CIENEGA SPRINGS, Ariz. (AP) — A man snorkeling in the Colorado River near the Arizona and California border was terrified — and later embarrassed — when he came across two fake skeletons sitting in lawn chairs about 40 feet underwater. 
 
 In this frame from video provided by the La Paz Sheriffs' Office, fake skeletons are strategically placed to appear as if they were sitting together with their lawn chairs bound to large rocks in the... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this frame from video provided by the La Paz Sheriffs' Office, fake skeletons are strategically placed to appear as if they were sitting together with their lawn chairs bound to large rocks in the... (Associated Press) 
 
 The man reported the skeletons to the La Paz County Sheriff's Office on Monday, launching a hunt for what authorities believed could be real bodies. 
 
 It turned out the skeletons were fake and had been strategically placed to appear as if they were sitting together, their lawn chairs bound to large rocks. A diver from the Buckskin Fire Department captured the scene on a video camera attached to his head. The sheriff's office called the scene a tea party. 
 
 The skeletons are wearing sunglasses, and one is holding a sign that includes the words "Bernie" and "dream in the river," although the entire sign is not legible. The sign also has the date of Aug. 16, 2014, which is possibly when the skeletons were placed there. 
 
 "I don't think they were trying to set up anything to scare anyone. I think they were gonna try to be funny," Lt. Curtis Bagby said. 
 
 The sign could be a reference to the movie "Weekend at Bernie's," in which the two main characters lug around their dead boss for days, losing and recovering his body several times, Bagby said. At one point in the film, Bernie's corpse falls off a boat and into water. 
 
 The sheriff's office won't launch an investigation into who left the skeletons there, Bagby said. 
 
 "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," Bagby said. 
 
 Instead, the sheriff's office wants to have a little fun with the situation. Bagby said divers will recover the skeletons sometime this week and that he is considering placing them outside the sheriff's office as a joke. 
 
 "We like to show some things that are fun, some levity too. But in the meantime, don't think it's OK to go put something there," he said. ||||| Play Facebook 
 
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 The scene is more "Weekend at Bernie's" and less Ouija board seance, but two fake skeletons relaxing in armchairs on the bed of the Colorado River initially had Arizona authorities diving to find human remains. 
 
 A snorkeler first spotted the skeletons near a boat launch in Cienaga Springs and alerted authorities of possible human remains around 10:00 a.m. on Monday. La Paz County Sheriff deputies and the Buckskin Fire Department responded to the call and sent a diver down with a video camera to inspect the scene. 
 
 "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. 
 
 One skeleton is seen in the video sporting aviator sunglasses and what might be a bib. The other is holding a sign that is not completely legible under the river sediment, but includes the word "Bernie" and the phrase "Dream in the River." The sign also contains what might prove to be an important clue as to who placed the skeletons there, a date: August 16, 2014. 
 
 —Richie Duchon
– A man snorkeling in the Colorado River received quite the fright on Monday when he spotted what he thought were human remains about 40 feet below the surface near the Arizona-California border. With a little investigating, however, a diver with the Buckskin Fire Department uncovered a scene much more comical than grisly, the Arizona Republic reports: two fake skeletons wearing sunglasses, sitting peacefully in lawn chairs attached to rocks on the riverbed. In a statement, per NBC News, the La Paz County Sheriff's Office said the scene looked rather like "an underwater tea party." Officer Curtis Bagby tells the AP the stunt was probably just a practical joke. "I don't think they were trying to set up anything to scare anyone," he says. A sign with the skeletons includes the words "Bernie" and "dream in the river," which Bagby says could be a reference to the movie Weekend at Bernie's; in one scene in the film, the corpse of a man named Bernie falls into the water from a boat. The sign was also dated Aug. 16, 2014, which may indicate when the skeleton tea party began. Authorities will crash the party at some point this week, though, as they plan to remove the plastic skeletons and chairs from the river. Bagby says they may even find a new home outside the sheriff's department. "We like to show some things that are fun, some levity, too," he says. As for who left the skeletons in the water, officers say that will likely remain a mystery as they have no plans to pursue an investigation.