Buzz
With over 80% of the ocean still uncharted, there are countless strange and potentially terrifying things hidden beneath its surface. Yet, we don’t always have to dive deep to find these oddities; occasionally, they come ashore. While most beachgoers might only encounter the usual shells and seaweed, once in a while, something truly peculiar is carried in by the waves.
This compilation showcases some of the most fascinating and rare items that have washed up on beaches, from human-made curiosities to naturally occurring aquatic wonders.
10. Full-Sized E.T. Replica
In January 2012, a report of a body floating in the waters off Old Portsmouth, England, prompted police and coastguards to respond. Upon arrival, they discovered that it wasn’t a deceased person but a life-sized replica of the famous alien from Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). The statue had been stolen in September 2011 from Margaret Wells, along with some jewelry.
Due to the figure's distinctive nature, the police were able to quickly trace its owner. When they contacted Wells to let her know what had been found, she responded, “Oh God, I knew E.T. would come home.” The replica had been crafted by her daughter nine years earlier for a stage make-up class. Wells added, “He’s lost a finger and looks a bit roughed up. But he had a smile on his face.”
9. Hairy Globsters
The term 'globster' refers to any mysterious organic mass that washes up on the shore. These strange blobs often resemble the remains of legendary sea monsters, but DNA testing typically reveals they are decomposing bodies of large marine animals, such as whales, octopuses, squid, and sharks. Despite this knowledge, some globsters still appear otherworldly, such as those covered in what seems to be white hair.
In 2017 and 2018, two such creatures, later identified as whales, washed up on beaches in the Philippines. Their bizarre, hairy appearance was caused by the decomposition of muscle fibers. Fishery Law Enforcement Officer Vox Krusada had to collect samples from the 2018 globster to determine the exact species. After working near the globster, he recalled, “The smell was so bad that I almost puked. I felt better after taking a bath, but the stench still lingers in my nose.”
8. A 1,570-Foot Section of Pipe
In 2017, while transporting massive pipes from Norway to Algeria, an accident led to 12 long sections falling into the sea. Some of these pipe segments were carried by the currents and washed up on the shores of England. While it’s not uncommon for cargo to spill into the ocean and eventually wash ashore, it’s certainly rare to see enormous pipes, stretching hundreds of feet, making their way to the beach.
The largest section of pipe ended up on a Norfolk beach, measuring a staggering 478.5 meters (1,570 feet) in length, with a diameter of nearly 2.5 meters (8 feet)—wide enough for a car to drive through. Local residents were intrigued, with some even walking atop the pipe. As a result, guards were deployed to prevent anyone from getting too close until the pipe could be removed. Trygve Blomster, the export manager at Pipelife, the company that manufactured and supplied the pipe, warned, “If you fall beside that while it moved, you will be smashed. If you walk on the pipe and you drop off, it is extremely dangerous.”
7. A Two-Headed Dolphin
Every year, thousands of marine mammals, including whales and dolphins, are found beached. This occurrence is so frequent that it has its own name: cetacean stranding. While beached sea creatures often begin to rot and emit a foul odor, there’s usually nothing remarkable about such events. However, in 2014, a tourist visiting a beach in Dikili, Turkey, discovered something extraordinary: a dead two-headed dolphin calf.
Mehmet Gökoğlu, a marine biologist from Akdeniz University, explains that two-headed dolphins are rare, but they are essentially the same as conjoined twins in humans. Although the dolphin's body was of significant scientific interest, Gökoğlu is unsure where the remains were sent. The university had intended to showcase the rare specimen, but all that remains are photographs.
6. A Man in a Hydro Pod
In 2021, Reza Baluchi departed St. Augustine, Florida, inside a hydro pod he had designed himself, aiming to reach New York. The pod was essentially a cylindrical ball with flotation devices at both ends. Unfortunately, Baluchi never made it to New York and instead washed ashore in Flagler County, about 30 miles from his starting point. His mission was to run on water from Florida to New York to raise funds for public services, such as the U.S. Coast Guard, and to inspire people with the message, “Don’t listen to anyone. Chase your dreams,” he told a local TV station.
However, he might want to heed the advice of the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2014, Baluchi tried to reach Bermuda despite their warnings not to. After receiving distress signals from his hydro pod, the Coast Guard intervened, with Captain AJ Gould noting that the rescue placed a significant financial burden on taxpayers. This didn’t deter Baluchi; he attempted to reach Bermuda again in 2016, before embarking on his 2021 journey to New York. As of now, he has not completed a successful trip in his hydro pod.
5. Prehistoric Sharks
When most people think of sharks, they envision great whites, but the oceans are also home to much rarer species like the frilled shark and the goblin shark. These ancient sharks roamed the seas while dinosaurs were still walking the earth. The frilled shark resembles a mythical sea serpent, with its eel-like body and 300 teeth arranged in 25 rows. The goblin shark has a distinctive long snout, and its jaws extend when it bites.
Both sharks inhabit the deep ocean, often thousands of feet below the surface, making them rarely seen by humans. They are sometimes accidentally caught in fishing nets or washed up on shores, but by then, they are usually already dead due to the pressure change from being brought to the surface. In 2007, a living frilled shark was found off the coast of Japan and transported to Awashima Marine Park, but it died just hours after arrival.
4. Tombstones
Occasionally, tombstones appear along Ocean Beach in San Francisco. While this might seem eerie, there is a straightforward explanation. In the early 1900s, authorities closed many of San Francisco’s cemeteries to make space for new buildings due to the growing population. The bodies were relocated for free, but the tombstones were left behind as it was too costly to move them. As a result, many of them ended up being repurposed, sometimes turning up on the beach.
Some gravestones were dismantled and repurposed to line gutters, while others were used to reinforce the seawall. As a result, fragments of tombstones occasionally wash ashore, and from time to time, strong winds reveal entire headstones. Some of the marble tombstones that appear on the beach remain surprisingly intact, though it can be quite unsettling to find them in such a state.
3. A Bag of Human Hands
Along the coasts of the Salish Sea, located between British Columbia and Washington, numerous shoe-clad, partially decomposed human feet have been discovered washed up on shore. This phenomenon occurs because the soft ligaments of the ankle rot away before the rest of the body does, allowing the buoyancy of modern shoes to carry the foot to the surface. Far less common, however, is the discovery of human hands. In 2018, a bag containing 27 pairs of hands was found on Amur River Island in Siberia.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation determined that the macabre bag of hands did not have a criminal origin. It was revealed that the hands had been improperly discarded by a forensics lab in the nearby city of Khabarovsk. The reason behind the severing and improper disposal of the hands remains a mystery. Additionally, other medical items, such as bandages and disposable hospital shoes, were found near the hands, but the full context of why so many hands were placed in a bag and discarded in the river has not been explained.
2. Huge Snowballs
Under very specific conditions, large snowballs, perfect for making snowmen, form naturally along the edges of bodies of water. BBC weather expert George Goodfellow explains that the snowballs start as small pieces of ice that "grow when seawater freezes onto their surfaces," and are then rounded and smoothed by being "jostled around by waves." Once the tide goes out, the snowballs are left behind on the shore. Normally, these ice spheres are small, but on rare occasions, they can grow to be quite large.
In Siberia in 2016, snowballs up to nearly 1 meter (3 feet) in diameter were found scattered across a 17.7-kilometer (11-mile) stretch of the Gulf of Ob's coastline. This unusual natural phenomenon was also observed in Finland in 2015, where snowballs ranging in size from eggs to footballs appeared on Hailuoto Island’s beach. Similar massive snowballs have been spotted in lake waters as well, with some documented along the shores of Lake Michigan.
1. Exploding Whales
As noted earlier, the appearance of sea creatures' carcasses on beaches is fairly common. What’s less frequent is when these carcasses explode. This happens because of gas buildup caused by decomposition. Of all sea creatures, whales are the most likely to explode due to their massive size.
When a sperm whale washed up in the Faroe Islands in 2013, authorities decided to make an incision to release the built-up gas in a controlled way. Despite their efforts, it still led to a large blast, startling the person making the cut and sending whale guts flying across the beach. An even more dramatic explosion occurred in Taiwan in 2004. A 50-ton dead whale, being transported on a trailer to a research center, exploded while en route. The pressure inside the carcass proved too much, causing it to explode and showering shops, cars, and pedestrians with foul-smelling whale remains.
