CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Beachcombers find all sorts of interesting and unusual things washed up on our barrier islands.
But lately something has been washing up on Padre Island's beaches, and it can only be described as "creepy."
We're talking about dolls; lots and lots of dolls.
University of Texas Marine Science Institute Reserve Director Jace Tunnell tells KRIS 6 News that toy dolls, or pieces of them, have been washing up on area beaches for a couple of years now.
Tunnell conducts weekly surveys of area beaches, so he's quite familiar with these bizarre finds.
But where are these dolls coming from?
"We don't know where these dolls are coming from," said Tunnell. "You know a lot of countries and places they just don't have good ways of getting away from, of doing away with their trash so they put them in the rivers or they just put it directly into the oceans."
Where ever they come from, these dolls have been floating out in the Gulf of Mexico for some time.
Many of them are found with barnacles already growing on them.
Tunnell and others from the UT Marine Science institute post pictures of their beach finds on the institute's Facebook page.
Despite their Chucky-like appearance, the beach dolls have become a favorite on their Facebook page.
Tunnell says despite their look, the creepy dolls are even trending on Twitter.
"We've been finding all kinds of dolls," he said. "I think the creepiest ones we find are the ones that are missing the hair off of their head and it looks like stitches. People have, some people have marked up some of the faces, some of the eyes look really, really realistic which makes them even creepier, and give you nightmares at night."
Despite their diabolically derelict demeanor, there's nothing to fear.
They won't bite — we think.
