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The good thing about being out in the woods when nature calls is that, short of letting rip on a nest of angry fire ants, nature usually doesn’t mind where you go.

It’s probably a good idea not to take a bathroom break while dressed like a creature from The Lord of the Rings, though, or chances are you’ll scare the life out of passing tourists and end up with photos of your peeing self all over the internet.

Shared earlier this month by Chinese net users, the photos depict what was described as a hairless “monster” spotted in the hills of the Huariou District near Beijing.

Screen Shot 2014-06-27 at 11.56.41 AMScreenshot: Byoukan Sunday

People quickly compared the creature to Gollum, the infamous ring-obsessed being from J. R. R. Tolkien’s popular high fantasy series, due to its gangly figure and large, flopping ears.

Soon after the images went viral, however, an unnamed science-fiction actor reportedly came forward to say that the creature in the photos was in fact just him going number-one.

“Over the week I and my friends went to the mountains to take a mini sci-film [sic] film,” Metro reports the man as saying. “When I was having a pee a person popped up and took pictures of me and shot away.”

Mystery solved, monster hunters!

If you ask me, though, even this explanation smells a bit fishy. Reports suggest that this is a male actor we see in the photos, so whether he’s wearing a loincloth and a mask or not, one has to wonder why he’d squat down to pee (hands-free, no less) on a hard rock that pretty much guarantees splash-back and run-off issues. After all, as most men would no doubt agree, there are few greater pleasures in life than relieving oneself against a nice, mossy tree or thick bush while outdoors. Perhaps he was going number two and just didn’t want to admit it? Maybe, but I see no toilet paper in hand, and nature or no, only a true beast forgets to wipe.

Maybe it was Gollum after all…

Source: Byoukan Sunday, Metro
Feature image: Wikipedia – CyberGhostface