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Are Gargoyles Real?


MoonlightMadness

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In 1963, I was about 15 years old and my sister was about 11 years old. We lived in Colma, California, known as the Cemetary capital of the world. My mother use to send us off to gather berries in an uncultivated area of the city that had a deep ravine.

This particular day she sent the both of us to gather the berries, my sister and I found some bushes impacted with berries so we started filling our baskets. I looked further down the ravine and saw a large object. Being curious and adventurous I climbed down the hill to it. To my horror I saw this huge, ugly dragon-like object that was stiff and probably dead. As I was screaming for my sister to come down, I looked it over mesmerized by how odd it looked. It was about 8 ft in length, bat-like wings outstretched about another 8 ft, huge claw-like feet, and a squarish long head with huge, sharp teeth. It looked dead, laying on it's back and it's claws were pointing stiffly upward. My sister finally arrived, but by that time I was ready to run for my life, calling out to her to run with me, she was standing there hypnotized by the sight of the grotesque looking beast. After screaming at her a number of times to follow me, she finally started screaming too and followed me running all the way home. Mom asked us what we were so upset about and we told her our story. She laughed at us but asked our brother to follow us back to our sighting because we both screamed out to her the same story. We arrived back at the scene with my brother, but the mysterious animal had disappeared. My brother laughed at us all the way home, but to this day my sister and I remember that day and the animal we saw in vivid detail.

After becoming adults we saw movies about gargoyles and realized that, that was the animal we saw when we were young. I've done some internet research, but have never found anyone who ever saw one. All the stories about these mysterious animals say that they are mythical, but I know and believe they are real.

I'm 61 years old, old enough to know better, and stick to my experience 100%. This was no childhood dream. My sister and I both remember that day.

The gargoyle I remember looks something like this drawing.post-93068-125238654321_thumb.jpg

Edited by MoonlightMadness
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Closest thing to a Gargoyle you could have possibly seen is a Flying Fox. Maybe the sight of a dead animal at such a young age traumatised you for a short while into believing it was some sort of monster.

Hope this helps.

These Flying Fox pictures look kinda Gargoyle-ish: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_jufK9LBrE7w/SYoyxOBwZjI/AAAAAAAACMU/3OzruKkRcOA/s800/KALONG%20FLYING%20FOX.jpg

And - http://www.thewebsiteofeverything.com/img/little_red_flying_fox.jpg

Edited by Insaniac
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In 1963, I was about 15 years old and my sister was about 11 years old. We lived in Colma, California, known as the Cemetary capital of the world. My mother use to send us off to gather berries in an uncultivated area of the city that had a deep ravine.

This particular day she sent the both of us to gather the berries, my sister and I found some bushes impacted with berries so we started filling our baskets. I looked further down the ravine and saw a large object. Being curious and adventurous I climbed down the hill to it. To my horror I saw this huge, ugly dragon-like object that was stiff and probably dead. As I was screaming for my sister to come down, I looked it over mesmerized by how odd it looked. It was about 8 ft in length, bat-like wings outstretched about another 8 ft, huge claw-like feet, and a squarish long head with huge, sharp teeth. It looked dead, laying on it's back and it's claws were pointing stiffly upward. My sister finally arrived, but by that time I was ready to run for my life, calling out to her to run with me, she was standing there hypnotized by the sight of the grotesque looking beast. After screaming at her a number of times to follow me, she finally started screaming too and followed me running all the way home. Mom asked us what we were so upset about and we told her our story. She laughed at us but asked our brother to follow us back to our sighting because we both screamed out to her the same story. We arrived back at the scene with my brother, but the mysterious animal had disappeared. My brother laughed at us all the way home, but to this day my sister and I remember that day and the animal we saw in vivid detail.

After becoming adults we saw movies about gargoyles and realized that, that was the animal we saw when we were young. I've done some internet research, but have never found anyone who ever saw one. All the stories about these mysterious animals say that they are mythical, but I know and believe they are real.

I'm 61 years old, old enough to know better, and stick to my experience 100%. This was no childhood dream. My sister and I both remember that day.

The gargoyle I remember looks something like this drawing.post-93068-125238654321_thumb.jpg

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I'm serious about what we saw. Plus, I wasn't a child, I was 15 years old. I am 61 years old today and still remember what I saw very clearly. My sister saw the same thing; so you're saying the two of us were traumatized by your supposed dead animal, come on. Also, what happened to the supposed dead animal when we came back? I believe, as the supposed myths say, gargoyles do not leave their dead behind so a live one came and swooped it away. That's why I came forward with my story, so that others who have experienced the same will also come forward.

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you have to remember you were kids, so maybe what you saw as being 8 ft long was really much smaller

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short answer: yes, the statues are real.

as for them being real physical beings capable of thought and movement, no.

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I'm serious about what we saw. Plus, I wasn't a child, I was 15 years old. I am 61 years old today and still remember what I saw very clearly. My sister saw the same thing; so you're saying the two of us were traumatized by your supposed dead animal, come on. Also, what happened to the supposed dead animal when we came back? I believe, as the supposed myths say, gargoyles do not leave their dead behind so a live one came and swooped it away. That's why I came forward with my story, so that others who have experienced the same will also come forward.

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you have to remember you were kids, so maybe what you saw as being 8 ft long was really much smaller

I agree about the size, but what we saw was as I described, and I was a distance away when picking berries, so the creature was large enough for me to see. It was almost twice my size.

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I have seen many gargoyles on the sides of old buildings, so I can confidently say yes, they are real.

Unless what you saw was made of stone, it wasn't a gargoyle.

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Personally, I've never seen the animal you describe. However, I can't prove they don't exist. I think the most important thing a person can possess is an open mind. If reality as we know it is based on belief, and you believe that you saw this animal, then you saw it. The flip side of that coin is that people that do not believe in such things can't see them and never will until their beliefs change.

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Personally, I've never seen the animal you describe. However, I can't prove they don't exist. I think the most important thing a person can possess is an open mind. If reality as we know it is based on belief, and you believe that you saw this animal, then you saw it. The flip side of that coin is that people that do not believe in such things can't see them and never will until their beliefs change.

Thank you for the most intelligent and thought out answer yet. It makes the most sense because when we brought my brother back to check it out with us, who is the most unbelieving person in the world to this day, it was gone.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm serious about what we saw. Plus, I wasn't a child, I was 15 years old. I am 61 years old today and still remember what I saw very clearly. My sister saw the same thing; so you're saying the two of us were traumatized by your supposed dead animal, come on. Also, what happened to the supposed dead animal when we came back? I believe, as the supposed myths say, gargoyles do not leave their dead behind so a live one came and swooped it away. That's why I came forward with my story, so that others who have experienced the same will also come forward.

where did you hear this myth about gargoyles (the they don't leave the dead behind bit) as gargoyles were never real, it was a term used for statues that functioned as water spouts the very word comes from the French gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet" which comes from the Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived from the root gar, "to swallow" which represented the gurgling sound of water. the statues most people refer to as gargoyles (that don't function as part of guttering) were originally referred to as chimeras after the mythical chimera or grotesque after there appearance but later fell under the umbrella term gargoyle. I don't know what you saw but anything you've heard about gargoyles is likely made up (probably in the 1900's when gargoyles started appearing in some horror stories) sorry

see wikipedia if you don't believe me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyle

Edited by Spend
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I would encourage the sceptics to open thier minds a little to the undiscovered possibilities and the fact that proving something does exist is quite possible however proving something does not is very hard and simply saying modern science hasn't found it yet does not constitute proof. As for the OP brilliant story. I think it could have been some kind of draconic being since the subsequent posts seem to agree that gargoyles are made of stone. I would also like to thank you for coming fourth with your story. I myself have seen many statues that seemed to move. In expression mostely as if possesed by some elemental imbueing. I would stare at them as the emoted sending back emotions of my own from time to time, I like to make them giggle. Of course most of the time when this would happen I would be very drunk or otherwise enebriated. Quite explainable by the logic modern science seems to clutch to so desperately. However that doesn't mean something else was not happening also.

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I would encourage the sceptics to open thier minds a little to the undiscovered possibilities and the fact that proving something does exist is quite possible however proving something does not is very hard and simply saying modern science hasn't found it yet does not constitute proof. As for the OP brilliant story. I think it could have been some kind of draconic being since the subsequent posts seem to agree that gargoyles are made of stone. I would also like to thank you for coming fourth with your story. I myself have seen many statues that seemed to move. In expression mostely as if possesed by some elemental imbueing. I would stare at them as the emoted sending back emotions of my own from time to time, I like to make them giggle. Of course most of the time when this would happen I would be very drunk or otherwise enebriated. Quite explainable by the logic modern science seems to clutch to so desperately. However that doesn't mean something else was not happening also.

Thank you for your post. It's possible it was some sort of dragon; however, it wasn't as big as a dragon. Gives me something to think about though.

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Thank you for your post. It's possible it was some sort of dragon; however, it wasn't as big as a dragon. Gives me something to think about though.

Most moder perception of draconic entities is based on the parbles of dragon hunters destroying epic beasts. The whole story telling process could be to blame for the larger than now mental image that most associate with the word. Perhapse a better term would be wyvern or drake. Though the discription of the snout reminds me of S.t. George reliefs. I found a preety good spot to see the Painting here. Third one down.

Art link

Edited by maximaldecimal
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Most moder perception of draconic entities is based on the parbles of dragon hunters destroying epic beasts. The whole story telling process could be to blame for the larger than now mental image that most associate with the word. Perhapse a better term would be wyvern or drake. Though the discription of the snout reminds me of S.t. George reliefs. I found a preety good spot to see the Painting here. Third one down.

Art link

to be honest the description given kinda fits in with a number of modern day cryptids to ancient mythological creatures of a verity of backgrounds ranging from draconian based animals to tengu's chimerias and more modern myths like the ropen

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I believe you because there are endless possibilities in the world. Anything can exist, or did exist. Some stuff is too incredible to believe, but I do believe you about seeing some sort of gargoyle thing.

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This topic should possibly be in the Crypto forum?

You didn't see a gargoyle. And after almost 50 years on this planet you should know this.

Wasn't as big as a dragon? And how big is a dragon? Wow. This topic is ridiculous.

Edited by HAJiME
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This topic should possibly be in the Crypto forum?

You didn't see a gargoyle. And after almost 50 years on this planet you should know this.

Wasn't as big as a dragon? And how big is a dragon? Wow. This topic is ridiculous.

Agreed and no matter what, after 40 odd years your recollection of events will have altered from what actually happened.

Reality is not a belief, perception is. Gargoyles are not alive, most 5 year old realise this, dragons are biological not viable (though not as much so as gargoyles).

I believe you because there are endless possibilities in the world. Anything can exist, or did exist. Some stuff is too incredible to believe, but I do believe you about seeing some sort of gargoyle thing.

Erm no, that is not true. Plenty of things cannot exist and won't exist and many things are not possible.

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Most moder perception of draconic entities is based on the parbles of dragon hunters destroying epic beasts. The whole story telling process could be to blame for the larger than now mental image that most associate with the word. Perhapse a better term would be wyvern or drake. Though the discription of the snout reminds me of S.t. George reliefs. I found a preety good spot to see the Painting here. Third one down.

Art link

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Thank you, great picture. This picture looks like what I remember. What is the story behind these animals?

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I believe you because there are endless possibilities in the world. Anything can exist, or did exist. Some stuff is too incredible to believe, but I do believe you about seeing some sort of gargoyle thing.

Thank you for your support. My sister and I had the same experience together and will always remember our experience now that we are in our 50's/60's. We've always been laughed at by our family, so this has been kind or our secret all these years. Would love to know if anyone else has ever seen one.

The poster before yours, sent me a link to a picture that actually looks like what we saw, which makes me think we saw a dragon instead of a gargoyle.

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  • 1 month later...

i think they have sharp senses, and are smart, thus hiding themselves from you. This one maybe tricked you into being deadm perhaps... Also i believe in any possible myths in any possible ways, if i can put it that way.

feel free to tell me if you had anything else to tell- no matter how embarrassing it may sound... I get alot if ideas from time to time :)

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Edited by Lottie
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It's just so strange they had grotesque statues of them at churches, like they where some kind of messiah's or something despite they looked like monsters,and in the middle of the ages, they believed in so much horrors, and stuff.

well ne'er know for sure, we're just "scratching" on the surface so to say.

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