A familiar childhood character came back to haunt a sewerage crew during spooky season in a blockage horror story.

A teddy version of Ernie from Sesame Street spooked Wessex Water operatives as they carried out a CCTV survey of a sewer in Bristol to find the cause of the blockage.

As they removed the surprise visitor, they were shocked to find the sewer was still blocked further down the line and an additional survey revealed the grisly remains of a second teddy.

The obstruction was finally cleared after pulling both toys out of the local sewerage network.

A Wessex Water spokesman said: “We never know what we’ll find lurking in the sewers when we attend to clear a blockage, but our team certainly wasn’t expecting this.

“Although blockages are commonly caused by wet wipes and other sanitary items that do not break down, we emphasise the importance of thinking twice about what else you flush down the loo.”

Wessex Water clears 13,000 sewer blockages that can wreck homes and harm the environment every year.