An Inverness man feared that he had made a grim discovery while working on a city centre rooftop in the dark.
News photographer Andrew Smith was on top of the Poundland building in the High Street when he stumbled upon what initially appeared to be body parts.
But he was relieved to find that the torso and leg in fact belonged to a mystery mannequin.
Mr Smith said: “I was up there doing the photographs of the Town House flying the flags at half mast following the Paris attacks.
“I couldn’t get a good picture from street level so I asked the staff at Poundland if I could go on the roof. It was a lot darker than it looks on the photograph, and I had to walk around very carefully.
“I got a bit of a surprise when I turned around and saw an individual, though obviously I quickly realised it was a mannequin.
“The manager at Poundland said it must have been there since Woolworths closed.”
The Inverness branch of Woolworths closed in 2009 after 81 years in the Highland capital, with the loss of almost 30 jobs.
The retail giant collapsed across the country with debts of £385million.
Mr Smith sparked a debate on social media about how the mannequin had ended up on the roof after he posted the photograph.
One former Woolworths employee joked that seagulls may be to blame.
“The amount of stuff we found there delivered by seagulls was unbelievable. Whole chicken carcass, small soft toys, and at nesting time we were up on roof every day clearing the nests before any legs were laid,” he said.