OMEN
10-03-2007, 09:07 AM
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A carved stone head sits by the side of the road in the village of...
LONDON (AFP) - Villagers in northern England were left scratching their heads Tuesday after a series of mysterious gargoyle-style stone blocks were left on their doorsteps, with cryptic messages attached.
The sculptures, which all have a carved symbol which apparently spells "paradox" and a riddle, have been left overnight outside homes and businesses across the northern county of Yorkshire over the last few weeks.
Security camera footage caught a man leaving three of the heads outside a post office, but detectives have so far drawn a blank over who is behind the bizarre nocturnal activity.
"It's very weird. They're a bit like gargoyles really, obviously somebody has taken a lot of trouble if they have been carved," said Valerie Hoyes, who runs the post office in Braithwell where a trio of heads were abandoned.
"On the back it looks like an occult thing, it does actually spell paradox, but we don't know what any of it means."
In all 12 of the heads have been left in the villages of Goathland and Kilburn in north Yorkshire, four in Arthington in west Yorkshire, and three in Braithwell, south Yorkshire.
They are accompanied by a riddle, which reads: "Twinkle twinkle like a star does love blaze less from afar?"
George Griffiths, an artist from Arthington, has so far received two of the statues, the first one on August 23.
"I thought somebody had just dumped it, that it had fallen off the back of a lorry. But then I read the message and thought 'it's queer is this'."
"I think it's a publicity stunt -- I can't see anything else. They're not sinister or anything like that. It's just a puzzle. We're all just waiting and wondering to find out more."
Valerie Hoyes added: "We're just a bit nonplussed really, didn't know what it was all about. We just moved them away from the front of the shop and more or less forgot about them.
AFP
A carved stone head sits by the side of the road in the village of...
LONDON (AFP) - Villagers in northern England were left scratching their heads Tuesday after a series of mysterious gargoyle-style stone blocks were left on their doorsteps, with cryptic messages attached.
The sculptures, which all have a carved symbol which apparently spells "paradox" and a riddle, have been left overnight outside homes and businesses across the northern county of Yorkshire over the last few weeks.
Security camera footage caught a man leaving three of the heads outside a post office, but detectives have so far drawn a blank over who is behind the bizarre nocturnal activity.
"It's very weird. They're a bit like gargoyles really, obviously somebody has taken a lot of trouble if they have been carved," said Valerie Hoyes, who runs the post office in Braithwell where a trio of heads were abandoned.
"On the back it looks like an occult thing, it does actually spell paradox, but we don't know what any of it means."
In all 12 of the heads have been left in the villages of Goathland and Kilburn in north Yorkshire, four in Arthington in west Yorkshire, and three in Braithwell, south Yorkshire.
They are accompanied by a riddle, which reads: "Twinkle twinkle like a star does love blaze less from afar?"
George Griffiths, an artist from Arthington, has so far received two of the statues, the first one on August 23.
"I thought somebody had just dumped it, that it had fallen off the back of a lorry. But then I read the message and thought 'it's queer is this'."
"I think it's a publicity stunt -- I can't see anything else. They're not sinister or anything like that. It's just a puzzle. We're all just waiting and wondering to find out more."
Valerie Hoyes added: "We're just a bit nonplussed really, didn't know what it was all about. We just moved them away from the front of the shop and more or less forgot about them.
AFP