AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — 16 years ago, Robert Shangle dressed as a living statue for halloween and ended up winning a trip to Hollywood from the experience.
So, he never stopped.
"In 2013 I decided I want to work for myself so this has been my sole source of income," Shangle told 7 Action News.
You may have seen him with his copper dog and bike in Mackinac City, or you may have seen him as an oil painting at Art Prize in Grand Rapids.
Shangle's 85 different "statue" characters have brought him around the world.
However, it was in Auburn Hills, after a retirement party gig that Shangle says he put on the show of his lifetime when he went to take his "lady," a female statue he uses in his bits, back to his hotel room.
"To protect her I put a sheet over her not thinking and I put her in my arms and I carried her like you carry somebody," said Shangle. "I’m inside the hotel room getting cleaned up and there’s a loud knock on the door, and it was the sheriff’s department."
The Deputies had received a tip about unusual activity in the hotel lobby, somebody appeared to be carrying a person with a sheet over them into a room.
"I said, 'Yeah that was me, she’s right over there sitting on the couch'," recount Shangle. "They went from very professional, business like, to as soon as they saw it they knew it was a statue. Everybody when we left were all laughing and smiling."
A good laugh and a hilarious memory.
Shangle said the deputies asked for a picture with "the Lady" as many of his fans do.
After Shangle posted it on his Living Statue facebook page, Oakland County Sheriffs Department shared it writing, "That’s taking 'don’t move' to a whole different level. We hope your visit went well."
