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31 Famous Photographs With Buckwild Backstories

How many words is a picture’s backstory worth?

31 Famous Photographs With Buckwild Backstories

August 19, 2023

Many of the images below will be known to most people, but how much do you know about the history behind them? Because some of those histories are more interesting than the actual photographs themselves…

31

The Wright brothers first powered flight kinda went to their heads a bit. They somehow got the idea that the sky was theirs. Literally. The brothers launched lawsuits against American airplane builders for patent infringement, even if they were of different designs. Eventually, in 1917, the government had to step in with a solution so new, American airplanes could be built. Which is why Eddie Rickenbacker here is sitting in a French made SPAD S.XIII. Не was the highest scoring American fighter ace of that war, by the way. CRACKED COM — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

30

GRACKED COM General Ulysses S Grant in front of his troops 1-horse and body-Major General Alexander M McCook 2-head-portrait of Grant 3-background -Confederate prisoners captured 1 2 3 — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

29

GRACKED.COM First time Second time They just needed a bigger flag. — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

28

Prosthetic finger and SAFETY thumb IX E AI ESTIC LAST M 1A 1923 Harold Lloya had been temporarily blinded and permanently maimed in an accident in 1919. GRACKED.COM — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

27

CRACKED COM The image widely circulated in postcards, posters and litographies, even a sculpture was made. For the young girl in the photo, Gelia Markizova, the future held nasty surprises: her father would be arrested and shot as a Japanese spy and her mother arrested and sent to Southern Kazakhstan, where she died under mysterious circumstances. Finally, she moved in with an aunt in Moscow and changed her family name. Neither for the man grinning in the background things went very well, as he was later purged (and deleted from the photo, stalinist style). — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

26

GRACKED.COM Why was restaurant busboy Juan Romero the first person to attend to Bobby Kennedy when he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at Los Angeles's Ambassador Hotel on June 6, 1968? Because Kennedy was shaking Romero's hand at the time of Sirhan's first shot. Kennedy literally fell out of Romero's grip. — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

25

The nurse in the V-J Day kiss photo wasn't game for it. Greta Friedman has recounted how this stranger just grabbed her. In other photos, she has her hand in a fist before giving in to the man's strength. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

24

This photo was taken for Rolling Stone the same day John Lennon was murdered. Photographer Annie Leibovitz wanted both Lennon and Yoko Ono nude, but Ono didn't feel comfortable with the idea. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

23

CRACKED COM TIRE NISSAN ORBEM. PENETA Christopher Columbus didn't actually look like this. This portrait was painted by Sebastiano del Piombo, who never met Columbus. No one knows what he really looked like. — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

22

CRACKED.COM Winston Churchill was surly because the photographer took his cigar. Already in a bad mood, Churchill refused to give up his cigar. The photographer, Yousuf Karsh, stepped forward and just took it from him. — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

21

This is Tenzing Norgay atop Mt. Everest. The photo was taken by Edmund Hillary after the first ascent of the mountain ever. There's no photo of Hillary, as Norgay didn't know how to use a camera. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

20

This iconic photo was altered to avoid accusations of looting. Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, taken after the Battle of Berlin, was edited by its author, Yevgeny Khaldei, as a soldier was wearing two watches for some reason. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

19

No, President Bush wasn't holding a book upside-down. AM RICA The Preumble to the U.S. Constitution - the people of the United States in sender my form a more perfect Union establish - domachio - premierte the provide for IN blessings a www. enterity liberty action de unto i for SAVED AMERICA The Premble to the U.S. Constitution - - - of - - - - - - - - - - - United - protein - - Hearty - America Ame This image that went viral in 2002 turned out to be a hoax. The president had been holding the — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

18

Did these rats get cancer from eating GMOs? No, they didn't! These are Sprague Dawley rats, which develop tumors naturally regardless of what they eat. The article linking them to genetically modified corn was retracted. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

17

AFTER A SHOCKING VICTORY IN THEIR FIRST FIGHT. MUHAMMAD ALI KNOCKED OUT SONNY LISTON ON A PHANTOM PUNCH IN THEIR REMATCH. PHOTOGRAPHER NEIL LEIFER IMMORTALIZED ALI SCREAMING GET UP AND FIGHT. SUCKER! TO LISTON. НЕ ALSO CAPTURED ALI BREAKING THE RULES AND NOT RETURNING TO HIS CORNER AFTER A KNOCKDOWN. LISTON SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO CONTINUE BUT WAS INCORRECTLY RULED KNOCKED OUT. THE PICTURE INSPIRED ARTICLES. BOOKS AND THEORIES AS TO WHETHER LISTON TOOK A DIVE THEORIES HAVE STATED НЕ BET AGAINST HIMSELF. WAS BRIBED BY THE MOB OR WAS THREATEND BY THE NATION OF ISLAM. GRACKED.COM — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

16

GRACKED.COM Heckenschützen WANTED POR TV MURDER After his we shall fight on the beaches speech, Churchill made some tours of the UKs coastal defences to back up British morale. During one of these he was photographed trying out an American 1928 Tommy Gun. Both sides used the picture for propaganda. The в ritish edited out two soldiers standing next to Churchill, making him look statesmanlike, determined and menacing. Nazi propaganda used it domestically with the German text Sniper and even as leaflets in air drops over the UK during the в attle of Britain. — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

15

When Bob Dylan went to visit Rubin Hurricane Carter in prison, he was disappointed that there weren't any bars to put between them. Не really had his heart set on a moving photo of the boxer who had been wrongfully imprisioned... This was staged. The bars are just a grate they pulled down from the ceiling in the middle of a hallway. CRACKED.COM — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

14

GRAGKED.COM Clarence H. Long, the original Marlboro Man, was a ranch foreman whose picture appeared in a 1949 LIFE magazine series about ranching. His photo inspired Marboro execs to use him in a new ad campaign designed to shift the Marboro image from women's to men's cigarettes. Although he received widepread fame and marraige requests from across the country, Long was unaffected and lived out the rest of his life working at his Texas ranch. — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

13

CRACKED.COM This photo was taken just a few hours before Gandhi was assassinated. It shows Gandhi next to his spinning wheel, which he used to make hand-woven cloth. — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

12

CRACKED.COM Kevin Carter took this photo in March 1993 depicting the 1993 famine in Sudan. Не was later criticized for taking the 20 minutes to set up and take the photo instead of helping the child. In May 1994, he won the Pulitzer Prize for the photo. In July 1994, he killed himself, leaving a suicide note which said in part: I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

11

GRACKED.COM FAKE! These posers were only pretending to take a break In reality it was just part of a promotional photo shoot... ...while dangling 840 feet above the ground with no safety harnesses... — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

10

No, photos like this don't prove that Marilyn Monroe was a size 16. We know from her clothes that she was a size 8 for most of her career, and never exceeded a size 10. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

9

A Rolling Stones album cover rewrites history. 1971-2003 ROLLING STONES RARITIES S KARIT The cover for Rarities 1971-2003 features an old photo of all Stones members- minus Bill Wyman, who was edited out, as he left the band in 1992. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

8

Snowball is a monster cat. Except that he isn't. This photo of Snowball went viral in 2000. A year later, the owner admitted he edited the image on his computer as a joke. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

7

GRACKED.COM This inspirational iceberg never existed. Part of the iceberg was photographed in Alaska, and the rest in Antarctica. In all, four separate photos were composited together to create this image. — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

6

The Cottingley Fairies fooled grown-up people. Both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Kodak Company said the photos showed no signs of faking. As it turned out, they had been faked-by 16-year-old Elsie Wright and nine-year-old Frances Griffiths. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

5

Mussolini wanted this photo all to himself. The fascist dictator didn't look heroic enough with a guy handling his horse- so the guy was edited out. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

4

These workers were only pretending to take a break. It was part of a promotional photo shoot. The potential 840-feet fall with no safety harnesses was real, though. CRACKED.COM — Source: 26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories

3

CRACKED COM construction This is the uncropped picture of Tank Man. — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

2

The first time ever GRACKED COM an airplane took off was captured by a camera operated by someone who was using a camera for the first time ever — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

1

This famous portrait of Lincoln has been As there weren't many heroic pictures oj displayed in many an American classroom the president, an unknown photographer for over a hundred years, but not many pasted Lincoln's head onto a photo oj realize it is a shameless fake. Southern leader John Calhoun GRACKED.COM — Source: 21 Little-Known Backstories To Famous Photos

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