15 Old School Photos That Prove The World Used To Be Completely Insane

4. Elephant Falling Out Of A Train (1951)

"Okay guys, I have a great for the next publicity stunt - we put a baby elephant into a floating train!" Yeah, great idea, German circus promoters. During the ride, the giant land mammal naturally started to bump about the carriage, broke through the side of the wagon and fell into the river below. Luckily, only minor injuries occurred to all involved and the organisers were fined. Looks like they got the exposure they wanted after all.

3. Lion Drome (1930s)

Business must be really slow if you have to resort to throwing apex predators onto side-cars and having them circle the Wall Of Death, sideways. But that's exactly what they classed as entertainment in the 30s: a day out for the kids where they could take in petrol fumes and jungle predators in both a physics and nature defying show. The Wall Of Death with motorcycles alone had been popular for quite some time, but driving sideways round a concrete bowl started to get boring; so, naturally, they threw lions into the mix. When this started to lose it's edge, they employed hot babes to take a ride with the flesh-eating cats. Sex sells, after all.