From Iceland — Mysterious Photo Raises Questions

Mysterious Photo Raises Questions

Published January 22, 2013

(Note: The photograph in question is not the one you see above, which shows the Snæfellsnes coastline. The photograph discussed in the article can be seen in the first Vísir link.)
A man appearing in a photograph taken last year bears a striking resemblance to an Icelander who went missing in 1974.
The television show Mannshvörf (Disappearances) recently covered the case of Bjarni Matthías Sigurðsson, an elderly man who disappeared in 1974 while picking berries with his daughter in Snæfellsnes, west Iceland. The case is one of interest to Jón Haukur Jóelsson, especially in connection to a strange photograph he took while traveling in Snæfellsnes last year, Vísir reports.
Jón and a friend went to the caves of Vatnshelli in Purkhólahraun last year, only to find that the park had been closed. They ventured in anyway, touring the grounds for a while before deciding to turn back.
“As my friend was on the way back,” Jón said. “I asked him whether I should just snap one or two photos, since we were already there anyway.” Jón took photos of the area surrounding the cave, and the two friends drove home.
However, when the photos were developed loaded up and viewed digitally, Jón saw something unexpected. As can be seen in the linked article, an elderly man appears on the left side of the photograph. Jón said he immediately called his friend to get an explanation.
“My friend said there had been no one else there except for the two of us,” Jón said, adding that he has no idea who the man in the photograph is, and that he regularly empties the memory card for his camera. “[The photo] reminded me of this missing person who was never found.”
Kristín Þórðardóttir, the granddaughter of Bjarni Matthías, told Vísir that she was startled by the photo.
“There is something about [the photo] that reminds me of him,” she said. “What struck me most about the photograph is my mother went to that area with a somewhat psychic person many years ago, and he told her that my grandfather was somewhere in the area.”
To date, no other clues of Bjarni Matthías’ whereabouts have been discovered.

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