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We leave you with this image, and no further comment.

Seriously, there are no further words in this article. Not just because there's nothing more that needs to be said (are you looking at it?), but also because nobody actually knows why Mark Twain sat for a naked photograph. And he is nude; don't try to tell yourself he's not. "What? He could be wearing pants, Cracked!" Really? Look at his facial expression. Yeah, he's naked, and fully erect.

There is speculation that Twain was asked to take the photo as a model for a bust that was being made. If so, we like to think that nudity was nowhere in the instructions.

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For more jaw-dropping goodness from the old-timey era, please pre-order Jacopo's upcoming book, The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, and other fine stores today!

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Related Reading: We've got more unbelievably unphotoshopped old-timey photos, right here. Hey, while we're going back to simpler times why not bring the cages back to basketball? And if you think that's a sketchy past-time, we'd like to introduce you to live Civil War battle tourists.

It's hard to imagine, but a singular great idea can come from more than one brain. In this week's podcast, Jack O'Brien, David Wong, and Kristi Harrison look at the curious cases of the telephone and Harry Potter to determine whether plagiarism took place, or if something more bizarre is at hand. You can download the episode here, and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast here.