“It puts the lotion in the basket.” That creepy line from the 1991 film Silence of the Lambs comes to mind after a stunning discovery outside a gas station in California over the weekend.
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The object discovered, a teddy bear, appears to have been made from slices of human skin, crudely sewn together.
Its placement at the gas station is being considered a practical joke, but for the people who made it, the incident could work in their favor.
Highlights
- Police in Victorville, California, were called to a gas station to investigate a suspicious package.
- They found a teddy bear that appeared to be fabricated out of human skin.
- The incident took place on Bear Valley Road, leading investigators to believe it was all just a big joke.
- The company that made the item is from South Carolina and recently posted about wanting to grow their business.
Police in CA find a teddy bear that appears to have been made from human skin
Image credits: victorvalleynews / Instagram
Image credits: Victor Valley News Group VVNG.com / YouTube
Media reports that police from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department were called to investigate a suspicious package at an ARCO gas station in Victorville at around 12:30 on Sunday, July 13th.
What they discovered was truly gruesome.
It appeared to be a teddy bear made out of leathery, human-looking pieces of skin instead of fluffy fur.
It was coarsely sewn together, with the seams showing.
Image credits: Victor Valley News Group VVNG.com / YouTube
It called to memory the 1991 film starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, where the film’s villain famously wore suits of human flesh sewn together in a similar fashion as the bear.
But the location of the gas station is making people think it was all just a big prank.
The suspicious-looking teddy bear was discovered on Bear Valley Road
Image credits: Victor Valley News Group VVNG.com / YouTube
ARCO gas stations are predominantly found in the western US states like California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Nevada. They also have locations in Northern Mexico.
The gas station in question is located in the 13600 block of Bear Valley Road in Victorville, CA—with the road’s name aptly corresponding to the macabre-looking item.
Image credits: Victor Valley News Group VVNG.com / YouTube
Police say they responded to a call about a “suspicious-looking package.”
After the 9/11 attacks in the US in 2001, as well as the anthrax attacks of that same year, the US Department of Homeland Security began a campaign to encourage citizens to report suspicious-looking packages with the catch phrase: “If you see something, say something.”
In this case, the ‘package’ was in fact a painstakingly made ‘objet d'art,’ created by a husband-and-wife artist team in South Carolina.
DarkSeed Creations makes and sells bespoke horror items out of resin
Image credits: Victor Valley News Group VVNG.com / YouTube
Social media sleuths soon discovered that the people who made the gruesome-looking doll were actually a company called DarkSeed Creations, from South Carolina.
According to the DarkSeed Facebook page: “So here is the basics. Yes I made the bear in the news video. Yes, that's my etsy shop screenshotted on the news articles. Yes I did ship that bear to an etsy customer in Victorville CA last week.”
Image credits: KTLA 5 / YouTube
According to the DarkSeed website, all their products are made from resin. They describe themselves as a small but motivated company specializing in horror culture and special effects.
Regarding the bear incident, a member of DarkSeed said that they “did not have any knowledge of the buyers intentions nor was I involved in a prank on the other side of the nation from me.”
They finished with a call to action for anyone interested in owning their own creepy bear: “Yes you can still order one too.”
For DarkSeed, the ‘skin bear’ incident is the best-earned media ever
Oddly, just days before the incident at the California gas station, DarkSeed posted the following message:
So perhaps this was the big break the company was looking for?
Despite saying they were not involved in the gas station hoax, the timing of the incident is extremely coincidental.
Either way, it's some amazing media earned for the company.
DarkSeed is a family-run business that is trying to grow
Image credits: Dark Seed Creations / Facebook
DarkSeed says they are passionate about quality and service and are committed to giving customers the best of both.
Established in 2015, the company says it “began in a garage with a dream and a lot of drive.”
Image credits: etsy
As horror movie and creepy culture enthusiasts, the husband-and-wife team behind the company says they've “always had a love for horror movies and culture.”
They say their products are “original and developed with [their] own twisted minds and paint-stained hands.”
“With the support of friends, family, and devoted customers we have slowly grown as a respected business in our industry,” the website continues.
Image credits: Dark Seed Creations / Facebook
Despite the horrific-looking end products, DarkSeed says they are a family-run company and that sometimes, their children are involved in their work.
“We are family and community oriented. In fact, there's a good chance you'll see some of our kids in Cos-play, ‘helping’ at a vendor site, or posing with some of our creepy masks or props!” their website explains.
Some netizens are disgusted over the ‘skin bear,’ while others can’t wait to buy one of their own
