Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of The Shining features one of the most iconic and chilling final shots in cinematic history: a photograph from the Overlook Hotel’s 1921 Fourth of July ball, prominently featuring Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), despite the character not yet being born at that time. This image, a real photograph altered to include Nicholson, had faded into obscurity—until now. Forty-five years after the film's release, the original 1921 Fourth of July ball photograph has finally been unearthed.

Alasdair Spark, a retired academic from the University of Winchester, shared the journey of rediscovering this image on Getty's Instagram. He explained, "Following the earlier identification by facial recognition software of the unknown man in the photograph at the end of The Shining as Santos Casani, a London ballroom dancer, I can reveal that the photo was one of three taken by the Topical Press Agency at a St. Valentine's Day Ball on February 14, 1921, at the Empress Rooms, the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington." The post also featured a new scan from the original glass-plate negative and other supporting handwritten documents.

Spark, along with New York Times staffer Arick Toller and dedicated Redditors, embarked on an extensive search to find the image. He described the process as a "wild goose chase," noting that "it was starting to seem impossible, every cross-reference to Casani failed to match. Other likely places that were suggested didn’t match... There were some places we could not find images for and we started to fear that meant the photo might be lost to history, and never be found."

This revelation is sure to delight fans of The Shining. Stephen King's novel, released in 1977, has been adapted into two notable versions: Kubrick’s iconic 1980 film and Mick Garris’ faithful 1997 miniseries.