A couple made an unsettling discovery during their stroll down a beach in England.
Paula and Dave Regan were in the seaside town of Margate on March 10 when they spotted a mermaid-like skeletal creation near the shoreline, according to the local news outlet Kent Online.
“It was last Monday – a beautiful, sunny day – and we thought we’d blow the cobwebs away with a walk along the beach,” Paul told the outlet, adding, “The beach was completely empty, so it really stood out.”
“At first, I thought it was a bit of driftwood or maybe a dead seal because I could see these funny tail fin things,” she continued.
Photos taken by Paula on the day of the discovery show what appears to be a carved wooden creature with the tail of a fish and the torso and head of an alien-like creature.
“When we got up to it, it was the weirdest thing,” she said. “For the life of me, I can’t tell you what it was. The head looked skeletal, but the back part — where the fishtail was – was soft and squidgy. It didn’t feel slimy or decomposed, but it was definitely strange.”
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Paula told Kent Online that a small crowd gathered around the discovery but “nobody 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. I just knew no one would believe us if we didn’t take a picture,” she said.
PEOPLE has reached out to Thanet District Council for comment.
The carving appears highly reminiscent of images of the Fiji Mermaid, one of the most famous hoaxes of the 19th century.
According to Harvard University, the original Fiji Mermaid — sometimes spelled Feejee Mermaid — was created from various parts of different real-life animals, including fish and monkey bones, along with paper mache.
The original piece is said to have been purchased in Japan from a Boston sea captain and was eventually loaned to famous showman, P.T. Barnum, who put it on display in his circus.
Several Fiji Mermaid replicas cropped up in museums and the sideshow circuit over the next few decades, per the university.
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