Walkers horrified to find a body by the Thames

And residents of Gravesend, next to the mouth of the famous waterway, feared they had stumbled upon another gruesome find this morning when this apparent skeleton turned up on the muddy banks.

With two bone-like sticks appearing to be bent at the knees lying below seeming ribs and a skull, morning walkers thought they had come across the watery grave of a long-lost soul.

But as they approached the object, which was lying beneath the town's pier, witnesses realised the supposed skeleton was just an optical illusion.

Photographer Rob Powell, who was at the pier taking pictures of a ship, said: 'I had to double take at first as it's not the kind of thing you usually see by the riverside.

'Obviously, it looked like a skeleton, which was a bit grim, and it was only when I got closer that I realised it was metal and old rope.'

The objects became the talk of the town after Mr Powell posted a photo on Twitter.

Gravesend town centre manager Graham Long tweeted: 'We've not seen anything like that before - how bizarre and intruiging.'

And the town's RNLI spokesman Alan Carr said the find looked 'very sinister'.

As well as a reported 50 corpses a year, the Thames has given up a series of mysterious objects over the river's long history.

In 1857, the 4th century BC 'Battersea Shield' was discovered during dredging for the Chelsea Bridge, and is now seen as one the UK's most significant pieces of Celtic ancient art.

Prehistoric animal remains have also been discovered on the riverbed and banks, including the tooth of a 28-metre-long Megalodon shark thought to be 1.5 million years old, and a section from the skull of a 30,000-year-old woolly rhino.

In 2013, river-users thought they has spotted an alligator living in the river - but it turned out to be a lost prop from the film set of James Bond film Live and Let Down, which had been washed away from its owner's garden.

(dailymail.co.uk)