What is it about this beach and figurines?

I've been coming here for many, many years, and until now I'd never noticed any odd figurines. Yesterday, however, the horned one entered our lives, and now she/he/it is standing guard in random and varying places all over this beach house.

Today, while at the little restaurant we call The Squeeze, in honor of its frozen confection food products, we saw this amazing (and large, over 18 inches tall) figurine lurking behind a sign.

This dude is creepy. As best we can tell, he is ripping out his own tongue with his left hand, while his right is forever poised to hold an ice cream cone.

Having seen him, there was only one logical thing to do: I tried to buy him. I figured he could join Sarah's horned one in her dorm room. The two young women working in the shop were more than a bit amused by my fascination with this grotesque beast, but they said it was not, to the best of their knowledge, for sale. I asked after its origin, but they had no clue. I then requested that they ask the owner for the price for this strange gnome. They promised they would.

Lest you think we stop there only to abuse the staff, fear not: we bought soft-serve with strange colors (they advertise these stripes as flavors, but, really, they're just colors) swirled in them. This photo shows the strawberry next to the raspberry; you really can't tell them apart.

Of course we ate it all. It's the beach.