Call it a UFO: an unidentified floating object.
Beachcombers were baffled over a creepy, “skeleton-like” figure with fins that washed ashore in the UK, as seen in viral photos making waves online.
“For the life of me, I can’t tell you what it was,” Paula Regan told South West News Service. “It was the weirdest thing.”
She had reportedly stumbled upon the freaky flotsam on March 10 while strolling the shore in Margate, Kent with her husband Dave.
“The beach was completely empty, so it really stood out,” said the London resident.
Photos of the mystery jetsam, which is partially buried in sand and surrounded by seaweed, show that it has a gaunt, alien-like head, emaciated body and scaled fishtail like some macabre mermaid.
“At first, I thought it was a bit of driftwood or maybe a dead seal because I could see these funny tail fin things,” Regan recounted. “The head looked skeletal, but the back part — where the fishtail was — was soft and squidgy (squishy). It didn’t feel slimy or decomposed, but it was definitely strange.”
The ghoulish-looking discovery reportedly attracted throngs of gawkers, as seen in accompanying photos.
“A small crowd gathered — people walking their dogs, passers-by — and even a man setting up the beach huts came over,” said Regan, adding that, despite a thorough examination, no one “could work out what it was.”
“Some thought it might have fallen off a boat, while others suggested it could be a figurehead from a ship — like one of those carved mermaids,” she said. “I just knew no one would believe us if we didn’t take a picture.”
This isn’t the first time some unidentified floating object has baffled the public
Last Spring, beachcombers were aghast after a bloodsucking sea beast the size of a child washed ashore in the UK, sparking comparisons to the supersized sandworms from “Dune.”