13_Across: I started with the idea of the "posies" being more than a flower, like a tangible object of importance or affection. Something that would be given to Lerosy, as the commenters mentioned earlier, after they pledge their love to someone. Here's what I found. During the 17th Century, which is the time when the nursery rhyme "Ring Around The Rosie" originated, there was a popular trend among the English to gift their lovers with something called a posy, which was a gold finger ring. These rings were special because they were engraved with heartfelt words and even short poems. Arthur Lee Humphreys [weblink] compiled a collection of "Posy-ring Mottoes" in the early 20th Century. Here's how he described them: "Posies are the poetry of posy rings and kisses. They will be found to explain themselves. These couplets are just innocent pretty things to which we might well return." They were messages of love engraved in a ring, which is a strong image indeed. Poseys CAN be powerful. (Think of Frodo's job in Lord of the Rings) So, one could draw from this connection to the nursery rhyme, if we use the word Lerosy in place of The Rosie, that the mythical figure of Lerosy takes on a sort of cupid persona, wherein he grants the wish of one heart by bonding it to another. For this, he requests a fee — your posie. Then you (and others) ring around him, with a collection of posies rattling around in his pocket. What do you think?

brain_deluted: Wow ^ no joke, this sounds legit

ominous_debt: are there any examples of a posy?

13_Across: I'll copy and paste some from his book. It's in the public domain.

13_Across: A kis for this

13_Across: Hand heart and all I have is thine. Hand heart and all thou hast be mine.

13_Across: Eternally my love shal be

13_Across: In thee a flame in me the same

13_Across: Love me true as I do you

13_Across: I live if aye if no I die

sweet_homebody: youshouldnthavepostedthat

13_Across: No crosse so strange my love to change

13_Across: One love one troth between us both

13_Across: Prepared be to follow me

13_Across: Rather dye than faith deny

Sherbrooke_climber: I like I love I live content I made my choice not to repent

Stanford_prof: All I refuse but thee I chuse

horoscopy_959: Keepe Fayth Till Deth

blakely_cake1: Desire hath no rest

kush_recker: What about the one with the woman from Nantucket?

!_astronutbag_!: I'm sorry, but that's some funny s***

STILL_whinging: It's okay you don't have to get a word in everytime guy

ObiWisdom_808: Lerosy surrounds us. He penetrates us. He binds us.

really_white_dad: Lerosy to rule them all. Lerosy to find them. Lerosy to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

latchkey_lex_2000: Your theories are well and good, but my daughter didn't have any rings, let alone engraved ones. Somehow I'm more confused.

Baristarexia: No, but the hidden username hacker did ask her to bring "it" with. Clearly "it" meant something similar to a traditional posie, or at least what it used to represent.

STILL_whinging: wiki'd, posey means a short rhyme.

apollo_11_lies: I had a ring like that when I was younger. The whole point is the secret of the inner engraving. It can be read by the person receiving it...but only when the ring is taken off. So it encourages memorization which leads to a dedicated heart. Totes cool stuff.

littlejohn_777: Where is a twelve year old gonna get her hands on something like that? What else you got?

13_Across: I followed the logic behind people covering themselves in sheets. My first thought is ghosts, you know. You cut circles out for the eyes and then voila you're haunting people. Well where did that come from? You would be surprised to find out. Here are some images. I'd turn the lights on if I were you.

love_0_is_0_blind: don't post

13_Across: [image: six young girls standing in a densely wooded area, holding hands. At the center of the circle is another child, covered in a white sheet. Approximate date of photograph, 1890)

love_0_is_0_blind: stop now

13_Across: [image: three children in a field, each covered head to toe in a white sheet. Approximate date of photograph, 1910)

13_Across: [image: twin infants being held for a portrait by their mother. Mother is covered completely in a sheet. Photograph dated, 1866)

Deloris_bean_1951: now!

covert_lampshadey: What the freaking heck is that!!??? That's the wierdest thing ever. This can't be real.

Deloris_bean_1951: NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW

Xiao_raptureglass: chill axe [emoticon: ice cube] [emoticon: double-sided axe]

horoscopy_959: It is real. Completley real.

13_Across: Now here's the kicker — the mother of all pics. [image: black and white photograph, a seemingly empty forest. In the distance is a tall man in a grove, partially hidden, face obscured. On his head, a jester's hat. Standing beside him, a child covered in a white sheet. Potentially a circus performer? Approximate date of photograph, 1885. No further description available]

horoscopy_959: He's real. I totally believe.

$Horndog$: Or the guy posting this has photoshop.

crispy_shifflett: we bein punked.

chimpokomon_shoe_42: Ashton? thachoo?

thefrick_23: no identity dood lols (-1 downvote)

ripe_fo_pikin: MANNN little girls give me the heebie jeebies. And that pic with the dude in the hat. ?? I'm sorry, but I gotta get off the computer and take some time away from this. #whoislerosy is #waytooreal

Elendil_rolls_5: Why was that mom covered in a sheet?

13_Across: Clearly it was to place a backdrop behind her kids. Not like they had a way to prop them up. Or did they hang them from the ceiling back then? jk

Trekkie_thief: Could also be an act of devotion. As in the mother takes a subservient position, that the children are so much more important than her that she would hide her face to not take even a smidge of attention away from them.

aptly_under_smell: Whats this got to do with Lerosy tho?

ominous_debt: Refer back to earlier pages — one user said that seeing the girls in sheets made her turn around. Shits getting real.

accounting_snazzy: Lerosy wants them to be covered after he receives the posey. It's part of the ritual, clearly. Once there are enough devoted girls, he accepts their gifts and joins them in a circle. There, in a ring, they sing to him.

latchkey_lex_2000: Can I assume then that there is someone out there pretending to be this mythical figure and that he lured my daughter out with the promise to make her boyfriend fall in love with her? She did say they were going through a rough patch.

STILL_whinging: Sounds right to me. Teenage girls take all sorts of drastic measures to make sure love is reciprocated. I went to a psychic once. She actually told me stuff I haven't shared with anyone else which is TRES FREAKY.

Buck_the_beav: Stare into my crystal balls. What do you see?

viewer_discretion_330: We've got this figured out, I think. Damm if I can't stop seein that pic of him in the woods with that girl when I close my eyes. If this is fo real I'm moving my pastey ass the hell away from the woods mf

chimpokomon_shoe_42: But the trick is that he isn't giving you anything in return, right?

aptly_under_smell: Y cover them tho

covert_lampshadey: Maybe he doesn't want to see what happens next. Ashes ashes...we all fall down. They die. Am I interpreting this right? He's a wolf in sheeps clothing. A monster posing as cupid. Right? And what happens to the girls after they turn to ash.

apollo_11_lies: DOOOOOD!! Fairy Ring!!! The fairy ring came from the ashes, yo!!!

brain_deluted: wuts fairy ring?

conspiracy_guy_101: it's a CONSPIRACY GUYS!

shoot_loading...: Oh yeah. There's a subforum on here all about fairy rings. This shits gonna freak you out. Someone find a picture to show him.