A photograph of the gargoyle at Paisley Abbey in Glasgow which looks like the alien from the 1979 mo

A photograph of the gargoyle at Paisley Abbey in Glasgow which looks like the alien from the 1979 movie went viral on Facebook and Twitter.

The Reverend Alan Birss said most of the gargoyles were replaced during a refurbishment in the early 1990s.

Mr Birss, minister at the abbey, said that 12 medieval gargoyles which had been on the abbey for hundreds of years had to be taken down in 1991 because they had “crumbled and were in a very bad state”.

“I think it was a stonemason having a bit of fun,” he said.

“I’m sure he wasn’t deliberately copying the alien in the film. It was just a concept of an alien.”

One of the eleven other gargoyles replaced at Paisley Abbey