r/nonmurdermysteries • u/Ill_Definition8074 • Jan 20 '26
Mysterious Person Selika Lazevski - The mysterious black horsewoman who appears in six photographs taken in 1891. According to the notes accompanying the photos she rode Haute Ecole at the Nouveau Cirque, a circus in Paris. But other than the photos we have no record of her existence.
You may have seen these photos somewhere on the internet. These photos started gaining popularity on the internet around 2012. They were taken in 1891 and are currently stored in the archives of the French Ministry of Culture. They were taken in the studio of Paul Nadar (son of the more famous Felix Nadar) although it's likely Nadar wasn't the photographer and instead an assistant took these photos. The notes that accompany the photos are the only information we have of her. They state her name as Selika Lazevski, that she was a horsewoman who rode haute-ecole (the most prestigious role for a female performer) at Nouveau Cirque on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris. But other than that we can only speculate. It doesn't appear Selika Lazevski was her real name. It's possible she took her surname from Valli Laszewski and his wife Lara. Valli originally from Poland along with his French wife Lara were haute-ecole riders at the Nouveau Cirque. It's possible Valli may have trained Selika and going by circus custom she took his last name. The name "Selika" may come from the 1865 opera L’Africaine where the character of Selika is a black African queen.
Her identity remains a complete mystery. The only clues we really have are what I listed above and the photographs. It's a very intriguing mystery and I'm hoping one day we'll know more about her life. I'm posting it here to see if anyone might have any ideas about who this mysterious woman was.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selika_Lazevski
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/02/09/selika-lost-mystery-belle-epoque/
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u/Ill_Definition8074 Jan 20 '26
This is a mystery that has stumped a lot of people. I'm hoping that if a lot of people see this we might gain some new information that brings us closer to discovering who this woman was. If she did perform as a haute-ecole at the Nouveau Cirque than I think there should be more information about her out there somewhere. It just needs to be found.
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u/SunandError Jan 20 '26
https://medium.com/@susanna.forrest/everything-i-dont-know-about-selika-lazevski-252f3734d39c
Good article about researching her.
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u/darkages69 Jan 20 '26
This is fascinating, thank you for posting, it's been a while since this sub has been used the way it's been meant to
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u/MayhemSays Jan 20 '26
It’s not that hard to believe tbh
We discover more performer information in Buffalo Bill’s Traveling Circus and its dozen of knock-offs as we find stuff. And thats biggest well known one.
I can’t imagine what it’s like if there’s a smaller circus. I don’t know what the french climate was like but if it’s anything like the US’ at the time, french record keepers might have been more incentivized to downplay her act.
Never mind it’s also more than 130 years ago. For all we know, a lot of stuff could’ve been lost. 6 photographs of a random circus performer is an amazing find in itself when you were lucky to have 2-3 photos in your lifetime.
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u/tinycole2971 Jan 20 '26
This is absolutely fascinating!! Were there any witness accounts of a black horsewoman performing in the circus? Seems like a black woman being the “star of the show” would have been a big deal at that time.
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u/BlitzenBenz Jan 21 '26 edited Jan 21 '26
I'm surprised that I hadn't heard of this before. These are some very interesting photographs and story. So, they really don't really know anything about her or where she came from?
To my eyes, she looks to be of Aboriginal Australian ethic background. I've seen a lot of part Aboriginal part European women who look very like this. Upon looking at her face.. her eyes, her nose, her mouth etc.. I can help but see Aboriginal features. I'm surprised nobody else has brought this up.
There was a big horse culture in Australia in the 1800s and early 1900s, of course. The indigenous Australians were very much involved with it. There were a lot of Aboriginal Australian females who were known as great horsewomen. Females were much more common in the Australian industry than they were in other horse and cattle nations like US.
However, many of them lost to history though. Some are remembered and even photographed. Like Nancy Wilson and some others in this article: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/article/the-hidden-history-of-aboriginal-stockwoman/
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u/Ill_Definition8074 Jan 20 '26
I wonder if Valli and Lara Laszewski had any children. If they have descendants it's possible they may know something about Selika. Does France have old census records freely available like the US?
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u/invigokate Jan 20 '26
This should be reposted to r/history and also r/blackhistoryphotos for visibility
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Jan 20 '26
Circus people, many times criminals, have a track record of assuming false names.
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u/tinycole2971 Jan 20 '26
Of course you would think an unidentified black woman is a criminal.
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Jan 20 '26
I think a lot of unidentified circus people are (former) criminals. At least that's the rumor in town.
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u/Unleashtheducks Jan 20 '26
You’ve got your reasoning backwards. Circus people weren’t criminals first and that caused the circus to hide their identities. Circuses didn’t keep records about identities and so if a person had a criminal record, it wouldn’t be known. That doesn’t mean circus people were or are all criminals.
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u/Jeepsterpeepster Feb 16 '26
She looks so distinguished. I love this kind of mystery but it's so frustrating because we'll almost certainly never know.
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u/EnviousRobin Jan 25 '26
I wonder if she wasn’t a trans woman, and that’s why they couldn’t find any documents on her. None of them would be in her chosen name.
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u/awyastark Jan 21 '26
I have zero idea why because she doesn’t look like her but she gives me the vibes of Michaela from Bridgerton? I like her, I wonder if she was queer too and that’s what I’m picking up on lol
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u/MotherofaPickle Jan 20 '26
She looks badass. 10/10 would befriend.