This Couple Found a Mysterious 150-Pound Sculpture Buried in Their Backyard. Now, They’re Trying to Figure Out Who Made It

Imagine digging in your backyard when your shovel suddenly hits something strange buried beneath the ground. That's exactly what happened to a San Francisco man who uncovered a mysterious 150-pound limestone sculpture of a woman's face. But the real surprise came when experts began investigating its origins. Could this forgotten statue be connected to a famous American sculptor or a historic exhibition? And why would someone bury such an impressive piece of art? The deeper they investigated, the more questions emerged. Before we uncover this fascinating mystery, don't forget to subscribe, like this video, and turn on notifications!

 

Greg Gatwood was working in his San Francisco backyard in May when his shovel suddenly struck something hard beneath the dirt. At first, the 65-year-old landscape contractor assumed he had hit an old fence post footing. But when he grabbed a pickax and began freeing the object, he uncovered something far more unusual.

Buried beneath his backyard was a large limestone sculpture of a woman's head and neck. The mysterious bust weighed approximately 150 pounds and measured 22 inches wide, 18 inches high, and 10 inches deep.

For someone who had spent years digging in gardens, it was an extraordinary discovery.

"It's probably the most exciting thing I've ever dug up in a yard," Gatwood told NBC Bay Area.

But finding the sculpture was only the beginning. The real mystery was discovering who had created it, how old it was, and why someone had buried it on their property.

Gatwood immediately showed the unusual find to his partner, Judy Gittelsohn, a professional painter. Fascinated by the sculpture's craftsmanship, the couple began investigating its origins.

Over the following months, Gittelsohn contacted nearly 50 people, hoping someone could identify the artist or explain how the bust had ended up underground.

Unfortunately, nobody had a definite answer.

Gittelsohn was convinced the sculpture had been created by someone with considerable artistic experience.

"It was done by someone with a sophisticated skill level," she explained. "It was not created by a hobbyist."

However, experts warned that identifying its creator could prove extremely difficult without a signature or historical records.

Ken Middlebrook, curator of collections at History San Jose, described the discovery as a treasure but acknowledged that determining who made it would be challenging.

Despite the uncertainty, Gittelsohn developed a theory.

She believed the mysterious limestone bust might be connected to Ralph Stackpole, a prominent American sculptor and muralist who worked in San Francisco during the first half of the twentieth century.

Stackpole had moved to the city in 1901 and spent decades contributing to its artistic landscape.

During the 1930s, he created a fresco inside Coit Tower as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Public Works of Art Project.

He also carved two towering Art Deco figures that still stand at the entrance of San Francisco's historic Pacific Coast Stock Exchange building.

His artistic contributions extended to major international exhibitions, including the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the 1939–1940 Golden Gate International Exposition.

And one detail about Stackpole's career made Gittelsohn's theory particularly interesting.

In addition to producing his own sculptures, Ralph Stackpole spent nearly two decades teaching at the California School of Fine Arts, an institution later renamed the San Francisco Art Institute.

Although the institute closed in 2022, one important detail caught Gittelsohn's attention.

The building that once housed its sculpture department stood directly across the street from the couple's home in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood.

Even more interesting was the history of their property.

Before their two-story house was constructed in 1948, the land had been an empty lot.

Gittelsohn began wondering whether Stackpole or one of his students had used the vacant property to bury the limestone bust.

She also noticed similarities between the mysterious sculpture and the artistic style associated with Stackpole's students.

According to Gittelsohn, his followers often created faces with flattened noses and broad features, characteristics she believed were visible in the sculpture discovered beneath their yard.

But Stackpole was not the only possible creator.

Historian Anne Schnoebelen, vice president of the board of directors at San Francisco's Treasure Island Museum, suggested that the bust might have been made by Stackpole or two of his students, Adaline Kent and Helen Phillips.

Both women had lived nearby, making the connection even more intriguing.

Schnoebelen also raised another possibility.

The limestone bust might once have been associated with the Golden Gate International Exposition, held on Treasure Island between 1939 and 1940.

One section of the exposition, known as the Court of Pacifica, featured an impressive collection of sculptures.

At its center stood Stackpole's enormous 80-foot statue of Pacifica, a mythical goddess.

The surrounding area displayed 20 Pacific Unity sculptures. Twelve smaller pieces decorated the tiers of a three-tier fountain, while eight larger sculptures stood around the plaza.

Schnoebelen believed the newly discovered bust resembled the faces that might have appeared in that exhibition.

"It looks like it could've been one of the faces made for the Court of Pacifica, but we don't know," she explained.

Although the similarities offered an interesting lead, there was still no evidence proving that the sculpture had been part of the exposition.

And even if someone eventually identified its creator, another question remained unanswered.

Why had such a carefully carved limestone sculpture ended up buried beneath an ordinary backyard?

Schnoebelen admitted that the couple might never discover the truth.

She suggested that someone could have buried the piece because they were dissatisfied with the finished sculpture.

Perhaps its creator had rejected it.

Or perhaps Stackpole himself had disliked the work.

Whatever happened, someone had left the heavy limestone bust underground, where it remained hidden until Gatwood's shovel finally uncovered it.

"There is a reason somebody buried it, and maybe they don't want people talking about it," Schnoebelen told the San Francisco Chronicle.

But Greg Gatwood had another explanation for how the mysterious limestone sculpture might have ended up beneath his backyard.

Rather than believing someone had deliberately buried it, he wondered whether the bust had once been proudly displayed on the property.

Perhaps it had been given to someone who previously lived in the house and placed outside as a decorative piece.

Over time, the garden might have become neglected and overgrown. The sculpture could have fallen from a wooden pedestal and gradually disappeared beneath the soil.

Gatwood admitted that he had no way of knowing whether his theory was correct.

However, he pointed out that many ancient objects are discovered underground because they were once valued and displayed before circumstances changed.

"Most antiquities are dug up because they were once prized and displayed, and then things happened," he explained.

For Gatwood and Gittelsohn, the discovery had become much more than an unusual gardening experience.

What began with a shovel striking something hard had turned into an investigation involving artists, historians, and experts familiar with San Francisco's artistic history.

The couple had uncovered possible connections to Ralph Stackpole, his students, and the Golden Gate International Exposition.

Yet none of these possibilities could be confirmed.

Without a signature, historical documentation, or another reliable clue, the identity of the sculptor remained unknown.

The same uncertainty surrounded the question of how the 150-pound limestone bust had arrived on their property.

Despite the unanswered questions, Gatwood had already decided what to do with his remarkable discovery.

He planned to build a pedestal and display the sculpture in the backyard where he had found it.

He explained that the bust would remain there unless the couple eventually discovered that it was a priceless artwork deserving a place in a museum.

For now, he was simply pleased to have found something so unusual beneath the garden.

"I've always thought every yard deserves a nice piece of garden art," Gatwood told the Los Angeles Times.

He wanted the sculpture to have a special place in their yard and hoped to share photographs once the garden was completed and the statue was beautifully displayed.

The limestone woman had spent an unknown amount of time hidden beneath the ground.

Now, after being uncovered by chance, she would finally be displayed again.

And although her creator and history remained a mystery, Gatwood and Gittelsohn could enjoy the extraordinary sculpture that had been waiting beneath their own backyard.