Meet the Headless Gargoyle in Need of a Little TLC

Ever feel like you're walking around like a chicken with your head cut off? Now try doing it as a gargoyle.

Officially, he’s known as “Bat-like,”  described in the Cathedral’s “Gargoyles and Other Grostesques” guidebook as a “winged, bat-like creature with saw-toothed eyelashes, curled whiskers and extended claws.”

We prefer to call him D. Capitated after the poor thing lost his head in the 2011 earthquake. He was one of two gargoyles damaged in the 5.8-magnitude quake; his neighbor, “Flat-nosed Humanoid” got his wings clipped by a falling piece of limestone.

For two lonely months, his head dangled perilously off the drainpipe that runs through his body.

Later this summer, Cathedral repair teams will finally be able to reattach the head and Mr. Capitated will once again be a part of the Cathedral’s intricate system of 112 gargoyle waterspouts.

NBC4’s Megan McGrath climbed the scaffolding about 120 feet above the ground to see the project up close, and you can watch the clip here.

All of our earthquake repairs — to the tune of $38 million — will finally be complete once the remaining $14 million is raised as part of the A Cathedral for the Future fundraising campaign.