Diver alerts police after discovering 'underwater skeleton tea party'

A truly frightening discovery

A snorkeler out on the Colorado River was stunned to find what appeared to be two skeletons having a tea party on the riverbed on Monday, alerting authorities to what they thought were human remains.

La Paz County Sheriff deputies and the Bucksin Fire Department responded to the call, dispatching a diver with a video camera to investigate.

"When firefighter Foerstner located the alleged remains, he found it to be an underwater tea party with two fake skeletons sitting in lawn chairs," the sheriff's department said in a statement.

This wasn't a case of a very peculiar burial or tea party gone wrong however – and the aviator sunglasses and bib one of the skeletons was wearing was a dead giveaway.

It seems someone sunk fake skeletons in the river and decked them out with props. The word's 'Bernie' and 'Dream in the River' were discovered on a sign behind held by one of the skeletons, suggesting a reference to the film Weekend at Bernie's, while a date gave a clue as to when they might have been stationed there: 16 August, 2014.