Inspired by reading this wikipedia article on The Mad Trapper of Rat River:
What other famous figures are there who we don’t (and probably never will) know the real identities of?
Others include:
Tank Man of Tianemen Square:
Its only as an adult that I can now appreciate just how much courage he displayed in standing in front of that column of tanks (and by extension the entire State). Although it would be fascinating to learn his true identity and what became of him in some ways I think its better than he remains an Everyman, a potent symbol rather than a flesh and blood person, the ‘little person’ (which is most of us) against arbitrary power.
There are a lot of very famous photographs that we’ve all seen reprinted countless times in newspapers and magazines, but whose subjects we don’t know the names of.
Most notably, there was Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in the middle of Times Square on VJ Day. Several people have come forward CLAIMING to be the subjects of the photos, but their faces aren’t clearly visible and Eisenstaedt never too kdown anyone’s names. So, we’ll never know who the kissing couple were.
The person from Porlock who interrupted Samuel Taylor Coleridge while he was writing “Xanadu”; he never found the thread of inspiration again and the poem remained unfinished.
Endlessly fascinating case. I am surprised that no good candidate has ever been plugged into the narrow slot that defines what we know of Cooper. I can only conclude that he had no family or friends who missed him, and that he may have erased his tracks (e.g. “moved away”) in preparation for his robbery, so that even casual people never thought of him again.
I think the case for Zodiac is strong for Arthur Leigh Allen, but yes, we’re never likely to know for sure.*
I’ll nominate the perpetrators of the “Max Headroom” video hijacking, who have remained unknown despite every reason to come forward by now. A documentary maker and I have a theory about why they have not, but it’s his to tell.
*I was freaked/amused to find out that my FIL had long lived right across the street from Allen’s house, and that he casually knew him as a neighbor.
You might not know it, and he had (still has possibly, hence me not stating it) good reason for keeping his real name secret, but it is fairly widely-known now. But until a few years ago I’d say that was a good one.