Remains from Weekend at Bernie's: Skeleton tea party discovered at bottom of Colorado River

Screenshot from RT video

    

The eerie underwater scene would have warmed the cockles of Captain Barbossa's long-dead heart, but the snorkeler who spotted skeletons at the bottom of the Colorado River thought the grisly view was a result of foul play.

After the snorkeler notified authorities of the potential for human remains near a boat launch in Cienaga Springs, Arizona, La Paz County Sheriff deputies and the Buckskin Fire Department headed to the scene. A diver with a video camera 'headed down into the sea to see what he could see.'

As it turns out, the two skeletons were, in fact, playing ‒ but it was not foul play.

They were playing 'tea party.'

"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.

The two skeletons and their lawn chairs were attached to rocks on the riverbed, about 40 feet from the surface.

One of the members of the cursed crew was holding a sign that reads and It also contains the date August 16, 2014.

Bernie is presumed to be the host who invited the unnamed skeleton to his giant pineapple house for the weekend, but went a little overboard.

The unnamed skeleton was wearing aviator sunglasses and what appears to be a bib.

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"Although the call itself was resource intensive, both the Sheriff's Office and Buckskin Fire were happy to find that the remains weren't real and thanked the reporting party for making the call," the sheriff's department said.

Authorities have not named any suspects in the tea party prank, which only chilled the snorkeler to the bone.

"I don't think they were trying to set up anything to scare anyone," Lt. Curtis Bagby of the La Paz County Sheriff's Department told AP. "Things happen. We go all the time to false alarms. That's just a first-responder's life. We're trying not to be overly concerned about it, not make too big a deal out of it."

Police do plan to crash the tea party at some point this week to remove the scene of the crime, though the un-dead set-up could be resurrected in front of the sheriff's department building.

"We like to show some things that are fun, some levity, too," Bagby said. "But in the meantime, don't think it's OK to go put something there."

The sheriff's department does not plan to investigate, but if they did, one line of inquiry could lead them to the Mad Hatter, who is rumored to be directing 'Weekend at Bernies III'.