Fisherman reports skeleton in Oregon lake. Diver pulls up Halloween decoration instead

A fisherman looked down and saw something 45 feet underwater.

He thought he saw bones sitting at the bottom of Wallowa Lake, Oregon State Police said.

“Last week, a fisherman at Wallowa Lake reported seeing something suspicious about 45 feet down on the bottom of the lake, which resembled possible skeletal remains,” authorities said Monday on Facebook.

The report launched an investigation. Police looked into the “skeletal remains” and didn’t think it was an actual human skeleton.

They sent a diver into the lake to recover the remains, police said. It was a Halloween decoration.

“The next day OSP and members of the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of a diver were able to recover the plastic skeleton,” authorities said.

Even though the skeletal remains the fisherman reported were plastic, it’s best to report suspicious activity.

Across the country, human bodies have been mistaken for Halloween props before.

Last year, a driver in Maryland thought they spotted a Halloween decoration, but instead discovered a body.

Baltimore County police investigated a homicide after a passerby found a body lying in the parking lot of a former inn, McClatchy News reported.

In 2009, neighbors in Los Angeles thought a body slumped on a third-floor balcony was part of a Halloween display, according to McClatchy News. No one called 911 for four days.

“He looked fake,” said Austin Raishbrook, 33, The New York Times reported. “It looked like somebody had thrown a dummy over the back of a chair.”

This story was originally published September 28, 2021 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Fisherman reports skeleton in Oregon lake. Diver pulls up Halloween decoration instead."