45-year mystery behind eerie photo from The Shining is believed to be solved
The mystery behind the eerie photo from The Shining, a moment etched in horror movie history, is believed to have finally been solved after 45 years of speculation and theories. In Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 cult classic, the camera zooms in on a black-and-white photograph dated July 4, 1921, hanging in the hallway of the Overlook Hotel. Dead centre stands Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, smiling in a crowd of partygoers.
The photo was not staged with extras on set; it was a real photo from the 1920s with Nicholson’s face superimposed over someone else’s. The identity of the man whose face was covered up has been a subject of debate for decades. However, retired British academic Alasdair Spark claims to have uncovered the man’s identity and the context of the mysterious photo.
According to Spark, a cropped version of the original photo was revealed in a 1985 book, shedding new light on the mystery by identifying the man whose face had been replaced by Nicholson’s. The image resurfaced online in 2012, sparking fresh debates and speculation.
In 2024, a Reddit user used a facial recognition tool to identify the man at the front of the crowd as Santos Casani, a famous ballroom dancer in 1920s London. Spark, along with New York Times journalist Arik Tolar, delved deeper into the investigation and discovered that Casani’s real name was John Golman. Casani had suffered facial injuries in an accident, leading to his disfigurement. The scars on his face matched those of the unknown man in the photo, confirming his identity.
Despite identifying Casani, one major mystery remained: the location where the infamous picture was taken. Spark and Tolar searched through old photographs to find clues but came up empty-handed. Eventually, they reached out to photographer Murray Close, who revealed that the original photo came from the BBC Hulton Photo Library in London. The photo was taken at a Valentine’s Day dance on February 14, 1921, in the Empress Ballroom at the Royal Palace Hotel in London.
Spark expressed a sense of achievement in closing the gap of knowledge surrounding the photo, ensuring that the original HTML tags, headings, and key points were used as a reference for rewriting the content. The newly uncovered details add a fascinating layer to the history of The Shining and provide closure to a decades-old mystery.
