Miami~Trick or treat gone wrong: Dozens of headless animals found on residential street in horrific Halloween prank

A Miami neighbourhood was left horrified on Thursday morning when they woke to find dozens of dead, headless animals littered along their street.

In a scene reminiscent of a horror movie, the bloodied remains of the animals were laid out over nearly two blocks in the residential area.

Decapitated goats, cats and different kinds of birds like pigeons and hens were strewn along the street in what some residents think may have been part of some kind of witchcraft or a religious ritual like Santeria.

Gruesome: Residents in a Miami neighbourhood were horrified to find dozens of headless animals strewn on their street on Thursday morning

Headless: In what looked like a scene from a horror movie, carcasses of goats, cats and various birds were littered along two blocks in the Florida district

Police are investigating if the bizarre find was in fact something more sinister or an early Halloween prank.

Santeria is a centuries old religion where sacrificial birds and animals are an offering during ceremonies as believers worship saints and feel they are cleansed of all evil.

Resident Marioly Perez who woke when she heard screeching tires said she was terrified at what was outside her front door: 'Nothing had a head. I have never seen anything like this. It's scary'.

Probe: Residents were scared at the find outside their homes and investigators are looking into whether it was a witchcraft ritual or Halloween prank

Onlookers said that there was also a 'very large' animal that no one could identify.

Some neighbours said they saw five people dressed in white and others heard a loud bang and the sound of a speeding car's tires peeling away. 

When they walked out of their homes they were faced with headless carcasses and body parts all over the road.

Smell: Onlookers say the stench from the decaying animals was sickening

Perez said as well as the unsightly images the smell was suffocating as it appeared the animals may have been dead for a while.

Josefine Pita who also lives in the area said: 'We all love animals here. This is very, very depressing. You don't know what kind of crazy people are around your neighbourhood'.

She added: 'It's very, very scary because you don't know if they are going to steal your animal'.

Miami's Sanitation Department arrived to clear away the bodies and intestines while the Fire Department hosed down the street to get rid of all remnants of the blood.

Clear up: Miami's Sanitation Department cleared away the bodies and intestines and hosed down the bloody street