When people ask me about where I live, I often describe it as someplace the Brady Bunch would have stayed if they had done a Very Special Puerto Rican Vacation. Maybe Mike Brady’s architectural firm would have been in town to redesign our building. I am sure they would have picked out this flooring:
His designers would have helped import the art for the lobby:
And I am sure he would have approved of the bright tile work in the party rooms:
Aside from the 70′s feel of our home, I don’t think about Carol, Mike, Marcia, Greg, Jan, Peter, Cyndi, Bobby or Alice very often.
Until this weekend.
On Friday we took a nice long walk along the beach. We checked on the status of the Sea Turtle nests (1 nest has not yet hatched,) we collected rocks and shells, and checked out a beach volleyball tournament. When we turned toward home, I saw what appeared to be a really large shell sticking out of the sand. Grace tried to pick it up, but couldn’t pry it loose. Intrigued, we dug out the sand and instead of a shell, it was a sandy,white encrusted statue. Right from the start we could see that it was a human with out-stretched arms. I joked that we could clean it up, and paint it gold and turn it into a party prize or white elephant gift. Maybe we will discover that we have a valuable treasure, lost at sea for hundreds of years.
A few hours later I questioned our lucky find.
A bath of warm water and vinegar cleaned off the sand and salt crust and this is what has been revealed.
IT is a SHE.
She is 6 1/2 inches tall.
The base is 3 1/2 inches in diameter.
She weighs less than a pound.
You can see the slight lines that are evidence of being cast in a mold.
She is not completely symmetrical; the body has a slight shift and twist to her left.
Here are the disturbing parts.
She has a hole in each hand, with rust around it, almost like a bleeding stigmata.
She also has devil horns.
I don’t know which part disturbs me more. The holes? The horns? The two together?
We are afraid of her.
The children won’t touch her.
We have decided that she shouldn’t live in the house, so she is awaiting her fate on our balcony.
So here’s the big question. What do we do with her?
We are afraid that if we set her out to sea, she will come back.
Should I take it to our Catholic Church?
Do we have a trip to an ancient burial ground in our future?
Should I apply to be on Antique Roadshow?
No major catastrophes so far, but until we make a decision, there will be no surfing, no hula dancing, and I have my eye out for tarantulas.
July 30th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Interesting…Have you googled “metal female statue with horns?” Sometimes it is amazing what google can find. My other thought is to post a photo/description on a metal detecting forum (yes, there are such things.) JG has found things found when metal detecting around here, posted them or searched forums, and has gotten responses back.
July 30th, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Yes – I have googled every detail to no avail – a friend suggested some mythical gods… I can’t find any specific numbers or markings on it. I have no idea how old it is or how much damage was done out in the salt water. It is still a disturbing figure.
August 20th, 2012 at 1:25 am
That is SUPER creepy. Any further investigative work on it? Or, perhaps more importantly, is it out of your house?
August 20th, 2012 at 9:57 am
So, I’m guessing you don’t want me to send it as a housewarming gift? No news on her yet. Still have not named her. She is living on the balcony. The maid is slightly obsessed with her.
January 14th, 2013 at 9:13 pm
OMG, my mother in law just showed up with the EXACT same statue. What have you found out about this thing?? She found it on the beach as well in NE Florida… Sooooo weird. I found your site through google images
January 14th, 2013 at 9:23 pm
I have searched – but no information. So strange.
January 14th, 2013 at 9:49 pm
Hers is in better shape, It is very corroded but I can tell you the reason for the holes in the hand. Hers is holding some kind of chains. I thought of the lady libra (with the scales). But all the images have the scales in one hand.