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What is a childhood toy for some is an incredible artistic medium for others – a look at the world’s most incredible Etch-A-Sketch art! Invented by André Cassagnes, the Etch-a-Sketch was first introduced in the 1960s as a mechanical drawing toy. Many remember their childhood artistic fancies, twiddling with the knobs and moving the stylus to create the lineographic images from the containing aluminum. While for most the works of art were simply childhood stick figurines, there are many practicing artists who use the device to produce professional works – some even making the work permanent by removing the aluminum powder so shaking will not erase the image....

On July 9, 1962, the Atomic Energy Commission set off a 1.4-megaton thermonuclear warhead in outer space, 240 miles above the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. Public DomainA view of the nuclear explosion in space caused by Starfish Prime from Honolulu, Hawaii, 900 miles away. On a summer night in 1962, the sky above the Pacific Ocean suddenly burst into an array of stunning colors visible from Hawaii to New Zealand. But the gorgeous show was no quirk of nature....

Built in 1845, the John Lawson House in Wappingers Falls, New York was once a creepy tourist attraction due to the mysterious mannequins that inhabited its porch. theconfessionalpodcast/InstagramTwo mannequins on the porch of the John Lawson House dressed in outfits and wearing wigs. Some 80 miles north of New York City sits the John Lawson House, a peculiar home over 150 years old in the quaint village of New Hamburg. Known for life-sized mannequins that would mysteriously appear on the front porch, the house is also subject to rumors that the figurines are haunted by spirits from tragic events of the 19th century that took place nearby....

The Viking helmet is usually depicted with horns, but the Norse warriors really never wore them. When you think of a Viking, what do you see? Probably one of the first things that come to mind is a fearsome helmet with two horns. But the story of the Viking helmet is much more complex than that. Many historians are convinced that Vikings didn’t actually wear the iconic horned helmets. In fact, so few Viking-era helmets have been discovered that it’s possible the fearsome Norse warriors didn’t wear helmets at all....

Ron Stallworth was the first black cadet to join his police division in the 1970s. He’s also the first black man to hold a membership card from the KKK. YouTubeRon Stallworth showing his KKK membership card. During one of their peaks in power, the Ku Klux Klan unknowingly let a black man into their organization. Ron Stallworth, a Colorado police officer, didn’t realize it would be so easy to trick the group that so hated him....

During the 1970s and ’80s, John Curtis Holmes took Hollywood by storm as one of the most popular adult film performers of the era — until it all came crashing down. The life of porn star John Holmes played out like one of his movies: full of twists and turns, and plenty of sex and drugs. What else would one expect from a man known as the “King of Porn” who starred in over 1,000 hardcore films and claimed to have slept with 14,000 women?...

A Swiss village has denied an animal-rights activist’s application for naturalization after she campaigned against local traditions such as putting bells on cows and piglet racing. Nancy Holten/YouTubeNancy Holten. A village in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland has denied a vegan woman an application for a passport after residents took umbrage at what they believed to be her annoying animal rights campaigning and disregard for local traditions. The woman in question, Nancy Holten, a Dutch animal-rights activist who moved to Switzerland when she was eight and frequently appears in the media to campaign against putting bells around the necks of cows and racing piglets, both local traditions in Aargau....

From the assassinations of MLK and RFK to antiwar and civil rights protests nationwide, these 1968 photos reveal a nation at war with itself. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Harrowing Photos From The 30-Year War That Tore Northern Ireland Apart Johnny Cash And The Infamous 1968 Performance ‘At Folsom Prison’ When The City Of Angels Burned: 50 Photos Of The 1992 LA Riots...

The launches may get more press, but the engineering prowess required to pull off safe NASA landings is a thing of beauty. And so are the decades worth of photographs documenting the joyous return of the brave men and women who’d just went exploring beyond the ether. Share Flipboard Email The landing of the first shuttle in 1981 — the STS-1, the world’s first reusable space vehicle — drew a crowd of 200,000-plus to Edwards Air Force Base in California and ushered in a new era of spaceflight....

From the everyday suburban dwelling of BTK Killer Dennis Rader to mad preacher Gary Heidnik’s basement pit full of sex slaves, these serial killers’ houses are some of the most disturbing places you’ll ever see. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 23 Chilling Photos Taken By History’s Most Depraved Serial Killers — Before And After They Killed Their Victims...

See what life in Hiroshima was like just before the atomic bombing of August 6, 1945 and in the devastating aftermath, when the city was virtually flattened. Air-raid sirens were a familiar sound for the approximately 280,000 residents of Hiroshima that still remained in the city in August 1945. At the time, American B-29 bombers regularly soared over the nearby coast en route to Lake Biwa, a strategic rendezvous point about 220 miles northeast of the city....

Each generation of hip-hop fans has its preferences but it was ’80s hip-hop that made the genre what we know today. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Nostalgia-Inducing ’70s Pictures That Show What Real Life Was Like In The Decade Of Disco Relive The Golden Age Of 1990s Hip-Hop With These 44 Classic Photos Vintage Photos From The Golden Age Of Air Travel...

Though he was born into a Roman Catholic family, Adolfo Constanzo quickly fell into alternative religion, focusing on black magic and the occult. YouTubeAdolfo Constanzo Adolfo Constanzo was born in Miami in 1962. His mother, a widowed immigrant from Cuba, moved to Puerto Rico with her infant son to marry her second husband before the family moved back to Miami in 1972. Little did she know that her infant son would grow up to become a drug lord and cult-leading mass murderer....

After amassing a multibillion-dollar empire as the head of the Juárez Cartel, Amado Carrillo Fuentes died during a botched plastic surgery in 1997. As the legend goes, Amado Carrillo Fuentes left his small village around the age of 12, telling people: “I won’t come back until I’m rich.” He kept his word. Carrillo went on to build a multibillion-dollar empire and become Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficker. The head of the Juarez cartel, Carrillo earned the nickname “Lord of the Skies” because he used private planes to smuggle cocaine....

Former Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald claimed that a gang of acid-crazed Manson Family copycats brutally murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in 1970, but then he was found guilty. Steve Liss/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesJeffrey MacDonald behind bars in Terminal Island federal penitentiary. Jeffrey MacDonald had it all. Not only did the U.S. Army surgeon marry his high school sweetheart, but he had a flourishing career, two beautiful young daughters, and a son on the way....

French nobleman Gilles de Rais is remembered both as a war hero and as a serial killer who was executed for killing more than 100 children in the early 1400s. Gilles de Rais was an esteemed 15th-century nobleman and diligent soldier. He dedicated his life to defend France from the Kingdom of England and led his homeland to victory in the Hundred Years’ War. While he’s remembered for fighting alongside Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais’ true claim to infamy lies in his conviction by a court in Nante for the rape and murder of 150 children in dark occultist rituals....

Due to a loophole in Hitler’s laws, Hans Massaquoi was able to survive as a black child in Nazi Germany. However, it wasn’t easy. He’d been called out to the schoolyard with his classmates for an announcement by the school’s principal. Herr Wriede announced to all of the children that the ‘beloved Fuhrer’ was there to talk to them about his new regime. Like all of the other children in his class dressed in small brown Nazi uniforms with little swastika patches sewn onto the front, he was persuaded by the Nazi leaders charm and signed up for the Hitler Youth as soon as he could....

With pieces that might be 25,000 years old, the pyramid at Gunung Padang could be evidence of an advanced civilization that predates any currently known to the world. Wikimedia CommonsThe Gunung Padang site. Though few know it, there’s been an ancient pyramid hiding underneath a mountain in Indonesia for millennia. It’s called Gunung Padang, a name that means “the Mountain of Light,” and one researcher has reason to believe that this may be the oldest pyramid still standing on Earth....

The son of Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee died while performing a stunt gone wrong while filming “The Crow” in March 1993. In 1993, Brandon Lee was an up-and-coming action star — even though he didn’t want to be. As the son of the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee had been hesitant to follow in his father’s footsteps and wanted to be a dramatic actor instead. But that year, he landed the lead in an action-packed blockbuster....

These haunting images taken inside human zoos reveal the dark secret of Europe and America’s not-so-distant colonial past. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: In The 1930s, People Kept Babies In Cages Suspended Out Their Windows In Wealthy Hong Kong, The Poor Are Living In Wire Cages World Animal Protection Group Uncovers Horrible Mistreatment At Hundreds Of Zoos And Aquariums...