A mystery over the unexplained appearance of a string of gargoyle-style stone faces in northern England was solved on Tuesday, when the artist behind them was named.
The sculptures, which all have a carved symbol that apparently spells ”paradox” and a riddle, have been left outside homes and businesses across the northern county of Yorkshire over the past few weeks.
The story was picked up nationwide, with the stone heads appearing in a number of national newspapers and on broadcasters including the BBC.
But the culprit was finally identified on Tuesday as Billy Johnson, who makes the stone heads using fossils and rocks found on beaches.
”Using minimal hand tools, Billy works with natural materials in a fluid and responsive way, bringing out the beauty of each individual piece,” said the website of Paradox Carving.
”Each of the larger head pieces is completed by twilight,” it added. ”Paradox Carving explores hypnagogic concepts love, madness and evolution. He started his latest work on August 24 2007 and it is a long-term project.”
Twelve of the heads had been left in the villages of Goathland and Kilburn in north Yorkshire, four in Arthington in west Yorkshire, and three in Braithwell, south Yorkshire.
They were accompanied by a riddle, reading: ”Twinkle twinkle like a star, does love blaze less from afar?”
Security-camera footage caught a man leaving three of the heads outside a post office, but detectives had until Tuesday drawn a blank over who was behind the bizarre nocturnal activity.
George Griffiths, an artist from Arthington who was among those to receive the heads, said he had tried to contact Johnson through the website.
But he received an email in return to say the artist was out of the country for a few weeks, does not have a phone, does not use the internet and does not have access to television. — Sapa-AFP