If you’ve ever seen a cathedral, large church, or maybe even an older building, you are probably familiar with gargoyles.
Their appearance resembles that of a demon or a goblin. Often, they are detailed with angry, teeth-baring faces on devilish figures. They tend to be naked, and muscular figures. Wings also seem to be a common feature. Though this is a fairly common description for many gargoyles, their looks are very diverse.
In different cultures, they mean different things or might take different forms like that of an animal or even a people. For architecture, they are used to spout water out and away from the buildings they sit on. They have a functional purpose as well.
I’m sure many of you who are reading this are aware that you can buy smaller gargoyle statues for a garden or home decoration. I was as well, but I hadn’t expected to receive one as a gift.
I had just moved into my new apartment at my university. I rented just a small studio apartment, as I was only living by myself and I wanted something affordable for me as a student. I like to keep things simple, I don’t own a whole lot of “stuff” and I don’t plan to. My mother, however, is very attentive when it comes to getting me new things she thinks I might need or want and it was no different in this case. Among the items, she brought for my apartment was a little gargoyle statue.
The thing stood no taller than a foot. Its color was grey with a sort of green tint. Its posture was hunched over, with a round back and spine while it held its legs and stared forward. Its head, feet, and hands were large in comparison to its body. The facial features were like that of a cat mixed with a troll, that’s how I would best describe it. It had long, pointy, upright ears that defined the top of its figure along with the wrinkles atop its head.
The expression the gargoyle displayed seemed mostly neutral, if not a bit friendly or at least tranquil. Nothing was threatening about this one, unlike the devilish creatures that some gargoyles atop buildings seemed to imitate. I thought he seemed friendly enough to keep around my new and otherwise empty home.
My place had a sort of entryway corridor with the door to get in as well as the door to the bathroom that is offset from the main room which is the rest of the apartment. The main room served both as my bedroom and kitchen. I figured the best place to keep this little gargoyle was near my entrance, in the corner facing the door. This made it so the gargoyle was the first thing I saw whenever I came back into my apartment, but I didn’t necessarily get a look at him when I left.
The first couple of weeks in my apartment were wonderful. I had a nice view of the city as well as the street below. Though it was small, I didn’t need much space and I liked being able to live alone. Each night after work or school, I was able to come, cook, eat, sleep, relax, and leave whenever I felt. Keeping it clean wasn’t an issue as I was always keen on keeping things organized and cleaned up.
Whenever I came back to my apartment, I always looked down at the little gargoyle on the floor and it made me smile each time. I placed him so he would be looking straight at me whenever I walked through the door.
That was until one day, he wasn’t facing me.
It was a Tuesday, about the second or third week of classes. I got up at around 9 a.m., got my things ready, and headed out to the two classes I was attending that morning. I returned to my building around 11 o’clock, ready to eat, relax for a minute and prepare for my next class. Any plans I was making in my head were quieted for a moment after I opened the door to my apartment and found my little gargoyle friend rotated away from looking at the door.
He was turned about 45 degrees looking straight away from the corner he sat in rather than towards the door, as I had set him. I, being paranoid as I am, though reasonable, did a quick sweep through my apartment to find nothing out of the ordinary, and no one else inside. I didn’t find anything else out of the ordinary in my apartment, though I will admit, I am not the most observant nor do I have the best memory, so it was easy to explain this away.
I figured that I must have fiddled with the gargoyle and moved it for some reason this morning, or maybe that I had bumped into it which, even at the time, didn’t make much sense. I hadn’t had a reason to move the gargoyle around and besides, my mornings inside the apartment are usually short-lived. I’m always in a big rush to get to class on time. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had a better explanation. In any case, I just rotated the gargoyle back to how I had him before where he once again faced the door to the apartment. I carried on with my day as if nothing had happened.
I had the same experience the next day. It rotated what seemed to be the same 45 degrees in the same direction. Again, I chalked it up to me being forgetful and having moved it for some reason. I couldn’t, however, make this same dismissal on Thursday when I saw it once again. Three days in a row now. At this point, my paranoia had placed a firm hand on the wheel of my thought process.
I hadn’t believed much in paranormal or spiritual entities or forces. I also wasn’t very involved with my religion like I was when I was younger. Despite this, the thoughts crossed my mind. I thought, maybe this little stone gargoyle was cursed or possessed by something. Maybe this thing was the little demon it looked like. This explanation didn’t have much merit to me and like I said, I wasn’t the most superstitious person.
The prevailing theory I settled on was that someone was sneaking into my apartment. Someone had a sick idea of a joke, where they would find it funny to terrorize me into thinking I had a possessed gargoyle. Maybe an employee who worked in the building had a key fob they could use to access my apartment. Maybe an old resident had one that still worked. Maybe one was lost and there was someone who found out where it worked by some odd chance.
Whoever it was, I couldn’t think of someone for whom this theory would make any sense. I also figured they must be doing it only to toy with me. Nothing else ever seems out of place and nothing was missing or stolen. As I said, I am quite simple and don’t have many things that could be out of place or missing so I would probably notice if there were.
My solution was simple. Friday wasn’t a very important day for classes that week. I hadn’t had any quizzes or tests to attend to and for anything I missed, I was sure I could teach myself through the textbooks and class notes the professors left on their class pages after the lectures. I planned to simply sit in my apartment all day and wait for the creep that came in to mess with my gargoyle.
As I learned waking up Friday morning, this plan didn’t work.
The moment I woke up, I crawled out of bed to use the bathroom. As I left the bathroom, I found myself making eye contact with the gargoyle setting in the corner. He had already moved to his angle away from the corner, looking right at the bathroom. I felt a chill down my spine as I realized that whoever did this must have come in the night. The thought of someone coming in when I was sleeping and doing that and god knows what else made me feel disgusted and even angry. How sick could they be? Some stranger, whose intentions I hadn’t a clue of, felt bold enough to sneak into my apartment while I slept.
I stayed inside my apartment all of Friday. I cooked what I had and kept to my homework. I didn’t go to any of my classes and although that was a part of the plan, I had hoped to catch whoever was doing this and be able to move on with the day. Now, I wouldn’t be able to leave to go to the gym or hang out with friends, I couldn’t leave at all. I didn’t even feel comfortable enough to use both earbuds in my apartment. This situation was no fun and I wanted to be able to leave my apartment but more than that, I wanted to find out who this was.
I decided that night was going to be an all-nighter. I had to catch whoever the hell was doing this. I figured that this was also a good time to continue my school work and prepare for the week so that when I hopefully did catch this creep, I could relax for the rest of my weekend and sleep easily.
I didn’t tell anyone about what was going on. I felt like I might be the one who was crazy. After all, I had nothing to back up my claims, so why bother?
My Friday was quiet and peaceful for the most part. I had gotten distracted a few times and browsed youtube here and there but for the most part, I got quite a lot done. Occasionally, I would get up and double-check that my door was secured and locked and that my mysterious gargoyle was how I left him, staring straight at the door. As usual, my productivity improved the later it got.
While intensely focused on a set of calculus problems at 3 a.m., the lights in my apartment suddenly went out. I jumped out of my chair, into a standing position, and away from my desk as I stared towards the entrance to my apartment. Even though only my right earbud was in, I quickly knocked it out of the ear. I hadn’t heard anyone or anything, except for the distinct flip of a light switch a few seconds prior. Because of the offset corridor, I couldn’t see where the light switch was or if someone was there.
I grabbed the chef knife from my set of kitchen knives as well as a steak knife. I stood for a moment in the dark. The only thing breaking the silence was my rapid heartbeat and accelerated breathing. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I pumped myself up. I got angry, I told myself this was who was toying with me and found this sick joke humorous. I screamed that whoever was in here ought to leave before I took care of them myself. I didn’t get a response.
My fear and anger got the better of me as I told myself whoever was in my apartment right now was going to get what was coming to them. I marched over to the corridor to find there was no one there. I glanced to my left, at my feet, and saw that my gargoyle had moved again. Like the last time, he faced 45 degrees away from where I had placed him, right towards the bathroom door. I shot a glance towards the door, which was slightly ajar.
There was someone in my bathroom. I couldn’t make out many details but I could make out the shape of a person. I raised the chef knife I was holding and, in the most serious and straight voice I could muster, I told them to leave. Despite my best efforts, my command came off in a very shaky and frightened voice. After about ten seconds, I saw the figure step backward, outside of the view I had through the barely cracked open door.
I cautiously reached a hand forward and pulled open the door. Though it was still dark, I didn’t see anyone. I reached in and flipped the light switch, still keeping the rest of my body outside of the bathroom. There wasn’t anyone there. I stepped in and checked the shower and cabinet, as if anyone could fit in there, but didn’t find anything. I just stood in the middle of my bathroom, alone, confused, and thinking of what the hell could have possibly happened.
My gaze met the gargoyle’s, who was staring right back at me. My paranormal theory seemed a lot more plausible to me now, and one I was starting to believe in more with every passing second.
The rest of the night was uneventful. I continued my work whenever I was calm enough, which wasn’t often. I couldn’t stop taking looks back towards my door, towards where the gargoyle sat. I kept on like this for the entirety of that Saturday. I didn’t eat anything that day, I didn’t have an appetite. I worked slower while my eyes became heavier.
At one point, around 7 p.m., I decided to take a break and watch a relaxing youtube video or two since I hadn’t gotten anything done in the past hour or so anyway. Because I wanted to keep both ears open this time, I didn’t use headphones and just listened with my laptop volume on low. Eventually, I found myself resting my head in my arms and barely able to keep my eyes open.
I know it wasn’t long before I fell asleep but it only felt like a passing moment before I shot back up, awake in the darkness of my room. My panic about being in the dark was quickly diffused when I remembered I didn’t have it on earlier when I fell asleep, as it was still somewhat light out then. However, it wasn’t light out now. I leaned back to get a look at the clock on my oven. It was a little past midnight.
I stood up, legs feeling almost too weak to allow me to, and rubbed my eyes. I was tired before but now I felt like a rotting corpse. As it turns out, sometimes catching a little sleep when you’re that deprived only makes you feel worse. I had a massive urge to pee after I woke up. I started walking over to my bathroom but stopped dead in my tracks when I got to the corridor.
My gargoyle wasn’t just turned, it was gone. I snapped my head back up and looked towards my door. What I saw made me take a few steps back. Facing my door was a figure again but this time I could see it.
It stood about four feet tall, arms at its sides and with a slightly hunched back. I realized quickly that whatever this thing was, its figure was an exact representation of my gargoyle, only larger and stood up. It stood looking straight ahead at my door, away from me. It was perfectly still, like a stone.
Before I could react I felt myself become weak, weak to the point I couldn’t seem to keep myself standing, and felt my legs going out from underneath me. I slowly collapsed to my knees and then to the ground, watching what I now believed to be whatever possessed my gargoyle standing in front of me. All the while my eyes kept closing as if they were being forced to. I felt myself falling asleep once again until I did. I tried to fight all of this but I couldn’t. It was almost as if my body was doing it for me.
I awoke with sunlight from my window shining on my face as I was still collapsed on the ground. It was mid-morning. My first thought was to check for whatever was standing in front of my door the night before. It wasn’t there but I discovered my gargoyle right where I had always placed him, sitting in the corner and facing the door.
I was losing my mind at this point, and I didn’t know if it was me seeing things or if things were happening. In a rash impulse, I got my shoes on, grabbed the gargoyle, and marched down to the first floor of the building. I proceeded to the trash room where I rifled the little stone devil into a dumpster, turning away as quickly as I threw him and I headed back up to my room.
I continued on that day as if nothing had ever happened. I figured I better finish up the school work I needed to have done for classes, which I already had the next day. I also went to the gym but my performance on everything that day, from homework to working out, was suboptimal to put it lightly. I had just felt horrible. My mood wasn’t just bad, it was depressing like I had no hope left at all. I did a lot of reflection myself, I felt as though I should drop out of school, and stop trying as if nothing mattered at all. I felt my life was meaningless. I don’t know what was getting into me, I felt that day like I hadn’t in months. Up until the past few days, everything was going right for me and now I was back to this. My mental health was improving until now. I hoped it was just the sleep deprivation getting the best of me. These thoughts occupied much of my day and before I knew it, it was dark and I was tired, worn out. I decided to call it a day.
Later that night, around two or three in the morning, I woke up once again. I was able to open my eyes and see my quiet, dark apartment but when I tried to get up, I was unable. No matter how much effort I gave into moving my arms or legs, or anything but my eyes, I couldn’t. I panicked for a few minutes before I gave it some thought. I assumed I must be experiencing sleep paralysis. I had never experienced it before, only heard about it, and it terrified me. I decided it was best to relax and let it pass. I stopped trying to get up and relaxed my eyes, letting them drift to the ceiling above. That was a mistake.
Hanging from my ceiling was this grotesque monster. The shape was like that of a man, but with its feet and hands plated on the ceiling as if it were the floor, with its head leaning back and down, to look at me. Its spine was bent to a gut-wrenching degree, impossible for any person. The body was darker than my room in the middle of the night, that’s all I could remember besides that its skin shimmered in the little amount of street light that came through my apartment window. My focus was locked on its eyes. Its piercing, bright blue eyes. They were the only thing that stuck out in the darkness. They had the slits of a snake’s eyes and when I looked into them I knew that what I was looking at was pure evil.
It dropped from the ceiling and onto my bed just over me. I could feel its power and weight when it landed, perfectly placing its head over mine and looking straight into my eyes. It began to laugh with a vibration in its voice as if it were coming in from a speaker or radio rather than from vocal cords. It leaned it, almost touched its crooked nose with mine, and bore its teeth.
“Now that he’s gone, you’re mine”
It whispered to me before opening its mouth and sticking its forked, serpentine tongue out and running it along my face. Right at that moment, it was ripped from the top of me and I was suddenly able to move again. I sprung from my lying position on the bed to see what happened.
The thing that had been on top of me was now being held high in the air, almost to my ceiling. It was wailing in pain as it scrambled to reach its arms behind its neck and squirmed about, kicking its legs in the air. It was trying to reach a large grey arm that held him there, unmoving. Attached to that arm was none other than my gargoyle, this time he was an immense size. Its face, still the same as it always had been, like a mask, stared up at the creature it possessed in its grasp, but only for only a second.
In an instant, the gargoyle slammed its hand, clenching the neck along with it, straight into the floor. Even over the tremendous boom and shake of the floor beneath me, I could hear bones crack as the creature continued to wail in fear and pain. The gargoyle proceeded to repeat this slam several times before it stopped and placed one firm foot on the creature’s back.
Bending down, it gripped the shoulder with one hand and the wrist with the other before yanking and tearing it off in one flawless motion. The creature let out another scream, but it had no power, it couldn’t move, it couldn’t do anything. Quickly, the gargoyle repeated the procedure on the other arm. The creature had gone silent. This didn’t stop the gargoyle from finishing the job. It leaned in and grabbed the head with its hands. Violently twisting, I heard grotesque sounds of snaps and the tearing of flesh before the head came loose. The gargoyle raised it and looked it in the eyes for a short minute before it looked towards me.
I was still shaken with fear. I just witnessed a little stone statue turned gargantuan monster rip and tear apart some sort of evil spirit. Not to mention my floor was covered in torn-apart limbs, a lifeless torso, and a pool of blood. Despite all this, I was able to calm down after a few seconds. I didn’t feel like I was in danger, I felt safe and comfortable, feelings I hadn’t had the slightest taste of for a whole week now. I felt like it was all over now, and I could rest. I remembered now that just earlier that day I had thrown the gargoyle out, believing it to be responsible for causing all of this. I felt ashamed of myself, I felt I had betrayed the one who was here to help me.
“I’m sorry”
Was all I could muster to which it gave no response but once again, I could feel something. I could feel that this thing held no animosity towards me, I could feel it forgave me and that no matter what, it was here to protect me. It didn’t care what I did to it.
Moments later, I found myself going weak and falling back asleep once again. When I awoke, I felt more refreshed from sleep than I had in a long time. I got out of my bed to find no holes in my floor, no blood, no dismembered corpse, but what did sit in the middle of my apartment floor was the gargoyle, back to its original state. Just a friendly little statue.
Every day since has been normal and I don’t believe I’ve ever been this happy in my life. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this looked after before. I no longer feel alone in the darkness, in the emptiness I had felt for years. I have a good perspective on life now. I appreciate every day like I never have. My relationship with my family has never been so strong.
I don’t fear the beast that sits quietly in the corner of my apartment. He’s a part of me now, no matter what happens. The only fear I have is what would happen to me if I found myself on the wrong side of that thing, and I don’t intend for that to ever happen. I know he will always be with me.
A few days after all of this, I was just leaving my apartment when one of my neighbors, whom I had never even talked to before, approached me as if she had an urgent question or something to tell me.
“Hey, I heard some super loud noise coming from your place the other night. It sounded like you were taking a sledgehammer to something, is everything alright?”
Surprised, I only smiled and replied
“Oh, yes, everything is alright. I don’t think you’ll be hearing anything like that again”