The Bluefield Gargoyle

In 2004, Robert S. submitted a wild personal account to About.com Paranormal Phenomenon referencing an encounter with what he called a 'gargoyle.' The story eventually became part of Bluefield, WV and cryptozoology lore:

It has been my hope to find a creature tale similar to mine. I have yet to find this true. The story I'm about to tell you is true. I have never seen a creature like the one I'm about to tell you about since the day I laid eyes upon it, and till this point I have never seen it again.

My story starts in the small town of Bluefield, West Virginia. My family had just moved into a house on Longview Ave. I was just a small child when we moved in and I was afraid of nothing. I noticed that the neighbors that lived two houses down had long hedges that completely surrounded their house in the back yard. Being a curious child, I decided to crawl under the hedges to see what was on the other side. Inside of the bushes was barbed wire. I had no problem squeezing through that wire being a small child. When I emerged to the other side, I discovered a pond and around the pond were witching balls all around the yard. (Later in my adult life, I found out that farmers used to place those in their fields to scare away witches. It is said once they see their reflection they flee from that place.)

As I emerged on the other side, taking in these strange anomalies, I found that someone had seen me out the window. I immediately dashed under the bushes, frantic to get back to my side. The man that lived there came out running and shouting, "Get out! Get out!" I ran to my house, but the man somehow knew where I lived. He raced up the street to our front door and told my mother to never let me back in his back yard, and he left. He was an odd fellow. He looked like Allen Funt from "Candid Camera." He had a white birthmark on his skin that looked like paint dropped on his head, and a sneaky grin. Oddly enough, his wife walked around with a tube top around her stomach so that you could see where her breasts had been removed. There were scars where her breasts used to be. Why she felt the need to show her scared chest is still a mystery to me.

Being a small boy, I loved to climb trees. One day, my friend and I climbed a tree. To our amazement, we could see over the hedges, only to discover the couple in lounge chairs sunbathing naked. That's not the clincher though; it was snowing that day. Can you believe it? My friend asked me why they were doing that. To this day, I haven't a clue.

At night I could hear the couple playing the piano singing Christian tunes, but the music was not heavenly. It was scary, even morbid. They sang it with such harshness and loudness while what can only be described as banging a hammer on the keys. But all this is not the creepy part.

One day I decided to play with my Matchbox cars near the bushes. Bad decision. I was sitting there in broad sunny daylight when all of a sudden I saw rustling in the hedges. I looked over and out popped out what I can only put into words as a gargoyle! It looked at me with solid, pointed black eyes. It had frog-green skin. Its face looked like a frog except it had teeth and ears that I'll never forget for the rest of my life. Its ears flexed outward like two big green gloves on the side of its head - like the king that the gargoyles in statues has. Its body was shaped like a bull dog and its webbed feet turned inward as it walked.

Once it saw me, it paused and opened its mouth wide open and hissed. He held it wide open as if to taste the air. I was so scared that I was completely paralyzed. I tried to cry for help, but nothing came out. And as if someone took the pause button off of me, I fled so fast to my home that I don't even remember the race getting there. I was in a panic. I tried to describe it to my mom. She pointed at the animal Childcraft books and said, "See if you can show mommie a picture of the animal." The closest animal that I could find that looked like what I saw was a koala bear, but I only picked that animal out because it had similar black pointed eyes. My mother laughed and said, "Son, those animals are only in Australia." What you probably saw was a dog and with that it was never spoken of again.

Years later, after those people were long gone, a preacher and his wife bought the home. They commissioned me to mow the yard and take care of the house. Once I had to go into that basement to get something. There came a panic over me while down there. I could feel dark energy in that room that I cant describe. I told the preacher how the man once ran me out of that yard when I was a boy. He explained to me that's because a little girl drown in that pond and the family sued that strange man. Now I'm not quite sure what all this story has in common, but I have never seen a creature like the one I saw that day. Because of that experience, I have always been scared of the dark because I know there are monsters. I saw one.

NOTE: The fact that this story came from West Virginia doesn't surprise me. Some of the more fascinating cryptid encounters have been reported from the Mountain State. I have rarely posted information on gargoyle-like creatures...though this article, originally posted by Scott Corrales, referenced a 'gargoyle hunt' in Puerto Rico. Lon

Monsters of West Virginia: Mysterious Creatures in the Mountain State

Monster Files: A Look Inside Government Secrets and Classified Documents on Bizarre Creatures and Extraordinary Animals

Monster Spotter's Guide to North America