23
votes
The story behind this perfectly normal photo. Today we dive into yet another surprisingly convoluted online rabbit hole; the case of the Cooper Family Falling Body Photo and its elusive creator.
Link information
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- Title
- The Story Behind This Perfectly Normal Photo
- Authors
- Jeffiot
- Duration
- 1:02:52
- Published
- May 30 2025
Link to Richard Ramsdell's website which now includes all the other unreleased photos from the same 1980s series as the "Cooper family" one:
https://www.studioramsdell.com/80s
I particularly like the Vietnam war photo with the Emerald City of Oz in the background.
p.s. I love the absurd lengths that Jeffiot goes to uncover the real story behind these internet meme mysteries, and properly credit their original creators. So much of this stuff would be totally lost to time without his efforts, and the efforts of similar investigators like valdevia, and the users at metabunk.org.
I'm partial to the one right before that one. Of the baby with the planes in the background. Feels like something straight out of a war album.
Just watched the whole thing. A few thoughts:
Fascinating video. I can't recall ever seeing that photo, but the story behind it is incredible. And these long-form documentary videos, while not everyone's cup of tea, are absolutely perfect for this type of stuff.
Lmao a ballerina.
Double lmao 'In December of 1980, a few days after the killing of John Lennon, I had a dream.' what a way to start off an email indeed. Gonna start all my important work emails with that to make sure they get read.
Heard a voice early on in the video that I knew I recognized, and sure enough it was Paper Will, who has another amazing documentary video about North Korean Media (5+hours long but super interesting).
I honestly was not expecting such a coherent explanation for the 'why' behind the photograph. The 'how' is interesting too, but the 'why' as he described it, given the context of what was going on when the photo was created, makes a lot more sense than I would have guessed at the beginning of the video.
Another great video, cfabbro! I hope you know I've discovered quite a few new youtube channel subscriptions thanks to the stuff you post.
😊
Jeffiot is a recent discovery of mine as well. It's shocking how low his sub count is for how consistently high-quality his productions have been for so long. His Gävle Goat video is probably my favorite so far.
Yeah, it really is a travesty that he only has 280k subs considering the quality of his content, and how long each video likely takes to make. :(
I suspect he's on the brink of really being blessed by the Algorithm. He routinely gets collaborative help from some notable names on YouTube, such as Night Mind and Internet Historian (prior to the plagiarism revelations), and I think but wouldn't swear that Harris "Hbomberguy" has lent a hand as well. Jeff seems to understand the power of collaboration to sway the Algo Deity in a way few do.
I've gone over a fair bit of his back catalogue, and it seems to me that he's really found his creative voice and perspective over the past year or so, especially in his more thoughtful, long-form productions. I think that's important in a way that a lot of creators don't really appreciate. Seems to me that a lot of creators get it the wrong way around and scramble for subs before they find their voice, but I think having a clearly defined perspective is requisite for viewership counts for the sort of content he seems interested in making.
It's kind of goofy and cliched to say it, but I shall follow his career with great interest.