The Night MLK Was Murdered: A Photographer’s Story

On April 4, 1968, LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky and writer Mike Silva, on assignment in Alabama, learned that Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The two men jumped into their car, raced the 200 miles to the scene of the assassination, and there to their astonishment found that they had unfettered access to the motel’s grounds; to nearby abandoned buildings from which the fatal rifle shot likely came; to Dr. King’s motel room; and to the bleak, blood-stained balcony where the civil rights leader had fallen, mortally wounded, hours earlier.

“I was astonished by how desolate it all was,” Groskinsky told LIFE. “Then again, everyone probably thought that the person who shot Dr. King might still be out there somewhere.”

For reasons that have been lost in the intervening decades, Groskinsky’s photographs from that eerily quiet night in Memphis taken at the site, and on the very day, of one of the signal events of the 20th century were not published in LIFE magazine, and the story behind them was not told. Until now.

[The new LIFE special edition, Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr., at Amazon.]

(Note: A slightly different version of this post appeared on an earlier version of LIFE.com.)

The Lorraine Motel, n the hours after Dr. King's assassination, April 4, 1968.

The Lorraine Motel, in the hours after Dr. King’s assassination, April 4, 1968.

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Will D. Campbell, alone on the Lorraine Motel balcony, gazes out into the night. "This picture was probably made as soon as we got there," Groskinsky told LIFE.com. "When I saw him standing there, alone, I thought it looked as if he was just asking himsel

Will D. Campbell, a minister and activist alone on the Lorraine Motel balcony, gazed out into the night. “This picture was probably made as soon as we got there,” Groskinsky told LIFE.com. “When I saw him standing there, alone, I thought it looked as if he was just asking himself, My God, what has happened here?”

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Outside of room 306, Theatrice Bailey, the brother of the Lorraine Motel's owner, cleans blood from the balcony. "There was no friction with the people there at the Lorraine," Groskinsky recalled, "even though here was this white man with a camera on the

Outside of room 306, Theatrice Bailey, the brother of the Lorraine Motel’s owner, cleaned blood from the balcony. “There was no friction with the people there at the Lorraine,” Groskinsky recalled, “even though here was this white man with a camera on the o friction with the people there at the Lorraine,” Groskinsky recalled, “even though here was this white man with a camera on the scene.”

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Theatrice Bailey attempts to clean blood from the balcony, hours after the 6 PM shooting of Dr. King. "I don't know if there were official people around taking notes and pictures and things like that," Groskinsky told LIFE.com. "Nobody was there when we w

Theatrice Bailey attempted to clean blood from the balcony, hours after the 6 PM shooting of Dr. King. “I don’t know if there were official people around taking notes and pictures and things like that,” Groskinsky told LIFE.com. “Nobody was there when we were there. But the fact that the blood was still on the floor, and this man was actually putting it in a jar … well, when you see a picture like that, God, it feels invasive.”

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The back of a photograph taken by LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tenn.

The back of a photograph taken by LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tenn.

Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The building on the left is the abandoned building from which Groskinsky took several of his photographs on the night of April 4. "It was a little scary crawling into the building, because who knew who was going to be there? Who doesn't want you to be the

The building on the left was the abandoned building from which Groskinsky took several of his photographs on the night of April 4. “It was a little scary crawling into the building, because who knew who was going to be there? Who doesn’t want you to be there? The atmosphere was very dark, very creepy.”

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Colleagues gather on the balcony outside the Lorraine Motel's room 306, just a few feet from where Dr. King was shot, April 4, 1968.

Colleagues gathered on the balcony outside the Lorraine Motel’s room 306, just a few feet from where Dr. King was shot, April 4, 1968.

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s neatly packed, monogrammed briefcase in his room at the Lorraine Motel, April 4, 1968 with his brush, his pajamas, a can of shaving cream and his book, Strength to Love, visible in the pocket.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s neatly packed, monogrammed briefcase in his room at the Lorraine Motel, April 4, 1968, with his brush, his pajamas, a can of shaving cream and his book, Strength to Love, visible in the pocket.

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Stunned, silent members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Dr. King's room at the Lorraine Motel, April 4, 1968, including Andrew Young (far left, under table lamp) and civil rights leader and Dr. King's colleague, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, in

Stunned, silent members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Dr. King’s room at the Lorraine Motel, April 4, 1968, including Andrew Young (far left, under the table lamp) and civil rights leader and Dr. King’s colleague, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, in the middle on the far bed. “I was very discreet,” Groskinsky recalled. “I shot just enough to document what was going on. There, almost in the center of the picture, in the mirror, you can see my reflection. I took a couple of pictures and just kind of backed off.”

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Ralph Abernathy and Will D. Campbell, a long-time friend and civil rights activist, embrace in Dr. King's room. "I was documenting a momentous event," Groskinsky told LIFE.com, "and I thought that at any time I was going to be asked to leave, so I did wh

Ralph Abernathy and Will D. Campbell, a long-time friend and civil rights activist, embraced in Dr. King’s room. “I was documenting a momentous event,” Groskinsky told LIFE.com, “and I thought that at any time I was going to be asked to leave, so I did what I could as quickly as I could.”

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A photo taken through tree branches by Henry Groskinsky from a derelict building across the street from the Lorraine Motel, April 4, 1968, very close to where the shot that killed Dr. King likely came from.

A photo taken through tree branches by Henry Groskinsky from a derelict building across the street from the Lorraine Motel, April 4, 1968, very close to where the shot that killed Dr. King likely came from.

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

An airplane dispatched by the U.S. government to retrieve Dr. King's body and return it to Atlanta, Ga., waits on the tarmac in Memphis, Tenn., the day after MLK's assassination. "Here we were, two white guys in the Deep South right after the murder of th

An airplane that was dispatched by the U.S. government to retrieve Dr. King’s body and return it to Atlanta, Ga., waited on the tarmac in Memphis, Tenn., the day after MLK’s assassination.

Henry Groskinsky/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The cover of the April 12, 1968, issue of LIFE magazine.

The cover of the April 12, 1968, issue of LIFE magazine.

Fred Ward/Life Magazine

After Hiroshima: Portraits of Survivors

On July 16, 1945, the Atomic Age was born when a device with an explosive “yield” roughly equal to 20 kilotons of TNT was detonated in the desert of southeastern New Mexico. The explosion was so inconceivably violent, so fearsome, that one witness to the event, the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, famously claimed that a line from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, ran unbidden through his head: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Less than a month later, American forces dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands of men, women and children in an instant; condemning thousands more to slow, agonizing deaths from burns and radiation sickness in the months and years to come; and, in the eyes of most historians, both Western and Asian, hastening the surrender of the Japanese and bringing about the end of the Second World War.

Here, LIFE.com presents a selection of photographs, most of which were never published in LIFE magazine, taken in Hiroshima after the war ended. In the landscape of a ruined city, and on the scarred skin and misshapen limbs of Japanese who survived the world’s first nuclear attack, photographer Carl Mydans discovered the legacy part nightmare, part surprising, wishful dream of those world-changing explosions.

As LIFE put it to the magazine’s readers in September 1947:

On August 6, two years to the day and the minute after the first atomic bomb devastated their city, the people of Hiroshima, Japan, gathered to mourn but, more surprising, to celebrate as well. A startled world read that Hiroshima, proclaiming itself the new world mecca for peace, had held a carnival. The people planted camphor tree, which is a symbol for long life, and they prayed, too. But then they paraded through the streets, listened to speeches and had fun. Hiroshima seemed to have risen from the dead. The people were putting their city back on the map. The spirit was that of a U.S. boom town in the late 1800s. Their motto: Look at us and forego war.

The only civilian correspondent covering the ceremonies, LIFE’s Carl Mydans, questioned the people and took pictures. He found that Hiroshima had made tremendous strides in recovery. A population reduced from 250,000 to 175,000 in one blinding flash had slowly grown back to 210,000. Of 60,000 houses destroyed 23,000 have been rebuilt. Stores with Western names have opened shop. There is a drive on to get tourist trade and a movement to package and export bits of fused rubble to the rest of the world.

The booster spirit of resurgent Hiroshima would warm the heart of any Rotarian. The imponderables in the phenomenon might baffle a philosopher. It was easy for cynical “experts” to note the traditional Japanese love of novelty, their commercialism and their ability to be led, either for good or evil. But then, no atomic bombs have fallen on the “experts.” Like other men who have watched postwar Hiroshima, Lieut. Colonel Thomas Cloward, chief of American Military Government stationed there, could only say, “We don’t know what is the truly motivating force. All we know is that something’s happened to these people. They want peace, and they want to play a part in that peace.”

Hiroshima, Japan 1947

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

Hiroshima Japan 1947, Atomic Bomb survivor

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

A survivor of the United States' atomic attack on Hiroshima, still hospitalized two years later, shows the damage to his hands, 1947.

Hiroshima Japan 1947, Atomic Bomb survivor

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

Survivors of the United States' atomic attack on Hiroshima, still hospitalized two years later, 1947.

Hiroshima Japan 1947, Atomic Bomb survivors

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

A Japanese Survivors of the United States' August 1945 atomic attack on Hiroshima displays his horribly scarred back two years later, 1947.

Hiroshima Japan 1947, Atomic Bomb survivor

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

A survivor of the United States' atomic attack on Hiroshima, still hospitalized two years later, 1947.

Hiroshima Japan 1947, Atomic Bomb survivor

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

Hiroshima, Japan, 1947, two years after the United States' August 1945 atomic attack.

Hiroshima Japan 1947

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

A "Peace Festival" in Hiroshima Japan, on the anniversary of the United States' August 1945 atomic attack on the city.

Hiroshima Japan 1947

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

A "Peace Festival" in Hiroshima Japan, on the two-year anniversary of the United States' August 1945 atomic attack on the city

Hiroshima Japan 1947 peace festival

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

A tree-planting ceremony during a "Peace Festival" in Hiroshima Japan, on the two-year anniversary of the United States' August 1945 atomic attack on the city.

Hiroshima Japan 1947

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

Hiroshima Japan 1947

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

Small homes being built within a Hiroshima cemetery, 1947.

Hiroshima Japan 1947

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

Flash-burned boy is measured by pediatrician. Growth of such children is checked regularly. Hiroshima, 1949.

Hiroshima Japan 1949, atomic bomb survivor

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

Hiroshima's children patiently wait their turn for a complete and detailed physical examination in ABCC's [Atom Bomb Casualty Commission] temporary laboratory clinic.

Hiroshima’s children patiently wait their turn for a complete and detailed physical examination in ABCC’s [Atom Bomb Casualty Commission] temporary laboratory clinic.

Carl Mydans (The LIFE Picture Collection)

A boy badly burned by the Hiroshima bomb four years earlier is checked by a pediatrician in 1949.

Hiroshima Japan 1949, atomic bomb survivor

Carl Mydans (LIFE Picture Collection)

A boy badly burned by the Hiroshima bomb four years earlier, seen in 1949.

Hiroshima Japan 1949, atomic bomb survivor

Carl Mydans (LIFE Picture Collection)

Hiroshima survivors look out over the city two years after the United States' August 1945 atomic attack.

Hiroshima Japan 1947

Carl Mydans (LIFE Picture Collection)

Paris in 1963: Children at a Puppet Show, and More

Forget the fabled rudeness of the Parisians. Forget the crowds of tourists who flock to the City of Light in the summer, making the city’s winding streets, echoing stone churches and public gardens all but unbearable. Forget that everything, everything, is more expensive in Paris than it has any right to be. Forget that entire neighborhoods sometimes smell, suddenly and inexplicably, of rotting garbage and then, as suddenly and as inexplicably, the stench vanishes. Forget that everybody smokes, everywhere, at all times, no matter what. Forget all of the worst aspects of the French capital and its denizens, and instead dwell for a moment on the Paris of everyone’s dreams.

Picture the book stalls, the fishermen and the artists with their easels along the Seine. Picture lovers walking the winding streets, drunk on one other, oblivious to everyone and everything but each other. Picture Sacré Cœur and Montmartre, the flower peddlers and the Champs-Elysees, the mansard roofs and the zinc bars, Sainte-Chapelle and the Marais. Picture the Paris, in other words, that inspired Hemingway to remark (according to his friend, the writer and raconteur A.E. Hotchner), “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

Of all the pictures made of that Paris — the Paris of the last century, when the city was still largely depicted in beautiful black and white — perhaps none is more famous than Alfred Eisenstaedt’s unforgettable shot of kids at a Parisian puppet show, “Saint George and the Dragon,” at an outdoor theater in 1963. Capturing the thrill, the shock, the shared triumph-over-evil that the children feel at the very moment when St. George slays the mythical beast, Eisenstaedt’s picture feels as fresh as when it was made, more than 50 years ago. Here, the picture tells us, is an innocence that can remind even the most jaded of what it was once like to believe, to really believe, in the stories that unfold before our eyes onstage, or onscreen.

The master photographer himself, meanwhile, said of this very picture: “It took a long time to get the angle I liked. But the best picture is the one I took at the climax of the action. It carries all the excitement of the children screaming, ‘The dragon is slain!’ Very often this sort of thing is only a momentary vision. My brain does not register, only my eyes and finger react. Click.”

Here, LIFE.com celebrates Paris in the spring through the lens of Eisenstaedt’s iconic puppet-show picture—as well as a number of photographs of Parisians and their city that he made around the same time, but that never ran in LIFE magazine.

Children watch the story of "Saint George and the Dragon" at an outdoor puppet theater in Paris, 1963.

Children watched the story of “Saint George and the Dragon” at an outdoor puppet theater in Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Parisians at a sidewalk cafe, 1963.

Parisians at a sidewalk cafe, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woman sitting with her pet cheetah having tea at a Bois de Boulogne cafe, Paris, 1963.

A woman sat with her pet cheetah while having tea at a Bois de Boulogne cafe, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

People enjoying an afternoon on the banks of the Seine River, 1963.

People enjoyed an afternoon on the banks of the Seine River, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Typical Parisian rooftop scene, 1963.

Parisian rooftop scene, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Parisians enjoying an amusement park ride, 1963.

Parisians enjoyed an amusement park ride, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Low angle of the Eiffel Tower, 1963.

A low angle of the Eiffel Tower, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Young Parisians enjoy an impromptu outdoor concert on the banks of the Seine, 1963.

Young Parisians enjoyed an impromptu outdoor concert on the banks of the Seine, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Parisian beatniks hang out on bank of the Seine, 1963.

Parisian beatniks hung out on bank of the Seine, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Paris street scene, 1963.

Paris street scene, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Parisian girl dressed for her first communion accompanied by family members, 1963.

A Parisian girl dressed for her first communion, accompanied by family members, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

French children playing on toy horse and buggy vehicles, 1963.

French children played on toy horse and buggy vehicles, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Little boy on merry-go-round at the Tuileries Gardens, sticking out his tongue, 1963.

A little boy on merry-go-round at the Tuileries Gardens, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Children at play, Paris, 1963.

Children at play, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Parisian children riding merry-go-round in a playground, 1963.

Parisian children rode a merry-go-round in a playground, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Parisians, 1963.

Parisians, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Parisians play boule, 1963.

Parisians played boule, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Young Parisian woman exhaling smoke, 1963.

A young Parisian woman, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Street performer drawing a crowd, Paris, 1963.

This street performer drew a crowd, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Parisian vendor, 1963.

Parisian vendor, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Man smoking cigar while examining stamps at stamp market on Avenue Matignon, Paris, 1963.

A man examined stamps at stamp market on Avenue Matignon, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Street artists at work, Paris, 1963.

Street artists at work, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Montmartre sidewalk artist and monkey entertaining tourists in the Place du Terte near Sacre Coeur, 1963.

A Montmartre sidewalk artist and monkey entertained tourists in the Place du Terte near Sacre Coeur, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woman taxi driver sharing front seat with pet dog, Paris, 1963.

A woman taxi driver shared the front seat with her pet dog, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Children, Paris, 1963.

Children, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Children duelists on the Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1963.

Children duelists on the Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Paris, 1963.

Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Elderly woman walking along street while bride and groom walk behind, Paris, 1963.

An elderly woman walked along that street while a bride and groom strode behind, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Paris street scene, 1963.

Paris street scene, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Little girl, Paris, 1963.

Little girl, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Children, Paris, 1963

Children, Paris, 1963

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Amphibious car crossing the Seine, 1963.

An amphibious car crossed the Seine, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The Louvre, 1963.

The Louvre, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Ballerinas at the Paris Opera, 1963.

Ballerinas at the Paris Opera, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Young Parisian woman at a discotheque, 1963.

A young Parisian woman at a discotheque, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Young Parisians dancing at a discotheque, 1963.

Young Parisians danced at a discotheque, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Couple embracing at Golfe Drouot dance hall, Paris, 1963.

A couple embraced at Golfe Drouot dance hall, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woman under streetlight in Montmartre at night, 1963.

A woman under a streetlight in Montmartre at night, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Cat in the street, Paris, 1963.

Cat in the street, Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The Wonderful World of Witches: Portraits of English Pagans, 1964

Fifty years ago, in the fall of 1964, LIFE magazine published what must have felt to the venerable weekly’s long-time readers like a strikingly weird feature. Titled “Real Witches at Work,” the piece included photographs of modern-day British pagans doctors, housewives, nurses, teachers celebrating their ancient rites, dancing around fires and generally behaving like perfectly normal, faithful worshippers of the sun, the moon and Mother Nature have been acting for thousands of years.

Today, when magic, the supernatural and the occult are central elements of some of pop culture’s most familiar franchises (see Potter, Harry), and Wiccans are more likely to be found serving on the local school board or city council than practicing their beliefs in secret for fear of being “found out,” the shock has been tempered for many. But in the early 1960s, the notion of grown men and women getting naked in order to practice their religion would likely have blown a goodly number of puritanical minds.

Mrs. Ray Bon, a British housewife and the pagan high priestess in the story, offered a nicely reasoned defense in that long-ago issue of LIFE: “It seems obvious to me that people can be just as immoral with their clothes on as with them off.”

Ray Bone, high priestess of the London witch coven, raises sword and asks 'Mighty Ones of the East' to protect the ritual circle in which they gather near Chipping Norton. Witches behind her hold up knives.

Ray Bone, high priestess of the London witch coven, raised a sword and asked ‘Mighty Ones of the East’ to protect the ritual circle in which they gathered near Chipping Norton. Witches behind her held up knives.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

In a thousand-year-old rite, the witches dance around bonfire within prehistoric Rollright stone circle that stands in Oxfordshire.

In a thousand-year-old rite, the witches danced around a bonfire within a prehistoric Rollright stone circle in Oxfordshire.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

Witchcraft in England in the 1960s

At climax of the dance they leapt over the fire, honoring the sun as the source of life.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

Beneath cabalistic symbols, nude witches raise ritual knives to invoke their gods at a meeting. Their nakedness outrages many people, but witches claim this represents the putting aside of worldly things.

Beneath cabalistic symbols, nude witches raised ritual knives to invoke their gods at a meeting. The witches claimed that their nudity represented the putting aside of worldly things.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

British pagan, 1964.

English pagan, 1964.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

A witchcraft initiation ceremony, England, 1964.

A witchcraft initiation ceremony, England, 1964.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

High priestess Artemis stirs salt and water mixture which is used to 'purify' the sacred circle in all witchcraft rites. On the table are incense burner, cord and statue of goddess. At right is herb chest containing incense.

High priestess Artemis stirred a salt and water mixture which was used to ‘purify’ the sacred circle in all witchcraft rites. On the table were an incense burner, cord and a statue of a goddess. At right is an herb chest containing incense.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

Items in an English ruin, 1964.

Items in an English ruin, 1964.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

A witch studying in a museum, England, 1964.

A witch studied in a museum, England, 1964.

Terence Spencer / Getty Images

LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964; 'Real Witches at Work.'

The story “Real Witches at Work” as it appeared in LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964.

LIFE Magazine

LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964; 'Real Witches at Work.'

The story “Real Witches at Work” as it appeared in LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964.

LIFE Magazine

LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964; 'Real Witches at Work.'

The story “Real Witches at Work” as it appeared in LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964.

LIFE Magazine

LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964; 'Real Witches at Work.'

The story “Real Witches at Work” as it appeared in LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964.

LIFE Magazine

LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964; 'Real Witches at Work.'

The story “Real Witches at Work” as it appeared in LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964.

LIFE Magazine

Mount Vesuvius: Photos From the Volcano’s Last Great Eruption, 1944

The most storied volcano on earth, Italy’s Mount Vesuvius looms above the Gulf of Naples like an unpredictable god. The story of the mountain’s 79 AD eruption that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, burying those two ancient towns in scalding rock and ash, has been depicted so many times in art and literature that it has assumed the feel of myth.

Vesuvius has in fact erupted dozens of times in the centuries since Pompeii and Herculaneum were nearly erased from history, sometimes killing thousands (as in 1631), at other times destroying homes and even whole villages but leaving no one dead in its wake. The last major eruption happened 70 years ago, in the midst of World War II, and was photographed by the great British photographer and Magnum founding member, George Rodger.

As LIFE noted to its readers in the April 17, 1944, issue of the magazine, the eruption “has compounded the complexities of fighting a war and of merely existing in southern Italy. Beginning on March 18 and still continuing, the eruption has given the Allied Military Government several thousand more refugees to look after and brightened the night horizon as far north as Anzio beachhead.”

But LIFE also quoted the director of the Mt. Vesuvius Observatory, Professor Giuseppe Imbo, who offered a refreshingly sanguine take on the Neapolitan people’s relationship with the great, unpredictable volcano in their midst:

“A marvelous thing, my Vesuvius,” the professor enthused. “It covers land with precious ash that makes the earth fertile and grapes grow, and wine. That’s why, after every eruption, people rebuild their homes on the slopes of the volcano. That is why they call the slopes of Vesuvius the compania felix—the happy land.”

Troops watch the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, 1944.

Troops watched the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy, 1944.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Troops in a bell tower during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy.

Troops in a bell tower during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Priest and children during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy.

Priest and children during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Civilians move furniture during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy.

Civilians moved furniture during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Watching the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy.

People watched the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Children, Italy, 1944.

Children, Italy, 1944.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Nighttime eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, 1944.

Nighttime eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, 1944.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Refugees make their way through dust during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy.

Refugees made their way through dust during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

People make their way through ash and dust during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy.

People made their way through ash and dust during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Street scene, Italy, 1944, at time of Mt. Vesuvius' last major eruption.

Street scene, 1944, at time of Mt. Vesuvius’ last major eruption.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy.

The 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Scene in nearby town during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

Scene in nearby town during the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

George Rodger/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The Right Stuff: When America Met the Mercury Astronauts

America’s first venture into space was a feat of scientific ingenuity and also one of human daring. It is no wonder that, in the early days of the Space Race, the men who piloted those mighty rocketships were accorded a dose of stardom, even before they ascended toward the stars.

No other publication covered the early days of the Space Race with as much unfettered access to the astronauts and their families as LIFE, and in its Sept. 14, 1959, issue the editors featured the “fly boys” selected for Project Mercury in a major cover story. Thus did American begin its fascination with the men knows as the Mercury 7: Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Donald Slayton, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Scott Carpenter.

LIFE’s coverage of the Mercury 7 plays a central role in The Right Stuff, a new television series based on the Tom Wolfe novel. (The book was also the basis for a 1983 movie of the same name), This eight-episode series about America’s first astronauts debuts on Disney+ on October 9. 

In the original magazine story, LIFE’s editors announced, “We begin this week to report the personal side of a story which we know will live on in history as long as there are men to record it. It is the story of the Astronauts the supremely dramatic story of man’s first efforts to leave his native Earth.”

In the introduction to the multi-part feature itself, meanwhile, the momentous nature of the task ahead was discussed in tones that ranged from the near-poetic to the downright blunt:

Some fine early morning before another summer has come, one man chosen from the calmly intent seven … will embark on the greatest adventure man has ever dared to take. Dressed in an all-covering suit to protect him from explosive changes in pressure, strapped into a form-fitting couch to cushion him against the crushing forces of acceleration, surrounded in his tiny chamber by all manner of instruments designed to bring him safely home, he will catapult upward at the head of a rocket for more than 100 miles and then plunge down into the Atlantic Ocean. If he survives, he will be come the heroic symbol of a historic triumph; he will be the first American, perhaps the first man, to be rocketed into the dark stillness of space. If he does not survive, one of his six remaining comrades will go next.

The astronauts are all in their 30s. All are military pilots with experience in engineering and in testing new airplanes. One member of the NASA board which chose them called the Astronauts “premium individuals picked for an unconventional task.” In less clinical terms they are the best of a very good lot, a bright, balanced, splendidly conditioned first team, willing eager, in fact to undertake an assignment most men would find unthinkable.

 The seven were introduced to America on April 9, 1959. Here, LIFE.com offers a gallery of photos taken in the early days of Project Mercury. The pictures were made by long-time LIFE photographer Ralph Morse—a man who spent so much time with the Mercury Seven (and, ultimately, with the Gemini and Apollo crews, as well) that John Glenn himself fondly dubbed Morse “the eighth astronaut.”

Mercury 7 astronauts, Langley Air Force Base

Project Mercury astronauts at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia: (top, left to right) Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper; (bottom left to right) Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

John Glenn, 1959

Project Mercury astronaut John Glenn trained in a mock-up of the planned NASA space capsule, 1959.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, 1959

Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, 1959.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Donald 'Deke' Slayton, 1959

Astronaut Donald “Deke” Slayton in an “orbital attitude simulator” training device, 1959. In 1975, at 51 years old, Maj. Slayton became the oldest person to fly into space (until his Mercury colleague John Glenn flew aboard the Discovery space shuttle at age 77 in 1998) when he served as the docking module pilot of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom strapped into a centrifuge during a simulated space flight, 1959.

Astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom strapped into a centrifuge during a simulated space flight, 1959. Lieutenant Col. Grissom was killed, along with fellow astronauts Roger Chaffee and Ed White, in a launch pad fire while training for the Apollo 1 mission in January 1967.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Air Force medical officer Dr. William Douglas giving a physiology lesson to Project Mercury astronaut Walter Schirra, 1959.

Air Force medical officer Dr. William Douglas gave a physiology lesson to Project Mercury astronaut Walter Schirra, 1959. Schirra was the only person to fly in all three of the earliest space programs—Mercury, Gemini and Apollo—and eventually logged more than 295 hours in space.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter flies in an F-100F supersonic jet fighter while training in weightlessness.

Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter flew in an F-100F supersonic jet fighter while training in weightlessness (note the floating golf ball).

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Mercury Project astronaut Alan Shepard checking the fit of his individually molded couch, used for training as well as during flight.

Mercury Project astronaut Alan Shepard checked the fit of his individually molded couch, used for training as well as during flight.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Project Mercury, 1959

Project Mercury astronauts posed in new pressure suits at Virginia’s Langley Air Force Base, 1960.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

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