Dark Roasted Blend: Gargoyles & Grotesques, Part 1

 "We’ve all seen them, those odd looking carved faces, some with horns, some half animal or half human, often looking miserable, scowling at us from the outer walls of buildings. Often they’re spotted on churches and other older structures, but the practice of adding these ornamentations to more recently constructed buildings is quite common too."
So where did these things first come from?