You never know when tragedy is about to strike.
If you did, then the tragedy wouldn’t happen.
Now, thanks to the age of digital cameras, we are able to see the final moments before
some of the world’s darkest moments.
If these were ordinary photos, they would be forgotten after a while.
But looking at them in retrospect, adds a stunning power to them.
Here are 10 Shockingly Powerful Images Taken Before Tragedy Struck.
Johnny Cash’s Final Show
Johnny Cash was a cultural icon.
He sang about poignant topics such as love, death and drugs.
His music is graceful and unapologetic, much like he was.
On July 5th, 2003, Johnny Cash played at The Carter Ranch. Little did those in attendance
know that it would be his final performance.
He died a little later, on the 12th of September due to diabetic complications, but romantics
will say that he died from heartbreak, since his beloved wife, June Carter, had died just
4 months before.
It is often said that there is nothing dignified about death.
In fact, it is the one thing that strips us down and shows all our vulnerabilities.
But watching Cash’s final performance is nothing like that.
He shows a sort of quiet courage, one that most of us don’t have in our final days.
What the video and pictures show us, is a man who is suffering a keen sense of grief,
and it translates into the raw power of his songs.
Johnny Cash is stripped down here, and this is what make these pictures so powerful.
You can see it in his eyes, the way he is unafraid of death- as though he cannot wait
to be reunited with his wife.
Most of us fear death, and would do anything to avoid it.
Cash was not afraid, and this is what we see in his final performance.
Patrick Swayze’s Last Days
Patrick Swayze is known for his heartthrob persona and compelling roles in movies such
as “Ghost” and “Dirty Dancing”.
He is best remembered for the vitality that he brought to is roles, and the dynamic energy
that rolled off of him in waves.
I mean, who doesn’t want to jump and dance along with him and Baby during Dirty Dancing’s
final dance number?
That is what makes these final photos of him so heartbreaking.
The star died from pancreatic cancer in 2009, but as everyone knows, cancer is not an immediate
death.
Patrick battled for months with the aggressive disease, and the fight left him drained.
He is a very public example of how quickly the disease can demolish a person, and it
is hard to see what he looked like during those last days.
Unfortunately for him, there was no dignified final show, no chance to show his courage.
His ultimate pictures are a testament to the gracelessness of death.
We are sure that he fought as hard as he could, but as these pictures show, that isn’t always
enough.
Concorde Flight 4590
25 July 2000, Air France flight 4590, took off from Paris.
It’s destination: New York City.
But the plane would never get there.
Minutes after departing, a small metallic strip fell from the airplane, punctured a
tire.
The tyre exploded and a fragment hit the fuel tank which ultimately caused the fire.
The pilot was only informed of the fire once they were in the air.
The crew tried desperately to reach the nearby landing strip at Le Bourget, but one minute
and seventeen seconds later, the plane ploughed into a motel in the small town of Gonesse.
The transcripts show that the pilot and crew tried their utmost to fix the problem, but
they couldn’t retract the undercarriage.
The problem was worsened when they lost all power in one engine and couldn’t accelerate
or decelerate.
There was nothing that could possibly have been done in time, and this is driven by the
pilot’s final words, “Too late…
no time.”
A total of 113 people lost their lives that day.
The final picture, taken by a passenger on a nearby plane shows what should be a routine
take-off.
Instead, there are flames shooting out of the back of the aircraft, a chilling prediction
of what was about to happen, but it was too late.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Here, we can see a woman and her child smiling.
There is nothing unusual about the photograph, and you can see that they are on their way
to an idyllic vacation.
If this were a normal picture, they would probably return from Kuala Lampur, safe and
sound, albeit a little sunburned.
But this is not an ordinary picture.
This is a picture taken aboard Malaysia Airlines flight 17.
The name of an ill fated trip that ended both tragically and mysteriously on July 17 2014.
The flight was shot down over the Ukraine-Russia border, and to this day, no-one knows exactly
what happened.
Ukraine points the finger at Russia, Russia points the finger at Ukraine, and everybody
looks at militant Russian separatists.
There have been media fights, heart wrenching pleas for someone to step up and take responsibility,
but nothing.
That plane was shot down, 298 innocent people died and no-one knows the exact reason why.
Pictures like this, of smiling passengers, blissfully unaware of what is about to happen,
are heartbreaking because we know that there is no happy ending to those picture perfect
smiles.
1976 Ebola Outbreak
In 2014, the world was terrified.
People everywhere were scared of contracting Ebola, an incredibly infectious deadly disease.
Airports imposed strict new rules to try and contain the said outbreak, and hoaxes sprang
up overnight, claiming that the virus was now on American shores.
The hype eventually died down, and everyone seemingly forgot about it.
But what they didn’t know was that Ebola has been around for more than 30 years.
In 1976, the central African countries of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo)
and South Sudan experienced simultaneous outbreaks of Ebola.
The disease spread like wildfire, and unfortunately, medical professionals had no idea what they
were dealing with.
One of these was Mayinga N’seka, a promising young nurse who was about to travel and study
on scholarship in Belgium.
Shortly after the outbreak, she treated a Belgian nun, sister Fermina at the hospital
where she worked in Kinshasa.
Unaware of the highly contagious nature of the disease, no special precautions were taken.
In this picture, we see Nurse N’seka staring at the camera after one of the first victims
of the disease has just died.
She has a solemn look in her eye, as she understood the gravity of the situation.
She died a few days later after also succumbing to the disease.
Looking at the picture makes you wish you could travel back in time, and warn her about
what was about to happen.
But one cannot help but get the feeling that by the time the picture was taken, the disease
was probably already in her system.
2003 R.I.
Nightclub Fire
Hundreds of people turned up for a Great White concert at The Station nightclub on February
20th 2003.
It was supposed to be a fun night of rock n roll, but something went wrong.
During the opening number, as the band started to play, and the crowd got amped up, the band’s
manager set off the pyrotechnics as planned.
What wasn’t planned was the fire that was caused by the pyrotechnic sparks.
In this picture, the crowd is going wild, the band is playing, but it seems as though
only the guitarist notices that something is wrong.
What follows is a sad tale that resulted in 100 people dying and over 200 getting injured.
This was one of the worst fires in New York’s history, and you can feel the ominous overtones
from what is very clearly, not an ordinary photo.
This is a sad accident that should never have happened.
The band has since apologised profusely, and the band manager pled guilty to the count
of involuntary manslaughter.
The event is shocking, because it never should have happened.
But due to a series of unfortunate events it did, and what was supposed to be a fun
night out, turned into a shocking accident that will no doubt haunt many for years to
come.
Notorious B.I.G
Notorious B.I.G was one of the most famous and influential rappers who ever lived.
His cultural effect has been phenomenal, even years after his death, and they say that his
music will live on forever.
There is no doubt that he was an incredible musician, but as with most stars, a cloud
of controversy surrounded him at all times.
Hee has been blamed for the death of Tupac Shakur, and some say that is why he was killed.
Whether this is true or not, he took his secret to the grave, and the air of mystery will
forever cloud these two talented musicians.
A photo was taken of him alongside P Diddy after leaving the 2007 Soul Train Music Awards.
In the photo, you can see him in high spirits as the two friends leave the party.
He looks his usual self, and as though he has no care in the world.
Both subjects of the photo could never have guessed what was about to happen next.
A few minutes after the picture was taken, Biggie was gunned down during a drive-by.
The photo is the world’s last look at the legend, and it will now forever be marked
by the tragedy, because the man himself would never again be the subject of another photo.
But he will live on through his music, and the legacy he left behind on his beloved industry.
John Lennon
The Beatles took the world by storm ever since they formed back in the early 1960’s.
But the band split some time thereafter, with many fans pinning the blame on John Lennon
and his wife Yoko Ono.
Despite the controversy surrounding them, they were still an influential couple, with
a beautiful view of the world that was evident in their art.
On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was just signing autographs for fans, one of them Paul
Goresh, who took the second last picture of the iconic artist.
Goresh managed to capture a picture of John and his killer, Mark David Chapman.
John Lennon made a lot of enemies, because he wasn’t afraid to speak out against the
system.
But it wasn’t one of his enemies, but rather one of his fans.
Just a few hours later, as John was on his way home to his then 5 year old son.
He was shot in the back by Chapman, a man who had just waited for hours for a glimpse
of his hero.
In those moments, the world lost a beautiful man who only wanted to make the world a better
place.
The world was rocked by the tragedy.
Unbeknownst to the world, Yoko Ono kept the pair of glasses he wore that night, and posted
a picture of the bloody spectacles to protest gun violence more than 30 years later.
It seems like a fitting tribute, and something that he would have wanted.
Columbine Hero Dave Sanders
Modern society has seen the rise of an alarming and tragic new trend.
We now have to bear the horror of hearing, or in some cases seeing disturbed young people
taking guns to school and taking out their aggression on innocent fellow students.
The blame has been pinned on bullying, mental disorders and a whole host of other sources
as people try and make sense of these brutal events.
But out of these tragic events, some people prove that there is still hope out there.
Because where there are people willing to commit murder, there are people willing to
sacrifice their lives for others.
This is the case of Dave Sanders, a teacher at Columbine high, who gave up his life to
save his students.
When the two student gunmen began firing at students outside the school, the teacher ran
into the cafeteria to warn others.
Thanks to him, the cafeteria was nearly empty when the gunmen arrived.
He didn’t consider his duty over yet though, as he ran upstairs to try and warn other students.
If he had gone outside with the rest of the faculty, he would have lived, but more students
would have died.
After being shot more than three times, he dragged himself into a classroom to try and
help further.
He bled to death 3 hours later, but his heroism will be remembered for a long time.
This beloved grandfather proved that even though there is so much bad in the world,
there is a lot of good too, and his inspiration is what will help many get through the grief
brought about this tragedy where nearly 100 students lost their lives.
9/11
It is a day marked down in infamy. 9/11 is known to be the day that changed the course
of modern history.
On that day, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists killed 2,966 people.
In this picture, we see United Airlines Flight 175 crash into the South Tower of the World
Trade Center.
We can see the exact moment of impact, and the moment our world was changed forever.
These violent terrorist attacks launched the world into a new era of war, loss and upheaval.
More than a decade later, we are still reeling from the senselessness of the attack.
It also forced us to face a new enemy, the enemy of terrorism.
Before this, we had a clearly visible enemy.
An army that needed to be fought, something that was dangerous, but could be seen.
But now, terrorism is like an insidious poison that can seep in anywhere.
Terrorism can be around the corner, and we wouldn’t know it.
It is true that we saw terrorism before this, but not on such a large scale.
Many innocent people lost their lives that day, and the saddest part is that they were
innocent citizens who had done nothing but get up for work that day.
This attack brought about a new era, and one of the most infamous moments in history.
It forced us to change our ways, and become more aware of an ever growing problem.
And this picture captured the exact moment our world as we knew it changed forever.
And that’s our list.
Did we miss any other shocking pictures taken before tragedy struck?
Be sure to let us know in the comments, we would love to hear from you.
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