Swiss Woods Haunted by Mysterious Figure Known as “Le Loyon”?

You ever wonder what happens to those kids that pretend/act like it’s Halloween everyday of the year? Well apparently when they grow up, they go live in the woods, scaring the shit out of random people. So today we’re headed to the forest of Maules in western Switzerland where people have reported seeing the “Le Loyon”, a mysterious figure that is said to be haunting the woods. Dressed in a military uniform with a gas mask covering his face (are you my mummy?), the strange figure reportedly walks the same route every day. There was no known evidence of his assistance until Le Matin (a Swiss French-language newspaper/website) published the supposedly first ever photo taken of the “Le Loyon” (shown above). The photo was published sometime last month (August 2013). The unnamed photographer who apparently took the photo says he encountered the figure near the marches after tracking him down. He approached the figure up to a dozen meters away. The figure was wearing a military cape, boots and an antique gas mask and looked to be about 1.9 meters (about 6.23 feet) tall. It stopped, looked back at him, then continued walking. Other locals have claimed to have seen the strange figure. One woman says her and her frightened children saw him come out of the woods. Another woman says she saw him on a rainy day. People have become so afraid of this mysterious figure, that they’re afraid to even go near the forest where he’s reportedly been haunting/living in for the past 10 years. Police are now hoping to track him down to ask him to be less threatening, even though he’s shown no signs of regression.

I’m not sure if this is suppose to be a ghost or an actual figure. The police seem to think this is an actual person, while the headlines and people are calling the figure an “it” like it isn’t human. People have theorized that it could be some kind of hermit or mentally ill person who is either homeless or just decided to live out in the woods. I think that’s a much more plausible theory than this being a ghost, because in the photo, there doesn’t seem to be anything spiritual/ghostly about the figure. I find it odd that the police are just now interested in talking to the man, when he’s supposedly been in the woods for 10 years. Also, I think people are kind of over reacting. He hasn’t hurt someone (as of yet anyway), he just walks the same path every day. But, I can understand why the police are trying to find him. So those are my thoughts, what are yours? Is this some kind of ghostly being that’s wandering the woods or is it just a mentally ill person or just a lonely hermit?