Why does a persistent marquee appear whether or not I've used a masking tool?

When I open an image a mask marquee surrounds it that I cannot get rid of. It doesn't function as a mask, but it is distracting. If I draw a mask with the freehand or rectangle mask tools, the first marquee remains- making it look like the selection has been inverted. If I try to actually invert it, it looks exactly the same. 

If I select an area with the mask tools then cut or copy it and make a new layer, the mask marquee that I made also remains, no matter how many times I click Ctrl+R. I cannot remove the marquee nor make it invisible.  Any suggestions?