The puzzling metal 'starfish' found embedded in the sand at a Rhode Island beach has been unearthed, but its removal has done little to solve the mystery surrounding it.
Discovered a few weeks ago during low tide in the town of Westerly, the strange object stuck in the seabed has been somewhat of a summer sensation in the community.
Theories about the object have ranged from the prosaic, such as a disused piece of scientific equipment, to the exotic, including the always-popular alien connection.
It was thought that an excavation of the anomaly on Thursday morning might finally yield a solution to the mystery, however the endeavor seems to have only spawned more uncertainty.
In a testament to how vexing the case has become, nearly 100 people gathered at the beach to watch the 45-minute long removal of the object.
Unfortunately, rather than come out all in one piece, the 'starfish' fell apart, leaving workers to recover a number of metal fragments from the object which provided precious little in the way of clues to what they had once formed.
Despite attempts to put the pieces together on the beach in order to recreate the object, the impromptu puzzle still did not clear up the confusion.
Nonetheless, now that the object, albeit in pieces, is being seen in the proverbial light of day, officials hope that someone will look at the coverage of its removal, recognize something, and offer an explanation for what it was.
Meanwhile, the debris has now been shuttled off to an 'undisclosed location,' which conjures thoughts of an ET cover-up, but probably really only means the basement of the Westerly police station.
Source: Westerly Sun