The Gargoyle
Four men walked up a path that was so weed-bestrewn that it hardly existed any more. They were approaching a terrible old house about which it was rumored that no one could enter and then return from it live and sane. They were determined to prove these rumors false. They were occult investigators from New York. They would be the first men in fifty years to enter the house.
As they walked up the steps they noticed that, sitting on the landing above them, there was an enormous marble gargoyle. It had great veined wings raised above it, meeting on top of the head. Its face was completely flat and blank, as smooth and white as a fragment of eggshell. Apparently all of its features had been worn away by age and the wind. It must have rested there since the house was abandoned, for there was a thick coating of vines and moss on it which had grown into cracks in some areas. It was four feet tall when squatting on the ground, and would have been taller than a man if it stood upright.
The four men gravely examined it for a while, then opened the decrepit door and strode into the house. They found themselves in a large hallway with a dust-obscured mural on the wall. There were two doors leading further into the house; they chose the left-hand one.
Outside there was silence, save for the wind. Everything was still for four or five minutes. Then the gargoyle abruptly stood up. Vines snapped. It walked bat-like on its wings into the house. It closed and locked the door.
