Case File
VARGINHA-015
Photograph: gloved hand holding object the size of a child's skull
The print was mailed in 1997. The envelope had no return address. The newsroom has kept both for twenty-seven years.
- Type
- PHOTOGRAPH
- Date of Record
- 1997-04-14
- Source
- Print mailed anonymously to regional newspaper, 1997
Abstract
Single underexposed photograph of a gloved hand holding an oblong cranial-shape object on a stainless surface. Object exhibits non-symmetric ocular sockets and three dorsal protrusions consistent with persistent witness descriptions. Original print and envelope are held by the receiving newsroom and have not been independently authenticated.
Artifact Inventory
- Format
- Color print, 4×6 inch
- Postmark
- Regional, smudged date
- Return address
- None
- Independent authentication
- Not attempted to date
The mailing
A small regional newspaper received an unmarked envelope in April 1997 containing a single underexposed color photograph and no other contents. The envelope had no return address. The postmark indicated a regional origin but the date was smudged on receipt. The newsroom retained both the print and the envelope and has kept them in a sealed file since.
What the print shows
A gloved hand, photographed at close range against a stainless steel surface, holding an oblong object approximately the size of a child's skull. The object is dark in color and bears two non-symmetric depressions that an attending photo editor described as "ocular sockets in roughly the right places, but wrong." Three small protrusions arranged dorsally complete the resemblance to descriptions given by other witnesses.
The glove is a standard surgical glove. The surface beneath the object is consistent with a hospital pathology table. There is no scale bar in the image and the edges of the print show consistent grain.
Why it has not been authenticated
Independent authentication would require destructive sampling of the print and exposure of the original to commercial labs that the newsroom does not trust to return the material. The newsroom has stated, on the record, that it will permit authentication only by an institution that agrees in writing to retain custody of the original under sealed conditions. No institution has yet agreed to those conditions.