Stone head mystery puzzles northern England

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - They've been left on unsuspecting doorsteps and outside post offices in the dead of night, but no one knows what to make of the mystery of the stone heads.

As many as 20 artfully carved faces, miniature versions of the Easter Island sculptures, have been deposited in sleepy villages across northern England in recent weeks, leaving the recipients intrigued and confused in equal measure.

Each of the stone heads, some up to 18 inches high, is slightly different, but all of them have the same riddle attached, written on a thin blue card.

"Twinkle twinkle like a star, does love blaze less from afar?" it reads, with the word "paradox" written around the points of a star.

While a publicity stunt of some sort is suspected, not unlike the crop circle mysteries that obsessed the country a decade ago, there are no clues as to who may be leaving the heads around. Police, residents and recipients are all nonplussed.

"It appeared last Monday in the early hours of the morning," said Fiona Gould, the owner of the Forresters Arms Hotel in the village of Kilburn, North Yorkshire.

"I love it. We've nicknamed it Forest Lump. We've put him on the end of the bar and he gets a pat on the head before everyone goes to the races."

Valerie Hoyes, who runs the post office in the village of Braithwell, about 40 miles south of Kilburn, discovered hers back in August, but thought nothing of it. She didn't tell anyone until others came forward.