Haunting photographs of people before their execution:
A thread 🧵
1. Public execution of a child molester in Yemen.
2. Sgt. Leonard Siffleet moments before being executed by a Japanese officer in WWII.
3. German commando captured in American uniform is prepared for execution, December 23, 1944.
4. Photo from 2017 of an Iraqi officer named Abu Bakir al-Samarayi. The picture shows him with a defiant, fearless expression on his face moments before an ISIS militant executed him.
5. Chinese guerrilla fighter Cheng Benhua smiling moments before execution by the Japanese. She was 24.
6. Chinese women about to be executed for drug smuggling, facing their last moments with a smile.
7. Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Szálasi is given the last rites before being hanged as a collaborator, 1946.
8. The last Jew in Vinnitsa, 1941.
9. Jack Sullivan, who murdered railroad officer John Bradbury during a gunfight, is seen smoking a cigar a few moments before he took his last breath in the lethal gas execution chamber, 1936.
10. Execution by cannon, Shiraz, Iran, 1890s.
11. A Liberian army soldier stands ready to execute a former cabinet minister following the 1980 coup.
12. Nigerian man smiling at firing squad.
13. Mexican rebel Fortino Samano moments before his execution by a firing squad during the Mexican Revolution, 1916.
14. Execution of a German Communist in Munich, 1919.
15. A woman condemned to die of starvation in pre-Soviet Mongolia.
16. Rudolf Höss, the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, is hanged next to the crematorium at the camp, 1947.
17. A man convicted of murder imprisoned in a wooden cage on a street in China. He was left to die of thirst, starvation, and exposure, circa 1930.
18. Photo of Muhammed al-Maghrabi, convicted of raping and killing 3-year-old Rana Almatari, screaming just before he was publicly executed by being shot at close range with an AK-47.
19. Different expressions of six Polish civilians moments before death by firing squad, 1939.
20. A prison guard feeding a female drug dealer some lychees the night before her execution.
21. Georges Blind, a member of the French resistance, smiling at a German firing squad, 1944.
22. Partisan before being hanged by the Nazis, shouting: "Death to fascism, freedom to people."
23. The first picture of the electric chair being used on a person. Her name was Ruth Snyder.
24. Joe Arridy was a mentally challenged man who was wrongfully accused and arrested for murder and rape. This is a photo of him giving his toy trains to a fellow inmate preceding his execution, 1939.
25. German General Anton Dostler before his execution by a firing squad in Italy, December 1945.
26. German commandos captured in American uniform are prepared for execution, 1944.
27. Japanese troops using prisoners of war for target practice, 1942.
28. Rainey Bethea walks up the stairs with guards for his public execution in August 14, 1936 in Owensboro, KY.
29. Russian spy laughing through his execution in Finland, 1942.
30. An Iranian man smiles as he is about to be executed by hanging from a crane.
1. Heart attack gun: In 1975, the CIA unveiled a gun that fired a dart made from a frozen mixture of water and a toxin. Powered by electricity, it had an effective range of up to 100 meters. The only indicator of being shot was a small red dot at the point of entry. The official cause of death in such cases would be listed as a heart attack, making the murders appear natural.
2. Miniature 35-mm Tessina film camera: This compact camera, hidden in a pack of Parliaments, was one of the smallest and quietest options available during the 1960s for undercover operations.
3. WWII pigeon cameras: During WWII, operatives would strap these lightweight cameras to pigeons. As the bird flew over a target, the camera took hundreds of photos. These images were more detailed than those from airplanes, because pigeons can fly hundreds of feet lower. Unfortunately, the pigeon photos are still classified.
Chilling and disturbing movie facts that will haunt you forever 🧵
1. Isla Fisher almost drowned for real while filming “Now You See Me” (2013). In the water tank scene, her chains got stuck, and she couldn’t get out. She started panicking and screaming for help, but the crew thought she was just acting.
2. The jaw-snapping ‘reverse bear trap’ in “Saw” (2004) was completely real and fully functional. Luckily, it was never actually triggered on an actor, but if it had been… well, it would’ve worked exactly like in the movie.
3. While filming “Twilight Zone: The Movie” (1983), a helicopter crashed and killed actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen. It was one of the worst accidents in movie history, and it changed Hollywood safety rules forever.
In 1974, Marina Abramović performed 'Rhythm 0', a performance art piece in which she remained motionless for six hours, allowing the audience to do anything to her without resistance.
On a table beside her were 72 objects. Some were harmless, like a rose and grapes. Others were dangerous, like scissors, a scalpel, and a loaded gun.
Here's what happened to her... (thread) 🧵
The audience was invited to use the objects however they wanted. Abramović gave simple instructions:
“I am the object.
You can do anything to me.
I take full responsibility.”
At first, the audience was gentle. They handed her flowers, kissed her cheek, or touched her lightly.
The atmosphere was calm.
But as time passed, the mood changed.
Someone moved her body and raised her hands in the air. Another participant used sharp blades to cut her clothes off.
She stood naked, exposed, and vulnerable...
The audience began to test the limits of her stillness.