I recently moved into a house that was built in the 70’s. This house was totally redone from top to bottom. In the laundry room, in the basement, I found something taped to the underside of a shelf. This was ½ of a photo with a young women and a dog. She looked to be a working class Russian or German women, dressed in overalls, sitting on the ground outside a building. Someone had been obviously cut out of the picture. It was wrapped up several times in saran wrap, and taped with clear packing tape underneath the shelf. It was totally hidden from view. I have found her and do not know what to do with her. Do I put her back? Do I wrap her up again? I feel that she is guarding the house… a type of guardian angel. Is this possible? Why would someone take the time to do this? What are your thoughts..

do u have the pic to show us

Look for the other half of the picture.

Maybe whoever cut it in half, hid the half you found just in case they had a change of heart and needed to put the pic back the way it was.

If you truly feel like she is gaurding the house then frame her and put her on the wall

sounds like a binding spell to me.... but i could be wrong

That sounds pretty creepy. If the photo hadn't had someone cut out of it, I would have thought maybe the wrap was to protect the photo, that it was precious.

Could you show us the photo?

I will scan it and post it tomorrow. I feel very strongly that she belongs to the house somehow, and the picture should not be disposed of. Someone took the time to wrap her up several times and tape her underneath a shelf. I found it the day after I bought the house, I was bending down cleaning the shelf to put my laundry supplies on. It had obviously been there awhile. The tape was brittle, but still stuck to the shelf. The photo was mutilated as well. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this. I want to handle this properly and respectfully. A binding spell may make sense....

The wrap might have been used to protect the photo from dirt, yellowing and the scotch tape.
It could have been a photo of an affair, an extramarital child or half-sister that needed to be kept secret.
As somebody wouldn't usually stumble over a photo in the basement on the underside of a shelf, this would be the perfect place to hide something youf family isn't supposed to find

Seems to me that whoever did this wanted to preserve the picture and maybe was a little obssessive or just majorly in love. The person may have slept under that shelf and could possibly have wanted to look up at her while lying in bed??

Luckygirl1 answered my exact thoughts. Someone hid it but wanted it near and protected but also wanted the identity of themselves not included, hence the missing half of the photo. If you know who built or lived in the home prior to you then going to the local library genealogy department will let you know if the former occupant or owner of the house served in one of the locals that you think the photo is from.
Good luck hunting,
Mabon.

Yeah, I was also going to say what Lucky Girl said. As well as Mabon's suggestion that the person cut out themselves, I was thinking it could be someone else that they didn't want in the picture. Say a boyfriend/husband?

Could be a lot of explanations. I don't think there is anything to indicate that it's paranormal. So I wouldn't jump to conclusions.

Click to view attachment

The house is located in Montreal. I do know a bit of history about the previous owners. The “Plankenstein” family bought the place in the 70’s, and lived there until the mother’s death in 2006. I do not know anything about the father. They were possibly either Austrian or Swiss as I am still getting mail for them from these countries. The 2 young sons (early 20’s) sold the place to an investor in September 2006.

The investor totally gutted the place, rebuilt it. New kitchen, bathroom, floors, windows etc. He never lived there, it was a “flip”. He sold it to me in May 2007. The only place untouched was a portion of the basement – the laundry room- where the picture was.

My original thoughts were that this was some type of tradition or ritual, from Eastern Europe or Romany. It was done on purpose for some strange reason. For whatever reason, I think that she belongs with the house.. I feel completely safe there, I love my house – I am just curious.


Here is the photo. Hopefully that worked...

I'd have it framed. Matted and nicely framed. It's an interesting conversation piece. Looks like a family member that someone wanted to remember, but was maybe not welcome by other members of the family. You know, a feud thing between family, and maybe one member was more forgiving than the other, and saved a picture someone else wanted destroyed, then hid it.

Its called a picture. Nothing more. Why do people read so much into things?

Yes its a picture alright and why all the mysterie questions? The picture was to me and to others on this post "hidden" but why? And who is it? Thats why all the "feed". I would keep it yea frame it I think it is ment to stay with the house.

id probably just throw it away or even burn it but thats me

I think it looks like a man.

I guess the reason behind it fascinates me. The mystery,… the possibilities. Maybe I just need a life. I am going to try and track down and contact the former owners, and send them a copy of it. If I ever find out the story I will let you know.

I am going to keep her, in the laundry room where she belongs. Thanks for the input.

I think it would be fun to track the picture down. Please let us know the story behind it.
(I still think it looks like a man and his dog.)

I would not send them a copy of it. I really believe that somebody hid it there for a reason: so that other family members would not find it.
The person the photo belonged to, might have passed - but imagine the widow/children, etc. find out about an extramarital affair. Let them live in peace.

it is a picture of a man with a dog, not a woman.

Thanks for posting the picture. I think this is a woman and I don't think someone has been cut out of the photo, I think the photos has been cut so it's just the woman and the dog in the picture.

Maybe it was a secret love and that's why it was hidden.

When you told us about this it sounded dark and creepy, but I don't get a bad vibe from the photo itself - not that I'm sensitive to these things though.

Reg

Just keep it.
It's not much dude.
All it is is a normal picture...
Probably somebody just wanted to keep the pic of a friend or something.

I'm going with the man also...The picture looks as if it was torn, the line on the left goes all the way down the picture...Perhaps, it was glued or pasted together again...Personally, I would just leave it be.....

Yes I think it looks more like a man.

I thought so too at first. But she is a wearing a greenish kerchief.


I did find the telephone of the past owner. I was thinking maybe of calling and mentioning that I did find a photo that may have some sentimental value and ask if he wants it returned. Then see if he provides any info. I also can ask him about the mail I keep getting, and see if he wants it forwarded.Or I can just let it be. Haven't decided yet.

I also agree. Those are man's hands if I ever saw them, and the neck is very masculine as well.

He's also wearing socks and sandals. Not that that means much (at least I don't think so -- duh duh duh daaaaah!)

Also... how come the stick in the dog's mouth is coming out through the back of his head?

I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I agree. I really think it is a man. The hands are very large. The bump on the side of the wrist is large like on a man's wrist. The shoulders are broad, like a man, and there appears to be no bosom at all. The face is very manly as well. Men sometimes wear head scarfs, especially in certain countries.

I think it is a good idea to contact the former owners. It could be a photo that one or both of them would really like to have back.

I WOULDNT frame it and put it on the wall or something. Seems kinda creepy

I would just keep it, put it in a shoebox or something and put in the closet with some other stuff.

She looks masculine or um... sexless, if I may say that... However, if you look at the watch, it is definitely a woman's watch. The headgear looks like a scarf or kerchief that a woman would wear.

Interesting picture. I would be soooo curious about the origins - and you have it within your means!

... wanted to also add that the photo doesn't look cut as much as it looks like it was folded and it eventually wore out at the fold.

I thought that too.

I would say, yes hurry and contact the family, this is interesting to me, learn the history behind the picture. By now any family secrets have been told or it's not much of a problem to tell. Looks like a guy with a ladies scarf on and a ladies watch, maybe that was enough to hide it? It was probably a secret love of someone and that's the place they could hide it, most likely a woman as it's in the laundry room area, is my guess. I don't think she is watching over the house, more the owner of the picture.

It could have been cut that way so that it would fit into a scrapbook or something. I've often done this to pictures of mine where I cut out useless bits of the picture.

I wouldn't ask him about the photo....but if he wants his mail forwarded, then I would slip the picture in between the mail...If he has no idea who or why the picture is there then he may contact you...If he gets the picture, and it does belong to him, then it would be his decision what to do with it....Just my thought....

Contact the previous owners and let them know. It's more than likely a photo of a member of the family - alot more likely than someone a family member was having an affair with. That's incredibly farfetched. If I had moved and left something behind, I would appreciate the new owners calling me and letting me know. If it was something I didn't want, then I'd tell them to throw it out. At least give them the option considering it could very well be a deceased father (or mother) or sibling of the previous owner. As for it being wrapped up, well considering they were moving, they might have shifted a piece of furniture and found the photo underneath and wrapped it up for the time being and then simply forgot. Or as someone else mentioned, maybe it's been folded for so long that it's falling apart and was wrapped to keep safe. Either way, someone might be missing that photo and the only decent thing to do is contact them about it.

i think that someone had cut out a sign, not a person, unless theres summat in the sky

I'm not psychic but as soon as I saw the picture the words "Its the birth father" jumped in my head.

It occurred to me that a woman had an affair and had a child and this is the real father but she never told anyone.

So there's my two cents.

Being totally stupid here but.. Does anyone kind of think that the person cut out of that photograph may be an overweight italian man with a mustache in likewise overalls but with a red hat and shirt rather and a big "M" on the front of the hat? Maybe carrying a wrench.

HEYA LUIGI. Is thata yooou? IT'SA ME! MARIO!


Yeah.. Sorry..

== I'm going now.. *prances off in shame.*

okay, that cracked me up. It actually does look like Luigi, with the green under the overalls. Maybe he and Mario had a fall out? disowned one another, hence the ripping of the photo.

The hat-thing he was wearing made me think of that thing Link's wearing. Might be the adoptive son of Link and Luigi in their secret, homosexual relationship?

Good god, what would Zelda say??

She's probably off, getting it on with Midna

Seriously though, it'd be interesting to know why the pic was hidden.

wwragmom - I was wondering if you are still out there and if you have contacted the previous owners of the house? This seems to be such an interesting story and I am anxious for a conclusion!
Take care,
Lorelei

Such a strange thing to find. I looked at it a bit before, but took a closer look again. I was undecided before, but I'm thinking this is a woman after all. There's a design on headscarf, and I can't imagine a man wearing that. She also appears to be wearing a smaller woman's watch. Small arms, small wrists... As for the masculine clothes, considering the empty box it looks like moving day. With the color photo it was probably taken in or after the 60's so it wouldn't be that uncommon of dress for a female. Probably doesn't help much, but there's my 2 cents.

interesting. i dont know what to say about it. once you took the photo from its orginal finding place has anything out of the norm happened

Actually, I haven't had much time to do anything with it yet. I showed it (and sent a copy) to an actual psychic here in Montreal. She had given me a tarot card reading, and I was impressed by what she had said about past and future events in my life. She promises to let me know what vibes that she gets from it. I am also waiting to get more mail from the previous owners, and then have an excuse to phone him. Not sure if I have the guts though.

My heart tells me to put him/her back where the photo was found, saran wrap and all. I am tempted to enclose a letter telling the whole story. I will list the current and previous owners data, and enclose a copy of this thread, and a copy of whatever the psychic says. I had fun researching and talking about this and want to leave something for the next owner of the house.

Nothing strange has happened in the house, I still love it. But - I haven't totally unpacked and cleaned up in the area where she/he was hidden.
I will keep you posted. Thanks for the interest.

wwragmom - Thanks so much for the update! I'm really interested in what the psychic has to say about it as well.
Your idea of re-wrapping it with the psychic's analysis and printing out this thread for the next person to find sounds like a hoot!
To tell you the truth, I would be so curious to find out what the history behind this photo is that I would just call up the previous owner and ask them straight out. But, that is just me! I'm really nosey!
Don't forget to update us again please! I'm on edge with anticipation.
Take care,
Lorelei

I just finished reading this, and it's interesting as a few months ago, i was having my carpets re-fitted, and the man came across a photo of an woman standing on a hillside under the floor boards, along with the photo was a a bunch of newspapers dating to the 1900s, a song leaflet from a church and a cigarette case. It's obvious that whoever placed it there wanted them to be hidden but i'm having the same dilemma, i'm not sure what to do with them, so far i've kept it in my cupboard. My mother doesn't think the photo means anything and that they were just placed there. Am i reading to far into this? Or do you think it means something. What does everyone else think?

i think your interest in this lays in the area of emotion, imagination and intuition, rather than logic and cold hard fact.. and that's fine with me
perhaps it is a test of YOUR character..? perhaps it will test the character of one who you extend it to?


^ this one just doesn't seem to believe in the intricate web of all things..?