Fantôme de Maules

What is Fantôme de Maules?
Who is Fantôme de Maules?

The setting: Maules, a small village in the french-speaking part of Switzerland, surrounded by agricultural fields and  dense forests.

The subject: An enigmatic being, seen by many wandering the local woodlands for the past decade, dressed in nothing but cloaked camouflage and an obsolete mask. Most likely human but one cannot be sure. Looming at almost two meters tall he seems to take particular interest in the surrounding flora and fauna. 

Unaware of passersby, he spends his time picking and smelling flowers; only then he lets down his guard. A crack of a twig or the rustle of a leaf and he'll vanish back into the foliage.

The locals call him Le Loyon, but the character calls himself Fantôme de Maules. The ghost of Maules. 

So who is Fantôme de Maules? A recluse, an outcast from society who has made a home in the forest? A survivalist preparing for the apocalypse? We will never know, because he doesn't want us to.

And perhaps that's what makes Fantôme de Maules a character with such a riveting mystery. The modern world is alight with information and the shadows are shrinking. It is rare to come across someone who doesn't feel it is necessary to explain himself.

STORA SKUGGAN, 2015