John Carpenter's original Halloween is generally considered to be one of the greatest horror movies ever made. And with good reason. It introduced the world to Michael Myers, one of the most iconic figures not only in horror, but in the whole of cinema. Sadly, the original Michael Myers mask has been missing and thought to be long gone for more than a decade. Until now. That's right, horror fans. The original Michael Myers Halloween mask has been unearthed and a new picture of it in its current state has arrived online.

The mask, which was used in Halloween and Halloween II by actor Dick Warlock on screen, has been in the possession of a man who runs haunted attractions. For the last 14 years, a man by the name of Mark Roberts has owned not only the original mask, but the boots and scalpel Michael Myers used on screen as well. Here's Roberts' tale of how he came into possession of the items.

"I have been building and running haunts for the last 26 years. About 20 years ago I got in contact with an agent who represented Dick Warlock and asked about booking Dick for an appearance at my haunt. The funny thing was I contacted him to book Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface) and when we were getting that set up he told me he also represented Dick and asked if I would be interested in booking him also. So I set up to have Dick at the haunt and his agent said he had the mask and costume from the movie and would wear it at the appearance. When Dick came to the haunt, he was mad at his agent because he said he does not wear the costume for appearances. He did tell me that he still had the costume, boots, mask, butcher knife and scalpel and that he would sell it; he just didn't bring them out for appearances. Dick was great with the haunted house customers and hanging out with Dick and Cathy for the weekend was a lot of fun and it went so well we set it up for him to come back the next year. I'm not sure if it was after the 1st or second year but I called Dick up and we made a deal for me to purchase the mask, costume, boots, scalpel and knife. My wife and I went to Dick's house and picked up the mask and costume and then that following year we had Dick appear at the haunt and we displayed the mask, costume and weapons at the haunt in Toledo. It really is amazing that Dick thought to keep that stuff and take care of it, when I went to pick it up, he had kept the mask stored in a Elvis Presley tin container. I didn't get the container, Dick is a big Elvis fan! I looked back (in my records) and found that I picked the mask up from Dick about 14 years ago, after he had appeared at my haunt for about 5 years. I used to have him and Cathy there every year. I really miss that! I need to have him out again."

The new image of the Michael Myers mask shows its age and it has definitely seen better days. Though it may not look exactly like it did on screen, the good news is, Mark Roberts has never had it restored. So the mask is totally original, despite some reports, which Roberts says are false, that he's had the mask restored. But he is considering having Tom Spina, who did a restoration on the Halloween 5 mask, restore the original.

"I have seen stories that I have had the mask rehaired and restored. Completely untrue, some of the stuff I have read on the internet is laughable. People I don't even know have talked to me, ha ha. The mask is just the way it was when I purchased it from Dick. I pay to have it kept in an air tight container that is climate controlled and in the dark, It seems to be working well. The mask is really in the same shape it was as when I purchased it. I consider it to be the holy grail of horror movie memorabilia and I am doing my best to preserve it...I have thought about that and I may talk to him about it someday. He does amazing work. I struggle with the question is it still the original mask or not if you restore it? I think I lean a little more to having him bring it back to it's full glory."

Whenever something like this surfaces, there's always going to be questions of legitimacy. But Mark Roberts swears by its authenticity. He even has the piece of the neck that is missing from the mask in the picture. The mask even still has the Velcro that was used for filming, which is pretty impressive.

"Before the masses start saying this and that, I still have the front neck piece that was off the mask when I received it from Dick. Just a few more facts, the Velcro Dick put on the back of the mask for filming is still there and except for the chin/neck area of the mask being stiff, (I assume because that is where most of the actors' sweat went), the rest of the mask is still very flexible."

This is an incredible find and it's great to know that this historical piece of movie memorabilia is being cared for correctly. The folks at Michael-Myers.net still have some more of their interview to publish, as well as a few more new pictures. So we can look forward to seeing those in the near future as well. For now, you can check out the unearthed Michael Myers mask from Halloween, in addition to the other items, for yourself below.