(RNS) Villagers on a remote Indonesian island mistook an inflatable sex toy for an angel and dressed her in a Muslim headscarf, investigators said.
A fisherman picked up the blow-up doll off the Banggai islands and took her back to his home in Kalupapi village. He and fellow villagers believed the doll must have been an angel, the AFP news agency reported, since the inflatable doll was found a day after a rare solar eclipse in March.
The doll was dressed in a Muslim headscarf and taken out on a boat trip.
But reports of the discovery caught the attention of police; they launched an investigation over fears the doll could cause unrest.
“We were hearing many stories, such as that the ‘fallen angel’ was crying when she was discovered,” Heru Pramukarno, the local police chief, told AFP. “When our officers arrived they saw that the ‘fallen angel’ was just a doll; it was a sex toy.”
The police chief explained there was no Internet access in Kalupapi and locals did not know what a sex toy was.
The doll was confiscated from villagers and taken to the police station, AFP said.
Many across Indonesia continue to hold strong beliefs in the supernatural, including the existence of “bidadari,” which is a type of angel or spirit, the BBC reported.
