Carved 'Shrunken Heads' On Long Island Beach Spark Intrigue

JAMESPORT, NY — Are they shrunken heads, an artist's spooky contribution to the seascape, or something more sinister? As dozens of "skulls" popped up on a Riverhead beach recently, social media was abuzz with speculation.

"Okay, what’s up with all the shrunken heads on Iron Pier Beach?" Kate Alesio wrote on Facebook. "Is it some kind of creepy scavenger hunt? An ancient burial ground rising up from under the sea? Ceramics' students gone mad? These are just a few of them — there were at least 30 more. Help!"

Alesio said she first saw the "skulls" on Thursday when she'd noticed the eerie offerings had popped up on the beach and were placed on rocks; a friend had seen them a few days earlier.

Imaginations ran wild on social media as people wondered aloud about the significance of the creepy sightings.

"So creepy," a number of people wrote.

"You’ve found a long-lost civilization. Or a beach party gone wrong," a woman wrote on Facebook.

Some said the pieces might be sculptures scattered near the surf and placed on rocks by an area artist.

Others attributed the gruesome faces to cannibal tribes —and some said the discovery was just the last straw after a year of coronavirus woes. "How much more can we handle?" one woman wrote.

Alesio said two of the "skulls" looked like former Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Riverhead Town Police Chief David Hegermiller said no one had reported the findings and no information was available on how they may have been strewn on the beach.