A man who thought he located human remains in the Colorado River while snorkeling near Cienega Springs was embarrassed to discover he had probably come across a Weekend at Bernie's joke.

The snorkeler was terrified when he came across two fake skeletons sitting in lawn chairs about 40 feet underwater close to a boat launch in Arizona near the state's border with California.

He reported the skeletons to the La Paz County Sheriff's Department on Monday and a diver from the Buckskin Fire Department was sent down to investigate with an underwater video camera.

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A man thought he discovered human remains in the Colorado River near Cienega Springs while snorkeling

He came across two fake skeletons sitting about 40 feet underwater near the Arizona and California border

One was holding a tough-to-read sign that appears to include the words 'Bernie livin' the dream in the river'

It turned out the skeletons were fake and had been strategically placed to appear as if they were sitting together with their lawn chairs bound to large rocks.

The skeletons are wearing sunglasses and one is holding a sign that appears to include the words 'Bernie livin' the dream in the river,' although the entire sign is not legible.

The sign could be a reference to the 1989 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.

During at least one point in the film, Bernie's corpse falls off a boat and into water.

The sign also had the date of Aug. 16, 2014, which is possibly when the skeletons were placed there.

The sheriff's office called the scene a tea party.

In the 1989 movie Weekend at Bernie's (pictured) two main characters lug around their dead boss for days

The skeletons were fake and had been placed to appear as if they were sitting together in their lawn chairs

The La Paz County Sheriff's Department won't launch an investigation into who left the skeletons in the river

Lt Curtis Bagby said: 'I don't think they were trying to set up anything to scare anyone. I think they were gonna try to be funny.'

He added: '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.'

The sheriff's office won't launch an investigation into who left the skeletons in the river, 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 he is considering placing them outside the sheriff's office as a joke.