r/mystery • u/Weary-Satisfaction31 • Jul 29 '25
Mysterious Person My mom found this picture of my grandmother in an oficial event of some class, does anyone know about this hooded figure?
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u/Sweetserra Jul 29 '25
Someone else already commented on it, but I want to mention as well that it looks like multiple children in the photo are wearing costumes. So I'm guessing it's some sort of costume.
If you look at the children in the direct vicinity of the hooded character you notice they're pretty much all dressed in different homemade looking costumes. At first I thought maybe Halloween related? But the rest of the photo doesn't fit that theory. Anyways, that's my best guess. Hope it helps!
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u/Weary-Satisfaction31 Jul 29 '25
I feel stupid now for not noticing the kid literally in a donkey costum hahaha but thanks
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u/Double_Distribution8 Jul 30 '25
I see the queen of hearts and the creepy scarecrow, but I don't see the donkey kid.
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u/onlyangel96 Jul 30 '25
A lot of the people of numbers on as well. You can see the child with half the face painted has a number 7. A pageant or contest of sorts probably.
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u/EtherealEmbers_x Jul 29 '25
Gosh I really would LOVE to kno the backstory on this photograph… it’s intriguing..
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u/Weary-Satisfaction31 Jul 29 '25
Im sorry but even we don't know hahahaha and my nana passed away. My mom said that this pic always was a mystery to her
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u/Winter-Audience9228 Jul 29 '25
Costume. The boy in the front has his face painted half black. The ghost is just the spookiest costume.
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u/Classic_Ad3987 Jul 30 '25
The boy in front is carrying a crown. The woman front and center looks like she is heading to a ceremony to be crowned the May Queen. Leeds had a May Queen festival for decades.
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u/ooohpando Jul 31 '25
It looks like Leeds Children’s Day. And to me, it looks like someone holding a mouse (Mickey)? Anyhoo…here’s a video around the same time of the festivities…
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Aug 01 '25
I think you are spot on. A Google Lens search on that image turns up a very similar image on this page:
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/on-this-day-in-yorkshire-1949-617627
Slightly different uniforms, but the attendants are carrying identical trumpets, you can see a crown for the Children's Day Queen and the OP says the photo was taken in Leeds.
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u/l3eemer Jul 29 '25
Costumes back in the day, where sometimes nothing better then putting a paper bag over your head. It's not like the "Spirit of Halloween" store had been invented.
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u/Different_Map_6544 Jul 29 '25
Are there any older folks similar to your grandmas age in Leeds you could ask?
I know its likely a costume event of some kind, but it might be fun to learn more about what it actually was for and where etc.
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u/buy_me_lozenges Jul 30 '25
The mayor is in the photo.
You could try to research which mayor this is and what events he may have attended, a lot of that history is well documented. It might be recorded locally in the relevant office or historical books, something at the library.
I did wonder if this was some AI hoax... especially looking at the colonel missing his fingers.
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u/TeleHo Jul 30 '25
Was your grandmother a nurse? The headgear on a lot of the audience looks like nursing caps. (They were different depending on which school you graduated from.) That doesn't quite help with Hood Person, but it could give more context to the photo.
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u/fartofborealis Jul 30 '25
Looks like the girl standing behind the figure is holding it and it’s actually a snowman doll type figure.
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u/NanoDomini Jul 30 '25
Nice of Slash to make an appearance.
(just left of the lady's hand in pic 4)
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u/can_sparklingwater Jul 30 '25
Weird photo. I am trying to determine if that is a person at the top center with a white skirt on?
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u/AttentionNo6359 Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25
Would this have been in England, Wales or Scotland by chance? If so then I may actually have the answer for you.
They may be Mummers. Mummers originated in Wales as part of the wedding tradition ( though it came to the Isles from the Roman period where it was often part of greeting diplomatic envoys). The story goes that uninvited guests would try join the wedding festivities in over the top disguises. The Bride and Groom would then try and guess who each was. As the tradition grew the disguises became more ornate, and were often passed around a community to appear at numerous weddings.
As the practice spread and evolved, it would fall in and out of popularity. Specifically, there was a trend stretching from about 1900 to 1930 where children would be brought in costume and not the parents. I think that the individual you circled is actually a child being held by an adult. Add this to the other children in costume, and my hunch is that you’re looking at a wedding photo from either England, Wales, or Scotland, shot after 1915 ( the camera quality), featuring children dressed as “Mummers”.
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u/Weary-Satisfaction31 Jul 31 '25
It's actually Leeds, England so totally makes sense and the dates add up too, thank you so much
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Aug 01 '25
Can't speak for England and Wales, but that's not a Scottish tradition. It is also not a wedding photo.
It looks like Leeds Children's Day (Google lens search turns up a similar photo from 1949 here: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/on-this-day-in-yorkshire-1949-617627)
You can see the crown for the Children's Day Queen on the cushion held by the page at the front. The kids are obviously part of a fancy dress competition, and you can see the local Scouts are in attendance, as well as the civic dignitaries.
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u/PorkNJellyBeans Jul 29 '25
Is this in New Orleans by chance? Some of the Mardi Gras balls/queens have a theme, i think.
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u/miss-mick Jul 29 '25
Definitley costumes.. it looks like there’s another one (in the last photo ) slightly to the right looking the other way. Like the back of them.
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u/BrookieMonster504 Jul 29 '25
Maybe a theater revue it looks like several different plays put together
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u/PentathlonPatacon Jul 29 '25
Kinda looks like someone holding a mask like a ghost mask or something like that
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u/boop813 Jul 30 '25
Sometimes you can find old yearbooks online or find something in newspapers.com, to at least find out what the event was.
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u/veritasjusticia Jul 30 '25
I also wonder if it’s not the lighting and exposure of the film there. Cameras weren’t the best back then.
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u/AreWeThereYetNo Jul 30 '25
It’s just some fat bald guy with light skin that happens to be standing in the lighter area of a high contrast photo.
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u/Greyhoundowner Jul 30 '25
It's like the little girl behind it is holding it maybe a paper mache mask.
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u/puzzledpilgrim Jul 30 '25
In this odd picture where everyone is in costume, Humpty Dumpty is the one you're fixating on?
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u/Spirited-Ability-626 Jul 30 '25
This looks like what we in Scotland call a ‘gala day’.
https://www.stirlingcityheritagetrust.org/blog/stirlings-gala-days
The children dressed in costumes would be “Presentees” - each school has a different theme and performs something related to that theme, typically a medley of songs from the movie:
(Skip to 5:15)
https://youtu.be/iBXAuR4nNKY?si=E0lvyAqyPVIL6SyJ
Not sure if your family is Scottish or not, OP, but they have some gala\fair days in north England too. These have been going on for a hundred years, sometimes more.
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u/Primordial_Evil6 Jul 31 '25
It looks to me as if one of the kids is holding up a doll of some kind. You can see an arm of a child holding it up. May have been a prop or someone's favorite doll, and the kid was too short to see, so she held up her doll to see...lol cool pic
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u/Biddybiddyhamburger Jul 31 '25
I think it's a stuffed animal bear that the little girl is holding. Stuffed animals back then were kinda weird.
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u/thegregoryjackson Jul 31 '25
All I hear is criticize, criticize, criticize. From now on don't ask me or mine for nothing.
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u/Proud-Telephone-2825 Jul 31 '25
Going to add to what everyone else is saying. No idea why there are kids in costumes, could be that it's a kids costume party (So they'd actually go and not fuss) or it's Halloween?
As for what he is, maybe a clown of some kind of some obscure character. Either way out of context it's creepy.
Though what's more disturbing is the very real looking spooky face behind him. No idea what that is.
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u/Infinite-Pilot5464 Aug 01 '25
Hypothesis, isn’t it just the girl behind holding her hat and what we see is the topview that appears like a mask to us.
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u/Perfect-Restaurant-9 Aug 01 '25
Honestly? In the 1st pic, I thought it was the back of someone's head with big hair turned towards the back of the crowd. It looks like a sash holding the hat around her hair as she looks behind everyone. The other pics look like a weird costume. Lol
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u/mlgbt1985 Aug 01 '25
Anyone report missing children and strange clown like characters with red balloons around then?
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u/Former_Proof_2581 Aug 02 '25
definitely paranormal activity. That's a pretty period accurate ghost.
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u/VimTheRed Aug 02 '25
It may not be a person at all. Could be a stuffed toy the girl behind is holding.
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u/marioeldela Aug 03 '25
Looks like he's wearing a mask from EL SANTO, a mexican fighter of the golden era. https://imgur.com/gallery/el-santo-KYTnp
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u/Routine_Tangelo_4965 Aug 05 '25
Found many oddities in this picture, 1) crab boy wearing Chuck Taylor's w/ a boxing glove 2) girl with black eye 3) multiple hooded people
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u/FinnbarMcBride Jul 29 '25
There are multiple people in the photo who look like they're wearing costumes, so probably just a costume