Freakish, Century-Old "Tall Tale Postcards" Were the 'Shops of Their Day

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Tall tale postcards were all the rage a century ago, thanks to photographers William H. "Dad" Martin and Alfred Stanley Johnson Jr. These trick photography (or retouched) postcards brought us strange images of gigantic rabbits, fishes and vegetables. Tall tale postcards were popular up until World War I, and then they slowly faded from memory. Here are twenty of the strangest.

Giant carrot

via Wisconsin Historical Society

Great Sport Fishing, 1910

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via Wisconsin Historical Society

Giant carrot

Great Sport Fishing, 1910

Bringing In The Sheaves, 1908

Kickers

Catfish Caught in Beaver Pond

Sliceing

Father works

A Gold Mine On The Farm

Nip+Tuck with a bass, 1911

Great sport fishing here, 1910

The way we catch them here

Kansas Air Ship

The way we raise potatos in Montana

When we go after anything we get it

Our watermelons grow big

A load of potatoes

A good opening

There are some fish around here

Fur herring

A late Tall Tale from 1938