Spooky: How’d that gargoyle get in river?

[Buttercup McToots]

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2006/09/16/opinion/columnists/bill_wundram/doc450b7e072ea86751919603.txt

By Bill Wundram | Saturday, September 16, 2006

Holy mackerel! There’s more than fish in Rock River when you start prowling around the bottom, near Milan, Ill.

Rick Mason of Moline just pulled out a fierce gargoyle, with teeth bared, menacing horns and hooves. It was covered with mud and gook, but when hosed and scrubbed and car-washed, it is enough to scare the neighbors’ dogs. Glaring, intimidating, it is 3-feet tall, cast iron and weighing at least 100 pounds.

From the looks of this creature, it has been in the water for at least 50 years, maybe a century. Who knows? It looks to be an exact duplicate of the gargoyles staring down from the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. But then again, don’t most gargoyles look alike?

It sounds crazy, and it is. On this weekend day, it is in the Mason frontyard on 36th Avenue. Mason’s wife, Sue, isn’t a bit happy “My wife hates it. She said it is evil-looking and I should get rid of it. But who wants it and where does it belong? I’d like to find some answers,” Mason says.

Mason and a pal, Todd Tomaseski of Rock Island were fishing on the Rock River, just off U.S. 67, not far from the Sears powerhouse below the old railroad bridge at Milan. They decided to clear a pond-like pocket so they’d have a better spot for walleye.

whole story above...

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. That's kinda cool, really. My goddessmother would take it, I'm sure.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Sounds a bit of a

Rock Island line to me. :rofl:

[Shipwack]

5. I may be right, I may be wrong, Bet you'll miss me when I'm gone NT

[dipsydoodle]

8. That's the one !

:)

[Sequoia]

3. Swept away in a flood from long ago?

[donsu]

4. wow, I'd have it - what a lucky find

nt

[JHB]

6. Probably stolen as a frat prank, then dumped...

... in what the dumpers considerd "the middle of nowhere" because they couldn't return it without getting caught.

Did W ever take a road trip through Illinois, back in his Yalie days?

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Obviously, it was put there...

by frightened townspeople because it was cursed with the spirit of an evil magician whose powers are useless under water.

Shortly, he will awaken and the gargoyle will once again wreak havoc upon the town.

[Shipwack]

9. I, for one, welcome our new iron gargoyle overlords...

Oops, wrong web site for that cliche... :)

[Bombero1956]

10. What's this now?

Never been to Illinois and why would anyone want to drop my ass in the river.