Branson, Mo. – In a surreal and tragic scene at Table Rock Lake on Tuesday, a 29-year-old woman drowned while attempting to act out what she described as her “true dolphin identity.”

Witnesses told responders that the woman entered the water dressed head-to-toe in dolphin attire, complete with a snorkel fashioned to resemble a blowhole. At one point, she was seen biting down on a live fish and declaring she was “finally swimming free.” Moments later, she began to struggle in the water, thrashing before disappearing beneath the surface.

Emergency crews recovered her body several hours later, as word of the unusual incident spread and onlookers gathered along the shoreline.

Locals described the woman as eccentric but deeply committed to her dolphin persona. “She really believed she was part of a pod,” one bystander said. “It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen out here.”

The incident, while fictional, highlights the sometimes tragic intersections between fantasy and reality. Table Rock Lake, an artificial reservoir in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri, has been the site of many real-world drownings and boating accidents, though never one quite like this imagined scenario.