Oct 31, 2011: Stones with Faces
 

http://cellar.org/2011/more stone faces SMALL.jpg

Is this okay as an IOtD?

We moved to our farm three years ago. Now and then we found a stone in the garden with a face painted on it. Cute, we thought. We imagined one of the previous owners had painted one for each person in their family and placed them around the garden. A few months ago we emptied the soil out of an old bath tub that was functioning as part of the old vegie garden. As I dug my hands into the soil I grabbed onto what I thought were potatoes, but they turned out to be more stones with faces. Lots of them, in all sorts of sizes. It was a tad creepy! And then last weekend, at the back of the wood shed, I found an old bucket, sunk into the ground, full of more stones with faces. Here's a shot of them. Why why why would you go to the bother of painting faces onto stones - all different - and then bury them? I feel a horror movie plot coming on...

Why?

Voodoo.

Those are pretty cool, sandy. I think it's some sort of message...I like it. I might start doing it here at my house.

Those look like happy faces - not tortured, voodoo faces.

I think it's a good omen! Can you research the history of the farm?

Wow!

What a fun mystery!

Creepy. A perfect IotD for Halloween.

I think it's one for every body they buried in the yard.

Better not dig too deep!

Yep, but they only started looking happy once we dug them up. When they first emerged they looked pretty frightened and confused.

Yep, that's our theory, too. But before they die their souls are harvested and trapped in a stone. We fear we may find more mass graves.

And some stones' paint is peeling off; what would be the meaning of that?

But seriously, I'm kind of concerned that exposure to the light may make them deteriorate. On the other hand, I can't bring myself to bury them again!

Well Brianna, yes and no. I live in a veeeery small town. The last owners had an extremely nasty split up. The old bloke moved to another town, and the woman is still local, but looks slightly terrified each time I see her and go up for a chat. Word has it she is still unable to get over losing her beloved farm (due to the bloke having drunk and gambled it all away) and avoids any discussion about it. The owners before that moved much further away, and are considered incommunicado due to something that happened here, so not sure how I would track them down. I've started asking neighbours if they know about the stones, but none of them knew about them. I am curious, but will have to tread carefully. At least I know they're not Aboriginal artifacts, which is when you get into very blurry territory about correct handling etc.

I was wondering if they were a fad at some time long ago, like macrame. The style of the face painting looks old fashioned to me, but I wouldn't know how to date them.

Do the words Wolf Creek mean anything to you? ;)

I'm just going to go right out on a limb and suggest someone with a major mental illness lived in that house at some time.

yeah, it's not much, but it's all I got.

As far as you know, was there a childless woman ever living in the house?

Oh, and let us know if you've disturbed the restless and probably malevolent spirit that those were keeping down, would you?

Yes, that's definitely creepy and appropriate for today. Thanks!

One halloween when I was in HS, we had grown pumpkins in the garden and had a bunch of them sitting on the front porch, for sale.

One night I heard some noise on the front porch. I turned the porch light on and looked out...most of the pumpkins had been carved (not even removing the innards, just some fast face making, and one that had the word "beer" carved into it) and they were all lined up facing the front door.

I thought it was pretty good. I'm pretty sure it was my neighber...the Neighbor "Hood" who I actually kind of liked even if everyone else called him Damian because he, well, looked like Damian!

The eyes are most striking to me. They seem so . . . I don't know . . . piercing?

It also seems like there is more than one rock of the same person, or there are several who look similar. Such as the girl with the dark whisps of hair.

I also see more than one race - such as the guy with the glasses in the 2nd row from the bottom. There seem to be two of him side by side.

I can imagine how weird it would be to think you are pulling up potatoes and you pull up these rocks! It does seem kind of creepy since you don't know the history.

It's amazing that they have stayed in such good condition after having been buried for so long. You would think the water and bacteria in the soil would have deteriorated the paints more than they did.

(Why did the initial post come out wider than the rest of the posts?)

Sandy, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art

Have you heard of Outsider art? You could be sitting on a gold mine. Get that to a proper art gallery.

The burying to me suggests the desire to put it out of one's mind, to get rid of it but not in a destructive way. Many forms of therapy suggest turning a stressful event or person into a totem of some sort and physically removing or breaking it to help eliminate the mental fixation. I'm picturing a person--probably a woman--who has a difficult time with anger, or anxiety, and has been taught to habitually "bury" whatever issue is bothering her at a given time. Especially since many of the faces do seem to be repeats.