By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
DUNNVILLE—No one was more surprised than local photographer Ben Tucci when he saw a pair of photos he took on February 28, 2020 recently highlighted by a media outlet on the other side of the world.
DUNNVILLE—When local photographer Ben Tucci took these photos at his lakefront property in Dunnville in February 2020, he had no idea that two years later they would be gaining international notoriety, thanks to coverage from media outlets such as UK’s The Daily Mirror. —Photos provided by Ben Tucci.
The photos, which capture a natural phenomenon in which two ‘grim reaper’-like figures, made entirely out of lake water splashing against a pair of lamp posts, were captured off the shoreline in Dunnville near Tucci’s property.
Tucci said he is either “blessed or cursed” with the ability to see figures in everyday life objects, including trees, rocks, and more. He says he has taken thousands of similar pictures over the years, but called the ones of the icy figures the best he’s ever taken.
“My old cottage was destroyed in the storm in October 2019. The insurance company said, ‘It’s cheaper to demolish it and rebuild than it is to try and rehabilitate’, so that’s what we did,” said Tucci, adding that he has since rebuilt. It was in February 2020, while work was being done on his new cottage, that Tucci came to check on the progress and found the chilling ice figures.
“It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was stunned when I looked over at my neighbour’s property and saw the Grim Reaper,” he said. “It looked like he was wearing a cloak, with long hair and a beard.… I thought ‘Holy smokes, I need to capture this.’”
Tucci later joined a group online called ‘Things with Faces’ and, after sharing his ghostly images with the group, the pictures began gaining some notoriety, being shared across a variety of online groups.
It was this exposure that eventually brought the media knocking: “I got contacted by a UK news agency who said they had seen the post being circulated and going viral and would like to do a story.”
The agency told Tucci there was no guarantee any publication would pick up the story, so he was surprised when he saw congratulatory posts linking to UK-based media outlet The Daily Mirror’s story on him.
“My initial reaction wasn’t ‘I can make some money on this’ or ‘I can have my photography or name known globally through this,” said Tucci.
He explained that, at the time, he was just incredulous over how Mother Nature could take the wave surges that came over his flood walls and “sculpt” the two humanoid figures, particularly with his interest in the supernatural and unexplained.
This past Monday Ben’s photo popped up in another unexpected place, as part of Jimmy Fallon’s monologue on The Tonight Show. Fallon joked that perhaps it wasn’t a lamp post under the ice sculptures, but a frozen grandparent instead.
Tucci touched on how it feels to have attention from around the world brought to Dunnville through his photography: “I figure if you’re going to live in a community, you have to try and make a difference,” he said. “You should try and be more than just a number, you should try and pay it forward and be a plus and an improvement to your community.”
