The picture was taken by a man called Charlie Noonan who was a folklorist and collector of supernatural tales and who travelled the south-western portion of the US early last century.
On his travels, Noonan was told a curious story by an Oklahoman farmer; a story about a strange woman that had a bit of reputation for being unusual. The farmer knew that the woman lived alone in a particularly lonely spot and he told Noonan that he was quite sure that she wasn’t, in fact, human. What brought him to that conclusion has been lost but a few meagre points remain: she was never seen without wearing a headscarf, she was always accompanied by a large dog and an unsettling feeling would afflict those who saw her.
Now, none of those three things are particularly unusual (save for the latter, I suppose) but, according to his wife Ellie, Noonan was thoroughly intrigued and one day he set off to find the woman. He was never seen again.
Months later, a newspaper report describing Noonan’s disappearance was read by a pawnbroker in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had in his possession a camera with a name engraved on it: Charlie Noonan. It had been sold to him by a drifter that the broker remembered as eerily odd. He posted the camera to Ellie and she had the film developed as soon as she could, hoping that a clue to her husband’s whereabouts might be on it.
The photo was, apparently, the only picture on the roll of film and hints that the image might have been one of the last things that Charlie Noonan saw. The rest remains a mystery.
On his travels, Noonan was told a curious story by an Oklahoman farmer; a story about a strange woman that had a bit of reputation for being unusual. The farmer knew that the woman lived alone in a particularly lonely spot and he told Noonan that he was quite sure that she wasn’t, in fact, human. What brought him to that conclusion has been lost but a few meagre points remain: she was never seen without wearing a headscarf, she was always accompanied by a large dog and an unsettling feeling would afflict those who saw her.
Now, none of those three things are particularly unusual (save for the latter, I suppose) but, according to his wife Ellie, Noonan was thoroughly intrigued and one day he set off to find the woman. He was never seen again.
Months later, a newspaper report describing Noonan’s disappearance was read by a pawnbroker in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had in his possession a camera with a name engraved on it: Charlie Noonan. It had been sold to him by a drifter that the broker remembered as eerily odd. He posted the camera to Ellie and she had the film developed as soon as she could, hoping that a clue to her husband’s whereabouts might be on it.
The photo was, apparently, the only picture on the roll of film and hints that the image might have been one of the last things that Charlie Noonan saw. The rest remains a mystery.
Logon or register to see this image
Logon or register to see this image
