My Scareuary 2024, Entry 2: Statue Horror

My Scareuary 2024: Statue Horror

Today I wanted to start working on the first idea I generated yesterday, which was the star seal idea:

a character working in a museum late one night removes a star seal from a life-sized statue of an obscure deity, unleashing a monster...😱

Seems like a fun piece, right?

THE STORY PREMISE

Yesterday, I wrote about some research I'd done regarding the pagan icon Ishtar and how she was represented as a star, and later on as a star within a circle (to represent Venus, I think?). I've since learned a lot more about this pagan icon, though I doubt all of that will be relevant to this story.

I'm thinking this: 

• The statue in the museum is of Ishtar, or so they think (there's this life-sized statue believed to be of Ishtar that I'm basing it on).
• At the base of the statue, there is a seal depicting Ishtar's symbol: the star within the circle.
• The star seal, the archaeologist learns, can be removed by turning it 90 degrees in one direction; a simple mechanism.
• Intrigued by his discovery, the archaeologist takes the star seal, the sides of which have some writing engraved, for further examination, leaving the statue behind in another room.
• While trying to decipher the writing on the star seal, an earthquake shakes the entire building; it lasts for some time, and when it is finally over, the archaeologist rushes back to the room where he left the statue to ensure it hadn't toppled over or gotten damaged.
• The statue is no longer there. OR The statue is there, but where he had left it lying on its back so that he could remove the star seal, it is now sitting up, legs over the side of the table, and as he enters, it looks at him.
• Blah blah blah, the statue disappears or escapes, and the archaeologist tries to give chase and call authorities, but unfortunately it gets away and people think he's mad.
• He figures out what the seal says; the statue is not, in fact, of Ishtar, and it is not actually a statue at all; it is a petrified monster that had been stalking a certain town.
• Over the next few months, sightings of the ancient monster become more and more common, as do reports of attacks...
  

That's what I've got so far. So, the statue isn't really a statue and nightmarish beast is unleashed. Badabing, badaboom: the horror story plotting is complete. Now to write it.

BACKGROUND - BIAS & BELIEFS

Because horror is really just a representation of what we believe to be wrong, taboo, or evil, I wanted to go ahead and outline my own background, values, and thoughts related to the topic of this story, as I'm sure they will be represented in some way. 

To put it briefly, Islam does not approve of statues. This stems from two factors, that I know of:

1. Especially in ancient times, statues were erected as idols, for pagan worshipers to pray to. In Islam, we are taught that one cannot associate any partners to Allah (SWT); He alone is God. In fact, this is a sin called shirk. Idolatry is shirk, which is the most offensive sin one can commit against Allah. This, of course, is the main reason statues are generally avoided in Islam.
   
2. Allah (SWT) alone can create living creatures. Life-like statues are generally disliked as a result - something about comparing Allah to an artist, or trying to recreate the fine detail of his creation. (Admittedly, I need to do a little more research on this point.)

And it's not just statues - images of any kind fall under that umbrella, too. I remember in school, once, during a history class, flipping over to a page that included a photo of an old illustration of an Islamic religious figure (I think it was the Prophet Muhammad, SAW), and trying very hard to avoid it and thinking, Not cool! I still dislike watching videos only to have images or actors playing the part of Prophets and Messengers sprung on me.

We don't know what the prophets and messengers of Allah looked like, so we can't illustrate them - and that includes Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Adam, and many more. And, to a much stronger level, we cannot assume what Allah looks like, so drawing Allah or representing Him in statue form - or any other form - is a huge sin. 

So, Muslims look upon these ancient (and present) idols - images and statues alike - with the understanding that they are representations of shirk. 

And as for me? I hold all of the above beliefs, plus the added personal element of fear. 

I don't know what to tell you - there's just something about statues that freaks me out, especially statues over a certain height. Those huge statues that can be seen from miles away, and tower above the trees in forests? No, thank you. I'll be on the other side of the world. 

It's an irrational fear, to be sure. The statue is a statue. It's not going to move. It's not going to do anything. But it freaks me out nonetheless. I don't like it. (And - dear God - the idea of an underwater statue? I would drown right there, you don't understand. That guy who made that art installation that's just a bunch of statues of people underwater? Yeah, I'm not a fan.)

 

https://hyba.tumblr.com/post/692758810214940672/hyba-neon-vape-about-the-game-the-game-that

Funny enough, this actually is represented in quite a few of my stories. In my scifi WIP Neon Vape: A Vaporwave Odyssey, my main character has to survive an attack by giant statues that come to life. In my fantasy series, The Qarran Tales, there is an event in which large statues are animated and attack innocent people. And there are other stories that feature statues as antagonists. 

What can I say? You gotta do what you gotta do.

Anyway, so now that I've spilled one of my fears to the internet, I'm going to get back to the business of writing this thing.