warren Harding, Vice President Calvin Coolidge, and the rest of their cabinet was taken at the White House in 1921. 

Carnival Ride From Hell

This picture, taken in 1921 in a Pennsylvania breaker, shows boys who picked out rocks and other debris from coal passing directly beneath them. The "Breaker Boys", as they were called, often developed lung problems as a direct result of breathing in the excessive dust from the mine.

Did Hitler Have A Son?

In 1917, a young Adolf Hitler was fighting the French in World War I. While he was on a weekend getaway in a local French town, he met Charlotte Lobjoie, a 16 year old with whom he would have an affair. The French teen would become pregnant and give birth to a boy in 1918. 

Jean-Marie Loret, who died in 1985 at the age of 67, had fought for the French Resistance in 1939 under the code name 'Clement'. Before his mother's death in the early 1950's, she told him that the dictator was his father.

The rumor had surfaced a few times over the years, but apparently new evidence  which seems to support the story is currently being investigated. The above picture alone lends credibility to the theory.

Powder Monkey

A young sailor is pictured on the deck of the U.S.S New Hampshire in Charleston, South Carolina (Circa 1864-65). These boys were used to transport gunpowder to various parts of the ship during combat, earning them the nickname "powder monkey".

The Lindberghs

This September 18, 1939 picture shows famous aviator Charles Lindbergh with his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh four months after their wedding. The kidnapping and murder of their baby three years later would result in one of the most famous trials in US history.

Rosa Parks

"I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move."

(Rosa Parks, pictured in 1988)

In 1955, Parks refused to give up her front seat on a bus to a white male, resulting in her arrest. The incident would prove to be a key moment in Civil Rights history.