NEW YORK // For the past two months, a self-described Muslim woman, wearing a black burqa-like cloak has walked along motorways across the American deep south, a region not renowned for its acceptance of Islam and its followers.
But the mysterious apparition, name and destination unknown, refusing to speak with curious onlookers, was not met with suspicion or fear. Instead she has become a sensation on social media, her silent journey becoming an inspiring metaphor that has struck a chord with many US southerners in places still hard hit by recession and poverty.
Local television news channels began describing her as “the woman in black” in early June, and soon the hashtag #womaninblack was trending on Twitter. Facebook pages were created where admirers tracked her progress across Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.
One page now has more than 19,000 followers and 60,000 “likes”, and was dedicated to “reminding people to open their hearts and become a little less judgemental and more willing to lend a hand to those in need”.
“If you meet this woman, please, offer her a drink, a meal, whatever it may be you feel she needs,” the creators of the page said. “Be hospitable. Be kind.”
Fans began to go out and follow the woman, dragging a small trolley case and walking staff in hand as she wandered along roads and highways in their areas. They offered food and drink, but she always turned them down.
“From what I’ve learned, she can be really nice or really rude,” a West Virginia resident who offered her water, Jimmy McClellan, told ABC News. “I don’t blame her rudeness. She wants to be left alone.”
Local police began escorting the woman for her own safety as her fame grew. Officers in Sullivan County, Tennessee told a local news channel that she told them she was a Muslim and had recently returned from a “religious mission”, and that she had worked at the Pentagon.
The officers said they did not believe her, but this week the shroud of mystery was lifted partly when a man came forward claiming to be her brother, telling Reuters that she is Elizabeth Poles, 56, a US army veteran and mother of two from Alabama.
Raymond Poles said their father and her husband both died within the span of a year in 2008 and 2009, and Ms Poles had spent time in a veterans’ hospital where she sought treatment to cope with the deaths.
“Her and my dad were really close,” Mr Poles said.
Until she began her trek, Ms Poles had lived near her brother Motts, Alabama, but he said she recently suffered a breakdown, and then vanished. “I wish she would come back and let us help her.”
On Tuesday, Ms Poles’ 1,600-kilometre journey appeared to reach its conclusion in the town of Winchester, in northern Virginia, where she was born and raised.
A crowd of about 50 people had gathered to catch a glimpse of the woman in black. Officers were called and they took her into “protective custody” and “provided her with food and shelter” at an undisclosed location, police said.
Ms Poles told police that she planned to settle in Winchester.
Police said they wanted “residents to know that she will be part of the community and to respect her privacy if you see her in the area. She has expressed to officers that she wants to be left alone”.
Although Ms Poles is no longer traversing the south, and even as it becomes clearer that she likely has a mental illness, the image of the forlorn lone figure moving towards some better place still captivates many.
The woman in black has become a blank slate or a mirror, reflecting hopes and desires both personal and political.
One Twitter user suggested, however improbably, that her walk was an act of solidarity with residents of Gaza.
Another tweeted: “I am in awe of the #womaninblack. Her journey reminds me that even when you’ve lost everything, the walk continues.”
tkhan@thenational.ae