You truly can’t make this stuff up. What likely started as a leisurely walk in the neighbourhood for Toronto resident Steve Purificati quickly took a turn for the unusual when he stumbled upon a sea of miniature monks with disturbingly realistic features.
Purificati shared a photo of the bizarre sighting in the private Facebook group WEIRD TORONTO last week, inspiring hundreds of likes and comments from confused locals.
“Walked by a house getting rid of hundreds of very realistic monk statues. East side of [Landsdowne Ave between Bloor St W and College Ave W],” he wrote in the post. “EDIT: They [were] being given away so swing by to see if they have any left!”
A closeup shot of the monks shows their amazingly detailed facial features and robes. Whoever is responsible for this fever dream of a lawn display is clearly talented.
“This is one of the actually weirdest things I think I have encountered here. Very inexplicable,” one comment reads. Others are chiming in with their best guesses about how this collection of statues came to be and what to do with them.
“They could have been memorial statues of monks of a temple that had passed. If you go into larger temples you can see such statues on shelves behind glass,” another person wrote.
One individual, who claims to have spoken to the woman who lives in the home, says the woman bought the statues in an abandoned storage locker auction and wants them gone. It seems that she got her wish because several comments have confirmed that all of the monks have been snatched up.
This wouldn’t be the only ridiculously odd Toronto sighting to ever make the rounds on the internet. Far from it, in fact. Let’s not forget the IKEA monkey who stole hearts far and wide back in 2012. And the terrifying giant spider creature spotted in Dundas Square this past Halloween weekend in Toronto. We shudder just thinking about it.
