A routine patrol of an alley in downtown Ladner, B.C., gave police pause late Monday evening.

"Police officers don't scare easily. But imagine you are patrolling down a dark alley and your flashlight hits upon this," reads a caption to a photo the Delta Police tweeted.

The image shows several mannequin heads peeping out of a dumpster that's slightly ajar. One, with scraggly dark hair, hangs from the lid, beside a metal chain.

The police officer who spotted the heads probably "had a second of 'Oh my, what have I got here?"' said police spokeswoman Cris Leykauf.

The officer quickly investigated and found a number of mannequin heads in the dumpster, she said, along with even more that filled a garbage bag.

"It seems a little grisly sounding when you say it like that, doesn't it?" she asked with a laugh.

'Did he scream?'

There are clothing stores and hair salons nearby, she noted, so police aren't sure where the heads came from.

Leykauf said she's not sure exactly how the veteran officer responded when he found the heads.

"I emailed and I asked his boss, 'Did he scream? What happened?' He never confessed to any of that so I have no idea," she said.

Earlier in January, a south-Edmonton neighbourhood was taped off for several hours after police discovered what appeared to be a body.

A media inquiry about the investigation led to this response from police: "This is not a human body. It is believed to be some sort of mannequin or doll."

Leykauf said Delta hasn't seen any homicides in the past two years, and if these mannequin heads are the most gruesome thing they have all year then they're doing very well.