One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
So will hopefully whoever comes into possession of the terrifying barnacle pupae found on a beach in Texas, which are now being auctioned to raise money for a local wildlife rehabilitation group.
The creepy plastic demon babies were found along a 40-mile stretch in southern Texas, with rocks, barnacles, and other debris in their hollowed-out eye sockets, plus missing limbs — and collected for horror fans who might want them.
Jace Tunnell, director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve at the University of Texas Marine Institute, said the eerie findings were discovered during weekly surveys of beach researchers as they looked for stranded sea turtles on Mustang Island.
“If we find items of interest during the investigation, we bring them back and pile them up for sale at the annual auction to raise money for the sea turtles,” Tunnell told the Houston Chronicle.
Aside from the demon dolls, the items up for auction include: a fiberglass mermaid and prosthetic leg, a magic bottle, Haitian money, an old bible, a Chinese beer, 19th century steamship coal, and a message in a bottle sent from Jamaica – all found on the beach by researchers at the reserve.
The 2023 Tony’s Trash to Treasure sale will take place on Saturday, May 20 in Port Aransas, with all money raised from the sale being donated to Amos Rehabilitation Keep.
ARK’s mission is to rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured birds, sea turtles, tortoises and tortoises along the coast of South Texas and then return them to their native habitat.
According to the reserve’s website, 500 tons of marine debris wash up on Texas shores each year. While the majority is made up of rubble and plastic, something different is discovered every now and then.
The creepy plastic dolls caught the attention of HBO’s nighttime TV host John Oliver last year, who jokingly called for the disturbing baby dolls to be “burnt.”
“Burn ’em – burn ’em now,” Oliver implored in one segment of his show. “I hate those dolls. I hate them so much.”
Oliver eventually donated $10,000 to the reservation in exchange for the dolls, stating that he was in “possession of this big bucket full of my worst nightmares” after they arrived.
“This might be the creepiest thing that’s ever been in this building,” he joked on the show.
