Viewed today, these vintage menus are about more than just food — they offer us insight on the times in which they existed. S.S. Pennland, 1931.New York Public Library Cavanagh's, New York City, 1959.New York Public Library Cafe Zanzibar, New York City, 1943.New York Public Library R.M.S Queen Elizabeth, 1957.New York Public Library Tortola, San Francisco, 1937.New York Public Library Waldorf Astoria, New York City, 1933.New York Public Library S.S. President Johnson, 1932.

One of history's cruelest forms of capital punishment dating back to the days of ancient Rome, immurement has the victim sealed inside an enclosed space and left to die slowly.Wikimedia CommonsA depiction of the immurement of a nun, 1868. Throughout history, immurement, also known as live entombment, was a cruel form of punishment in which a person was enclosed in a tight confinement without an exit. A person could, for example, be stuffed inside a locked coffin or a wooden box.

Survival doesn't entail physical strength alone — it also requires good communication.Wikimedia Commons Around the mid to late 1800s, poor, migrant workers roamed the country from coast to coast in search of work. Usually hopping onto train cars for a free, albeit illegal, ride to their next destination, the life of the transient worker was quite often a dangerous one, and in order to stay out of harm’s way, these men developed what is known as the “hobo code” to communicate with their fellow traveler.

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz and the 7,000 starving victims trapped inside — then uncovered macabre warehouses filled with the personal belongings of countless dead prisoners. Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and/or images of violent, disturbing, or otherwise potentially distressing events. The infamous gate at Auschwitz, taken shortly after Soviet troops liberated the camp in January 1945.AFP via Getty Images Survivors at Auschwitz watch as Soviet troops approach.

Giles Corey and his wife Martha were already outsiders in the farming village of Salem, Massachusetts when they were accused of witchcraft. They subsequently faced a torturous fate.Giles Corey was a prosperous farmer with a bit of a dark past. An upright and proud man, he had a few times escaped the punishments of the leaders of Salem, Mass. His relationship with the community was strained and the people of Salem might have wanted revenge, thus the Salem Witch Trials became the perfect cover for getting away with his and his wife, unconventional Martha Corey’s, murder.