Back in the 1950s, This Pre-Teen Girl Intimidated Musclemen With Her Insane Strength

April Atkins — a cute, perpetually grinning pre-teen who, for one brief, bonkers moment in the mid-1950s, routinely blew minds at California’s famed Muscle Beach by performing utterly improbable feats of strength. Here are some of amazing photographs taken in 1954 by LIFE’s photographer Loomis Dean.

(Photos by Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)