33 Powerful Photos Taken Right Before The World Changed Forever

With all its commotion, life can be hard to process “in the moment,” and this is especially true of dangerous, harrowing, and tragic events. Recollecting or reconstructing these moments after the fact is therefore almost always a challenge. Thankfully, though, as photography has grown in ease and ubiquity, more and more of these sorts of events have been captured and documented on film. While this is great for our history books, it can just as often be startling to look at a photo and realize disaster is about to strike. When you see these images in particular—taken before, during, and after significant tragic incidents—your hair just might stand on end. 1. Titanic This is the last photograph ever taken of the Titanic as it set sail for New York in 1912. At the time of its launch, it was the largest passenger ship ever built, but unfortunately, that didn’t mean it was necessarily the safest. Whoever took this photo, was not aware that this is the last they would ever see the revolutionary ship. 2. James Dean James Dean is seen here filling up with gas for his Porsche 550 Spyder. This was taken just before he crashed it and was killed. Legend has it that the car is cursed, as it was involved in several more accidental deaths before disappearing in the ’60s. 3. Crash And Burn This photograph was recovered from Japan Airlines Flight 123 after it crashed, killing everyone on board. Notice in this picture that the emergency oxygen masks had already dropped, meaning this was taken right before the plane actually crashed. Wow, that made us shudder. 4. Bear Bait A man took this photo while on a hike in New Jersey, moments before the bear attacked and killed him. A photo is never worth your life. He put himself in a dangerous situation. 5. Chilling Moments William “Dave” Sanders, a coach at Columbine High School, was caught on the school security cameras guiding more than 100 students out of the cafeteria just before being killed in the shooting. 6. Eruption This picture captures the start of an eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicily, Italy back in 2013. The volcano is one of the world’s most active, with various volcanic events occurring multiple times per year. This is an incredible image showing the calm before the storm, literally. 7. Fireworks The band Great White plays a show at Rhode Island’s Station Nightclub, just before their pyrotechnics caused a fire that killed more than 100 people. In this eerie photo just before the incident see you can see the destructive fireworks on display, but nobody is aware yet… 8. Destruction In Nepal This comparison photo shows the iconic Bhimsen Tower, a major tourist attraction, in Kathmandu, Nepal just before and after its destruction by a devastating earthquake back in April of 2015. 9. Robin Williams This is the last known picture of Robin Williams taken before his tragic suicide in August of 2014 at the age of 63. He apparently went to the Dairy Queen and purchased a small vanilla cone before posing for the picture and leaving. He is missed by the world to this day. 10. Modern Art A chair became lodged in a Joplin, Missouri building wall after a devastating hurricane back in 2011. It was obviously very destructive, but it’s still hard to imagine winds powerful enough to do this! Now it stays as a reminder of the tragic event. 11. Paul Walker. Paul Walker is shown here climbing into the car that eventually crashed, taking his life in 2013. Many people were quick to point out the tragic irony of The Fast and the Furious star dying in such a way… Art imitates life. 13. Blizzard Some of us are quick to call any snowfall over a few inches a “blizzard,” but it’s photos like this that remind us of our hyperbole. This is a regular winter snowfall in the remote region of Nunavut, Canada! That is crazy, we couldn’t live there. 14. Niagara Falls Robert Overcracker drove a jet ski over Niagara Falls to raise awareness for the homeless back in 1995. This photo was snapped just as his parachute failed to deploy, sending him plummeting to his death. 15. Tornado In 2005, a powerful tornado wiped out a little over one percent of Sweden’s forests. It doesn’t seem like a lot until you realize just how much excess timber the country was left with! 16. Everest George Mallory and Sandy Irvine are photographed just before they began their ascent of Mt. Everest in 1924. Tragically, neither of these pioneering explorers made it to the summit—or back down—again. 17. Sad Ending This photo shows Joy Division lead singer and post-punk trailblazer, Ian Curtis, posing with his young daughter only a few days before his tragic suicide by hanging in 1980. This is a treasured moment. 18. Horrifying End This photo of a family was taken on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 back on July 17, 2014 shortly before it was shot down over Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists, killing everybody on board. 19. Treasured Moments This picture of the Kelly family was taken at a New York Yankees game on September 10, 2011. Father Joe Kelly was killed the next day in the attacks on the World Trade Center. It is scary to think you just never know what could happen. We have to live every to its fullest. 20. Plane Falling From Sky In 1978, A Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 tragically crashed into a small private Cessna 172 plane and fell from the sky. This picture captures the plane just before it hit the ground in North Park, San Diego. Whoever caught that shot must have been shaken up to see it crash. 21. WWII This photo from World War II shows a Soviet guerrilla team executing a “traitor” in Germany during 1944. Historians have never been able to discover the identity of the traitor or what exactly he did. This chilling photograph is incredible that it has been saved from such a long time ago and can relay incidents that we were not there to see. 22. World Champs In 1961, the U.S. figure skating team boarded a flight to the World Championships in Belgium. Unfortunately, their plane crashed after being forced to abort its landing in Brussels. Such happy moments can change in a second. 23. Patrick Swayze This is a rare photo of renowned actor Patrick Swayze just days before he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. Cancer of the pancreas is one of the deadliest forms of the disease, with a five-year survival rate of just seven percent. The actor will always remain in our memories through his amazing movies. 24. Jimmy This photo shows Jim Morrison hanging out in Paris in 1971 with his girlfriend Pamela Courson. He would die in the city of a heroin overdose within days of this picture being taken. Whoa, crazy. 25. Destruction This picture was taken in Bay Head, New Jersey is yet another example of the destructive effects of Hurricane Sandy. Built on a cliff, this house couldn’t remain standing once floodwaters swept away much of the ground on which it stood. 26. Mount Vesuvius In 79 CE, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius covered the city of Pompeii with volcanic ash and molten rock. Years later, archaeologists uncovered the many bodies that were trapped and mummified in the aftermath. History is mind-blowing. 27. Flooding We’ve all seen pictures of flooding before, but rarely do you witness a deluge of this magnitude. The amount of water necessary to pick up and float a car down the highway is mind-blowing! recent flooding in Texas has caused huge amounts of damage to so many homes and people’s livelihoods, it is heartbreaking and life-changing but not for the better. 28. Hot Air Balloon In 2012, a hot air balloon collided with power lines in New Zealand, killing all 11 tourists on board. Though there’s no way to know for sure, the accident has been attributed to negligence on the part of the balloon’s pilot. This photo is scary as it shows them right before their death. 29. Johnny Cash Johnny Cash’s last public performance was a surprise show at Carter’s Fold in Hilton, Virginia in 2003. The venue was named in honor of Cash’s wife June Carter’s musical family. 30. Magic Moments With Sad Endings This photo shows the then-mayor of St. Louis, William D. Becker, with a number of other politicians on a military test flight in 1943. Unfortunately, the flight crashed; all 10 people aboard lost their lives. 31. Ebola Mayinga N’seka, a nurse, is depicted here during an Ebola outbreak in 1976. Her dedication meant that she eventually contracted the disease herself and passed away not long after. 32. Explosion Everybody’s had a casual skull fight, right? This photo was actually taken in Colon Cemetery in Cuba in 1899 when the US Army disinterred the bodies all soldiers who died in the explosion on the USS Maine years earlier. 33. Deathly Tricks This photo shows well-known parkour enthusiast Pavel Kashin performing the trick that would lead to his death. He’s pictured attempting to back-flip to the wall, but he would soon lose his balance and fall to the ground below. Credits: eternallifestyle.com

29. Johnny Cash

30. Magic Moments With Sad Endings

31. Ebola

32. Explosion

33. Deathly Tricks

Related posts: