Eerie mermaid-like skeletal creature with fins stuns beachgoers in UK, photos go viral

“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. I just knew no one would believe us if we didn’t take a picture,” she said, as reported by PEOPLE Magazine.

The carving strongly resembles the Fiji Mermaid, one of the most notorious hoaxes of the 19th century. According to Harvard University, the original Fiji Mermaid, also spelled Feejee Mermaid, was crafted from parts of different real animals, such as fish and monkey bones, along with paper mache.

According to the New York Post, this isn’t the first reported incident of an unidentified floating object stunning the public as well as the Internet. Last spring, beachgoers in the United Kingdom were stunned when a bloodsucking sea creature, about the size of a child, washed ashore, leading to comparisons with the giant sandworms from “Dune”.