The figure in question is classified as a possible sheela-na-gig, a type of carving found across medieval Ireland and Britain depicting a stylised female figure with exaggerated anatomy, most commonly found on church walls and castle stonework. What makes the Lusk example particularly strange is not what it shows, but what became of it.

The antiquarian Austin Cooper recorded the figure in 1783, describing it in terms that manage to be both precise and unsettled: 'the human features fancifully hideous; the face being seven inches broad, and the head without neck or body, being attached to a pair of kneeling thighs and legs.' It had a local name, 'The Idol', which suggests it was already something of a known curiosity in the parish long before Cooper put pen to paper. The figure's fate was sealed sometime around 1843 or 1844, when the Reverend Mr Tyrrell had it buried, according to researcher Edith Guest writing in 1936. Whether the burial happened in 1843 or 1844 is a matter of some uncertainty, with Barbara Freitag's 2004 study suggesting the earlier date is more likely. Either way, its current location is entirely unknown.

Lusk Church itself, with its distinctive round tower incorporated into a later medieval tower, is accessible in the village of Lusk off the R127. The church complex is in the care of the Office of Public Works and is open to visitors during the summer months, though opening times are worth checking in advance. There is nothing to see of the figure itself, which is rather the point. What the site offers instead is the particular texture of an absence, a carved stone object that was described, named, locally venerated or feared, and then quietly removed from view by someone who thought that was the right thing to do.