I'm pretty sure the "odd statues" were the items that blocked you way in the Japanese Mother 2. In Earthbound they changed it to the Pencil Eraser and Eraser Eraser due to localization. In fact the entire area is an homage to Earthbound, but the statues seal the deal.
http://legendsoflocalization.com/media/earthbound/winters/eraserstatue.png
http://legendsoflocalization.com/media/earthbound/twoson/octopencil.png
