Unveiling the Enigmatic Stick Man on Led Zeppelin's Album Cover

The identity of the elderly man carrying a stick on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV has been revealed after over 50 years. The Wiltshire Museum announced on Wednesday that the man, known as the "Stick Man," was a thatcher from the late-Victorian era.

The photograph of the "Stick Man," originally in black and white, which has been identified as a thatcher from Wiltshire, was recently unearthed by a University of the West of England research fellow.

According to the Wiltshire Museum, the individual in the photograph is believed to be a thatcher named Lot Long, also known as Longyear. Lot Long was born in Mere, Wiltshire in 1823 and was residing in a modest cottage as a widower at the time the photo was captured. The museum states that Lot Long passed away in 1893.

Brian Edwards, a visiting research fellow at the Regional History Centre of the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), recently made a discovery upon stumbling across an old black and white photograph. The photograph, which bears the handwritten inscription "A Wiltshire Thatcher," is believed to be the original due to the presence of a thumbprint in the corner. Edwards shared this intriguing finding during an interview with BBC Radio Wiltshire.

The content was discovered in a Victorian photo album called "Reminiscences of a visit to Shaftesbury. Whitsuntide 1892. A present to Auntie from Ernest." The album includes over 100 architectural views and street scenes, along with a few portraits of rural workers. The museum reported this information. Edwards mentioned in the release that Led Zeppelin's music has been with them since their teenage years, so they hope the finding of this Victorian photograph brings joy and entertainment to surviving band members Robert, Jimmy, and John Paul.

Led Zeppelin members (left - right) John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant pose in front of their private airliner The Starship in 1973.

According to Edwards, the album's writing corresponds to a partially discovered online signature, implying that the photograph was captured by the renowned Victorian photographer, Ernest Howard Farmer.

The university stated that the lead singer of the band, Robert Plant, discovered the colored version of the photograph at an antique store near guitarist Jimmy Page's house in Berkshire, southern England. This colored version was the sole focus of the album cover for "Led Zeppelin IV," which was unique as it lacked any text, including the band's name.

Since its release in 1971, more than 37 million copies of the album have been sold worldwide, according to the statement.

Mayan Toledanos vibrant photographs of queer life in Mexico City

The iconic image of an elderly man with a weathered face and gray beard, clutching a long stick to support himself while carrying a bundle of hazel twigs on his back, gained widespread fame. The museum's director, David Dawson, expressed his fascination with how Led Zeppelin incorporated the theme of rural and urban contrasts, which ultimately became the central idea behind this renowned album cover, even after 70 years.

The original photograph will be exhibited at Wiltshire Museum next spring, along with others taken in the west of England during the Victorian era.