Hundreds of years before Miracle Mask, an explorer named Donald Rutledge discovered the mask in a temple. He wrote about what the mask's purpose may be, but never found out what it actually was made for.

It was then found again by Randall Ascot. Randall suspected that it was linked to the 'cipher' of the wall of Norwell, and managed to decrypt it. When translated, it showed directions to the Akbadain ruins, and rumors of lost treasure. He and the then 17 year old Hershel Layton explored the ruins; at the last door, the professor accidently stood on an activation switch, which caused the ruins to collapse. Randall was supposedly killed when he fell from a ledge.

In fact, Randall had survived; he had fallen into a river, and was found by an old man called Mominokii along with the mask. Hitting his head in the fall, Randall suffered from amnesia, so started working for Mominokii as a farmer. He lived in Klang village for 18 years.

Years after, to take revenge, Randall decided to disguise himself with the mask, using its 'power' to turn people into stone, raise into the air and other scary deeds.

When 'unlocked', the mask is split into two pieces, the Mask of Chaos and the Mask of Order. At the Akbadain ruins, there are two pedistals in which these halves can be placed. When the masks were placed by Layton and Angela Ledore, the ruins began to rise, saving Monte d'Or from being flooded by a flood of sand caused by Randall out of misplaced anger. Elsewhere, The Nautilus Chamber of Akbadain also rose.