JAKARTA • Indonesian villagers thought they had been blessed by an angel fallen from heaven when a beautiful doll washed up on a beach, only to discover it was an inflatable sex toy. 
 
 Rapidly spreading reports of a heavenly offering and fears of possible social unrest prompted a police investigation. 
 
 Detectives who arrived in the remote spot soon punctured the theory of divine intervention. 
 
 "When our officers arrived, they saw that the 'fallen angel' was just a doll, it was a sex toy," said local police chief Heru Pramukarno. 
 
 Villager Pardin, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, found the doll when he was fishing off the remote Banggai islands off Sulawesi in central Indonesia, police said. 
 
 The discovery in March came a day after a solar eclipse swept across the area, a deeply spiritual experience in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country. This led superstitious locals to believe the two events were linked. 
 
 Mr Pardin took the partially inflated doll to his home in Kalupapi village, where it was treated with great reverence. His mother gave the "angel" a change of clothes and a new Muslim headscarf to wear every day, and pictures showed it sitting up in a chair and accompanying locals on a boat trip. 
 
 Police decided to investigate after becoming concerned that the increasing excitement about the "angel" could lead to unrest. 
 
 The problem, it seemed, was the remoteness of Kalupapi. "They have no Internet, they don't know what a sex toy is, " said police chief Heru Pramukarno. 
 
 After investigating, officers confiscated the doll and took it to the local police station, a move that they said was intended to stop false rumours from spreading. 
 
 It is not the first time that a sex toy has been mistaken for entirely something else. 
 
 In 2012, a Chinese TV station reported a rare mushroom with medicinal qualities had been discovered in a town during drilling for a new well, only for viewers to point out that the object was a sex toy for men. 
 
 AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 

 An 'angel' that fell from the skies turns out to be a sex doll 
 
 Photo: John MacDougall, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 Just another angel from heaven. Just another angel from heaven. Photo: John MacDougall, AFP/Getty Images An 'angel' that fell from the skies turns out to be a sex doll 1 / 1 Back to Gallery 
 
 Villagers in Indonesia were disappointed to learn that an "angel" that fell from the skies is actually a sex toy, a turn of events that many humans of a different mindset would not be disappointed by at all. 
 
 The tale begins in Bangaii, days after an auspicious solar eclipse appeared over the region. A 21-year-old fisherman was walking the beach when he spotted a beautiful, lonely angel on the sand. Naturally, he took her appearance as a sign from heaven and he gently bundled her up and took her home. 
 
 There, he attired her in a blouse and skirt, which his parents changed daily as a sign of respect. Intrigued by reports (or maybe just really bored), local police visited the house to see the angel for themselves. 
 
 There, they made the less-than-holy discovery. 
 
 "It was a sex toy," police chief Heru Pramukarno told a local newspaper. 
 
 The tale ends without further details on the fate of the sex doll, who is probably sadly deflating somewhere in Indonesia right now, just another fallen angel with plastic orifices. 

 Rescued from the ocean by fishermen, this naked girl, with fair skin and a beatific expression, prompted villagers from a remote Indonesian province to believe they had been blessed by an angel. “Excitement!” exclaimed one early headline cited by The Times, adding: “Angel in Sulawesi found fallen from the sky, naked and weeping.” The inhabitants of Kalupapi, in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, were so taken by the find – coming just after a solar eclipse regarded as a deeply religious event by many – they carefully dressed their celestial visitor in a hijab and fresh clothes each day. 
 
 The 'angel' was stuffed with fabric and seated on a chair where she could receive callers and even enjoyed a trip on the ocean with her fisherman saviours. But when news of the holy guest reached further afield, the police came to investigate and ended up somewhat deflating the spectacle. “When our officers arrived they saw that the ‘fallen angel’ was just a doll, it was a sex toy,” local police chief Heru Pramukarno told AFP. Pramukarno added: “We were hearing may stories, such as that the ‘fallen angel’ was crying when she was discovered. “They have no internet, they don’t know what a sex toy is.” 
 
 AFP/ Indonesian Police 
 
 The Telegraph quotes a local man named Iqbal, who is said to have told reporters that he had suspected all along that the doll hadn’t fallen from the sky, but rather had been tossed aside by a passing boat. The doll was confiscated by police and the angel of Sulawesi is no more. It’s not the first time an inflatable sex toy has sparked hysteria. In 2012, Turkish divers were scrambled in order to rescue the body of a woman floating offshore from northern Samsun province. 
 
 AFP/ Indonesian Police 
 
 The "body" turned out to be a blow up sex doll. During the same year, 18 police officers were dispatched to rescue a body in East China’s Shandong province. A crowd of around 1,000 people assembled close to the river bank, which saw officers retrieve a blow-up sex doll from the water. One local report claimed "anxious onlookers covered their children's eyes" as the inflatable was pulled to safety. 

 Image copyright AFP/Indonesian Police Image caption Pictures spread on social media of the apparent "angel" 
 
 Indonesian police have confiscated a sex toy from a remote village after its inhabitants and some on social media mistook it for an "angel". 
 
 The doll was found in March floating in the sea by a fisherman in the Banggai islands in Sulawesi province. 
 
 His family took care of the doll, and pictures soon spread online along with claims it was an angel. 
 
 Police investigated amid fears the rumours would cause unrest, and found it was in fact an inflatable sex doll. 
 
 Image copyright AFP / Indonesian police Image caption The doll was taken home by the fisherman 
 
 Indonesian news portal Detik said photos of the doll dressed demurely and wearing a hijab spread on social media shortly after its discovery. 
 
 Rumours then began to spread that it was a "bidadari" along with unverified stories about how it was found "stranded and crying", prompting the police investigation. 
 
 Many across Indonesia continue to hold strong beliefs in the supernatural, including the existence of "bidadari", which is a type of angel or spirit. 
 
 Local police chief Heru Pramukarno told reporters that villagers had found the doll shortly after the rare March solar eclipse that swept across South East Asia. 
 
 The timing of the discovery led some to believe the doll had a divine provenance. 
 
 "They have no internet, they don't know what a sex toy is," the police chief was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. 
 
 In 2012, a TV station in China's Xian city apologised after running a false report that a local farmer had discovered a giant piece of precious lingzhi mushroom. 
 
 The fleshy object, found in a well by the farmer, was identified by many viewers as a sex toy made of silicone.
– A sex toy found by a fisherman in a small Indonesian village was taken home, dressed up, and worshipped as an angel for weeks, the BBC reports, proving yet again that the world is a strange and wonderful place. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the 21-year-old fisherman found the inflatable sex doll washed up on a beach in March, though other sources say it was floating at sea. Regardless, the Times notes the "naked, fair-skinned girl" impressed the fisherman with her "round green eyes and an expression of ambiguous rapture." The fisherman took the doll home to his village of Kalupapi, where it was dressed in a blouse, skirt, and hijab. His parents reportedly changed its clothes every day "as a sign of respect." Photos of the doll soon spread online, along with rumors that it was a "bidadari," a type of spirit or angel. That rumor was bolstered by a solar eclipse that occurred shortly before the doll was found and reports that it had been crying when the fisherman found it. Police—afraid of how the population would react to headlines like "Angel in Sulawesi found fallen from the sky, naked and weeping"—launched an investigation. They determined the angel was actually a blowup doll and confiscated it, the Huffington Post reports. "They have no Internet, they don't know what a sex toy is," an Indonesian police chief explains, per AFP. (A campaign was recently launched to stop the rise of sex robots.)